Something we’ve ALL done is speed through what I like to call the “Orange” light. You know the one, somewhere between yellow and red. As in, the yellow light is on the verge of turning red and you think, “I can make it!”
According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s 2016 Traffic Safety Culture Index, “most drivers (92.8%) view it as unacceptable to drive through a traffic light that just turned red when they could have stopped safely; however, more than 1 in 3 drivers (35.6%) admit doing this in the past month.”
I’m not really going to pass judgement here other than to say, there is a very fine line between that orange light and the red one. And when a driver crosses that line, and runs the red light, well, it jeopardizes me and everyone else on the road. And that’s not ok.
What does the driver’s manual say?
“The steady yellow signal means that the signal is changing from green to red. Its purpose is to provide time for approaching traffic to stop safely and to clear other vehicles from the intersection before the signal turns red.
“The steady red signal means come to a complete stop at the stop line and remain stopped as long as the signal is red [except of course where ‘right on red’ is allowable].”
The split-second orange signal means…
Well, depends on who you ask. #uptointerpretation
For some, it means “floor it!” For others, it means “dang it, I missed the light.”
Whatever your approach, safety is what matters to me. May not matter to you because you may think you are the center of the universe.
I have news for you:
We’re all in a hurry to get where we’re going, but when another driver’s selfishness infringes on my safety, that drives me crazy.
I find myself asking, “will it have been worth it to have run this light (or cut this person off, or failed to signal, or sped at 90 mph, etc.) if I get in an accident that harms me or someone else?”
The answer is ALWAYS “no.” Uh-uh. Nope.
Some cities are deemed more dangerous than others when it comes to red-light running. Do you live in one of them? And what’s up with the peeps in Arizona? Check out Statista Red Light Running Chart .
Resources:
NBC News: Deaths caused by drivers running red lights at 10-year high
The National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR) has excellent resources on this topic.
Which U.S. Cities have the Most Red-Light Running Fatalities? | Stop on Red Week | Get the Facts
This is also an intriguing concept: What if the traffic lights changed from red to yellow before changing to green?https://giphy.com/gifs/FEikw3bXVHdMk/html5
First, That dude is too old to be chasing pokeballs! Second being guilty of said offense myself, it probably wouldn’t be right to criticize others. At least I have little people in my car to call me out on it. Lastly, shocked ATLANTA isn’t on that list because the drivers here suck.