Posted On: January 26, 2005, 3:54 pm CST

Posted By: DB

The most distressing comment in this whole chain in my opinion is this one: "...if you dont look left and right you deserve what you get. Its not the persons fault who runs the light if they are in a hurry. Its the fault of the person who gets hit."

To which I have these comments:
1. 'Not the person's fault who runs the light when in a hurry' Are you serious? Who made it their road and their rules? How are the rest of us supposed to know 'they' are in a hurry? What makes them think 'they' are the only one in a hurry? And why should we be at their mercy in the first place?
2. If you are serious, then you should immediately stop driving - you are an accident waiting to happen. You are undoubtably also the same person who honks their horn the instant the light turns green (if you've stopped at the light at all) - pressuring the person first in line to go without looking.
2. If someone does look right and left that automatically makes them safe; really? I missed the memo telling me how long a right and left look should take? And more importantly - what is the magic cutoff time that you can be sure someone won't blow the light? 5 seconds after it changes, 10 ...?
4. I feel for Andrew who was likely minding his own business - and the traffic rules. They failed him because someone disregarded them --- not because he may not have looked right and left long enough. When his light is green - he is cleared to go. Looking both ways is prudent - but anyone blowing through on red is in the wrong and they are the ones that deserve the consequences.

The roads are there for everyone and traffic lights are there for a good reason. If people continue to randomly pick the rules they will follow, the rest of us remain in jeopardy. I can't control what everyone else does; but I can be responsible for what I do, and I don't run red lights - even when I'm in a hurry!