More ranting-red lights

[elninoalex]

Was I asleep? Did they change the law? Does red mean go? My goodness, it's getting bad. What can one do? I was first in line at a left turn lane. Traffic to my right was turning left right past me when my light turned green. I had to wait because FIVE cars entered the intersection after my light turned green. My light was yellow before I could go. This is getting ridiculous. I'm gonna wear out my horn. I guess I will have to get the dual dual-trumpet air horns. Or maybe three. It seems like nobody else cares because everyone does it. I saw a car run a red light going about 50 and obliterate another car, killing three. And the only person to survive was the driver at fault. I wonder if they learned their lesson.

[DavieGravy]

The problem lies in the fact that people dawdle and are basically sub-monkey idiots.

After the light turns GREEN, here's what most people do consecutively:
1. Spend a couple of seconds to get it registered in their tiny, simplistic, dazed-out brains that the light's in fact green and they can proceed to drive.
2. They then oh so lightly press on the gas peddle, because if they go though an intersection too fast (more than 7 MPH or accelerating faster than 0 to 60 in 20 minutes) nothing might happen. And we couldn't have that, could we?
3. They then send a chain reaction of their contagious stupidity to every other driver behind them, except you, who in turn repeat their idiotic behavior in exactly the same fashion.
4. And before you know it, that two millisecond green light(designed to increase photo radar tickets) is now red and you're waiting for another 5 minutes in the hopes that people will wake the f**k up in time for the next green light.
5. The result is that the drivers who actually want to get somewhere this year are more inclined to run a red light. This is to aviod having to wait a second time.

I get so irritated with stupid drivers around here. Ones that are too self-righteous to pull into the inner lane and let you pass. One's that drive so god-damned slow you wonder what the hell they could be thinking about.

Wake up!!! Get your head out of your a$$ and find the f**king gas! The road is not a place brain dead morons.

Done venting.

[LarryIII]

Davie,

It's good to vent and get it out of your system. I used to think like you . But I am older now and I can see that my time here is nearing the end. So now I savor those little milleseconds.
I can hear beautiful music and think sweet things while my right foot waits to hit the GO pedal. Don't let the dolt drivers get under your skin. You're only raising your own blood pressure which will eventually harm only you and the people that love you.

[sfsvx]

Personally, I'm finding fewer and fewer places that I'm in a hurry to get to, except for my wonderful home and family and the ski area. In reality, none of those are going anywhere - they'll be there when I get there and my desire to get there alive is stronger than my desire to get there on schedule.

My boss's opinion may differ.

However, I also get irritated at those dolts who see the light turn green, put down their books, slooooooooowly press in the clutch, shift deliberately out of neutral into first, sloooooooooooowly let out the clutch, and ease through the intersection during the yellow, leaving me looking at the red.

People like that do contribute mightily to the red-light-running problem, so I think they are worthy of our attention and scorn. Of course that doesn't excuse running the red, which is definitely dangerous and too often fatal. The problem with the resulting accidents is that the wrong people get hurt or killed.

I have found that easing slowly into the intersection (but not into the path of the red-light-runners) has some comical effects as the miscreants react to someone they think is pulling out in front of them. However, their responses can add to the dangerous stuff going on, so I don't do that any more. Well, not very often. Well, not all the time.

We all need to drive in a manner that maximizes the probability we'll arrive alive, even if it's not "on time".

[SVXphile]

<We all need to drive in a manner that maximizes the probability we'll arrive alive, even if it's not "on time">

The crazy driving I have observed just since Thanksgiving, would be enough to fill a book. In town, Interstate, back roads...you name it. My biggest beef if people who ride just inches off your tail....and it's not like I'm dragging an anchor or something! Jean and I run into that here in the mountains all the time, and we have come separately to the same conclusion. There are many pulloffs along the way, and that's what we use. We let them go, figuring they are late to a wreck somewhere. More than once we have done that, just to find the car or truck (1) in a ditch, or (2) waiting patiently while the nice Trooper takes down all the information. Pickup truck lights that laser right into your rearview at night is a PARTICULAR problem around here.

In my younger days, I would have just tried to outrun them. (not smart) Now that I am older, and hanging on to every day the good Lord gives me, I just get out of the way and let them go.

Those of you who drive in and around the metropolitan areas (and I lived next to the D.C. beltway for two years) have a much harder time of it. God bless you all!
Don