We have the laws, but they need to be enforced. If a delay on green signal system were to be installed, it might prevent some crashes. A little foresight by the driver stopped on red to give a few seconds on green before proceeding would also be a preventative measure. this would give a few precious seconds that may save your life.
Red light runners are the most selfish and self-centered people in our society. By running a red light they are really saying:
“My time is more important than your life”.
We should do ANYTHING we can to keep these people from running red lights.
Maybe one of the answers in big cities might be the use of cameras that take your picture and then send it to you with a fine.
Of course nothing beats common sense and obeying the rules of the road. But in rural areas where the police are stretched to the limit, everone figures that they beat the light and not get caught
A look and see when a light turns red would give those with the “right” to move a chance to be “safe right” VS “dead right”. Another issue just as critical is speed. In most areas you must drive speed limit of 10+ or get run over.
If you are too lazy to look left and right before proceeding into an intersection and you let a traffic control device dictate your decision, it is a simple matter of you get what you asked for. Follow the rules of the road and anticipate the genious who doesn’t.
I totally agree with “No More Laws” I won’t leave an intersection when it turns green without looking left, right, left. I was taught that back before drivers ed existed. I little common sense and patience behind the wheel will keep me out of an accident. Now if we can just educate the other 90% out there!!
Here’s a suggestion: How about a blinking yellow prior to the light turning red? I was in Germany this past Summer and notice the light sequence on traffic lights went from green to yellow to blinking yellow just before the light turned red. This might help some of those folks who like to blow through on the yellow!!!
Yea, I agree, 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.
I also find it interesting that on the survey, men were more honest about running red lights than women.
Just over 2 years ago, I was struck by someone who blew a red light. I was heading north and the light had been green for some time. There were cars stopped in the right hand lane of this 4 lane road, and the kid blew the light in the left lane. I looked both ways twice. Because of the stopped vehicles, I did not see that this guy was going to blow a red light.
He was not injured, but the fire department had to cut me out of the car, and transport my thankfully unconscious body to the hospital where I spent the next week. I had several broken ribs, a punctured and collapsed lung, a broken pelvis, a damaged left knee, a bruised kidney, and a bruise on the left side of my brain that almost required drilling. I’ve had to go through surgery too which meant several months of recovery both at the time of the accident and one year later. The kid was driving a bigger vehicle, an SUV, and he got to go home undamaged.
To those of you that are talking about looking both ways, that doesn’t always solve things. I remember that day crystal clear until the moment of impact and I remember looking both ways. If you make that kind of ignorant comment about victims, you must be blowing lights every once and a while. I don’t hate the kid that hit me, but I do hate ignorant perceptions about the severe consequences of blowing traffic lights.
Andrew: Thanks for bringing reality to this senseless line of communication!
I guess if you get robbed on the street at 10 pm, it’s your fault for going out alone; if your house is broken into, you should have purchased a better security alarm; and if you’re assaulted by a rapist…I won’t even go there!
It is time that we stop blaming the victim and start prosecuting those people who BREAK THE LAW!
I am simply amazed at how far this country has slipped into a comatose state of ignorance.
If any of you ‘victim blamers’ are ever on the receiving end of a crime, please let us all know how you took the witness stand, told the judge ‘my bad’, and asked that the defendant be released. I’m sure that some how, some way you deserved exactly what you got.
They want to install red-light cameras in Houston and many are fighting it as an invasion of privacy. What could be more of an invasion of your privacy than a 6,000 pound SUV running a red light and smashing your skull!
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!
Dear Disgusted,
To clarify: The “selfish” ones are those drivers that continually run these red lights on purpose…not the drivers that make an honest mistake or oversight.
And you are incorrect in saying that “running a red light is not different than disobeying a stop sign, speeding or a host of other actions that do not show good judgment”. Running a red light is significantly different since it more often causes serious injury (or death) than most other driving offenses. As you pointed out…”it’s the outcome of the offense” that matters. And the outcome of intentionally running red lights can be mighty ugly.
