This article appears in Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2008.
Red means STOP!
To the idiot drivers who turn right on reds without stopping, what the hell?!?! I’ve nearly been clocked 3 times in the last month by drivers not stopping at reds before turning right while walking across a crosswalk with a green light in my favor. It se
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Sometimes I wish I had a rock in my purse to throw at such people.This happens ALL the time at the intersection by my office. UGH.
i understand your frustration OP, i do, there is no excuse for such behaviour and such drivers should be ashamed of their actions. However…when im not in my truck and am a pedestrian i assume that all drivers are stupid and not paying attention. i operate under this thinking and it serves me well. tons of metal will fuck 200lbs of bone and tissue up rather nicely. i never take it for granted that drivers will do as they are supposed to.
Me too, john — there’s been more than one occasion where I probably would’ve been creamed if i hadn’t held back a few seconds to make sure drivers in the right lane actually stopped. ugh.
I know so many drivers do this, so anytime I’m crossing with a green in my favour, I ALWAYS check to see if there’s even a car in the right lane approaching at all.
i used to be one of those pedestrians that thought i was invincible and the cars would just stop when I had the right of way…now that I drive I know actually how hard it is to see every walker all the time and I think its made me a better pedestrian than driver. I think everyone should be able to drive a car atleast once through Dartmouth to Halifax and back (I know its not realistic) just to see what its like and I bet it would make everyone a little more conscious. I know its kind of off topic but just needed to put my two cents in. I am definetly more wary of the crosswalks and the cars turning right on red, you would assume that if you have the go ahead it should be all gravy but certain drivers feel they have the advantage and can do whatever they want
Dodging CarsAfter reading your rant. I thought I would give you some advice on your red light problem.You see its an unofficial almost universally followed human problem with the colors of the lights. Green does mean go. Yellow actually means GO FASTER ! Then of course there’s the Red light your complaining about & it sort of follows the 3 second rule ,like when you drop food. If its red & you can get through it in 3 seconds or less….GO LIKE HELL ! ! ! applies.I hope this helps you to remember when its Red, count to 5 .