1, two, 3 red light

I should no longer be amazed at the way drivers ignore traffic signals, but I still am. I’ve renamed stop signs and stop lights as stopping suggestions since that’s how many drivers view them.

I’ve lost count of the number of time I’ve been walking by my house and see people run the stop sign. Some drivers will at least slow down and do what’s called a rolling stop. Others don’t even do that they just go right through.

Lights seem to be no different but the consequences of running a light can be greater than just running a stop sign. Running a light usually means a much busier intersection than one that has a stop sign. Busier intersection means of course more cars but it also means that pedestrians can be present.

One of the intersection near where I work has a right turning arrow. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve almost been hit while crossing the street. When the light changes to green, the right turning arrow comes on. When turning arrow changes to red, the light for cars to go straight remains green. Drivers irregularly ignore the red arrow and turn right. Most if not all of the time the drivers do this there is a pedestrian in the cross walk. Now even if you have a green light, drivers are supposed to yield to pedestrian which they fail to do. But on top of it they have a red light. On occasion the driver will even honk at the pedestrians one of my favorites try to turn wide and go around the pedestrian.

I’ve decided in the future if this happens to me I’m just going to stop in front of the car and not move until the light changes. Then I plan to get out of the way of the car.

It’s almost safer to cross against the light when the traffic is clear as to trust that someone will stop when you have the walk sign. I never step off the curb right when the light changes because you never know who’s going to run the light.