To the person who was injured in the accident by the teenager. My sympathy to you, if that is what you are looking for.
My opinion “No More Laws” was with regard to our knucklehead policiticians that feel obligated to continue to pass ridiculous laws (I’m not referring to running red lights either)that allow munincipalities to continue to road tax us to death when passing through their suburban towns. All this under the guise of safety. It’s all about the cash and nothing else.
Laws don’t make our society safer. If the breeders out there in the world would use common sense and proper parenting to raise a child to respect others, maybe those children as adults would be conscientious and respectful of others in life and, while driving, and not run red lights. Who knows.
FYI…I didn’t think my comments would incite so many of you. Have a nice weekend
“If you are too lazy to look left and right before proceeding into an intersection and you let a traffic control device dictate your decision, it is a simple matter of you get what you asked for. Follow the rules of the road and anticipate the genious who doesn’t.”
This is your original post. I posted about my accident because I did look (TWICE BOTH WAYS!) and still managed to get hit. You were implying that only people who were lazy and didn’t look got hit.
Otherwise, I do agree with your post about laws and tax money. Perhaps if the rules for getting a license in the first place were a little more stringent, and the punishments for blowing lights a little more harsh, people would take it more seriously. The offenders should be paying for things, not other taxpayers.
I understand you looked both ways twice. You are the 1% exception then. Sorry for your pain.
FYI… punishment in the eyes of goverment is cash! If they (the offender) can’t pay it, then jail, which makes a person unable to earn cash because of job loss. And those that do have the cash to pay are not deterred in the first place
Do you see the way the system works? Educate people to use common sense OR have ignorant people to just stop breeding more ignorant people. Both unattainable goals, so we leave it to the knuckleheads in offices to pass laws to protect us from the 1% scenario for the people who line their pockets.
Having talked to individuals from other states, running red lights has been on the increase the past 2 years. The people I see doing this appear to think this is a right instead of breaking the law. I have decided to never enter an intersection when a light has just turned green before checking cross traffic. As a result, I have prevented serious injury or damage to myself and my car many times on the way to work. Running red lights seems to be a part of the “road rage” phenomenon.
Many of the comments here are clearly from narrow minded blaming fools. Andrew, I too am sorry for your accident.
I am a woman, and I admit that I have run a red light or two in my day. Does that make me “Selfish”? Does that mean that I value my time more than someone else’s life? Absolutely NOT! What it means is that I, like most other drivers, have made the mistake of running red lights at times. And I don’t have any problem admitting that I am human and make mistakes. For those of you who want to preach the high and mighty, please take this a little further…running a red light is not different than disobeying a stop sign, speeding or a host of other actions that do not show good judgment.
The offense doesn’t really matter, it’s the outcome of the offense. There are plenty of things that we all do everyday that are a risk to ourselves and/or others.
Should people be more responsible and pay more attention? Absolutely! We ALL do. Me, you and everyone else. People should look in the mirror before they cast stones and accuse others of stupidity!
It’s this type of rationalization that has RUINED our country. Are you implying that you were LESS selfish than the SUV driver because you didn’t cause an accident? Your logic is faulty. It is the ACTION that is selfish and not the consequence. A ‘victimless’ crime is still a crime. And your victim is just a ran light away.
All truth is relative. I’m okay, you’re okay. Nobody’s perfect. We are the world. Blah, blah, blah.
We need to go back to define right and wrong, call a spade a spade, and quit justifying our behavior with that “I’m only human” nonsense.
Your excuses are lame and would add insult to injury if you ever hit me.
I wish someone had challenged me to practice SELF CONTROL when I was younger. Instead I got a whole lot of sympathy and support while I blamed everything and everyone else – from my parents to the president. But that’s another issue for another day in another forum….
Now please people – no more comments on this one. I have to move on!!
Yes, red light runners are a pain in the backside; I agree. But so are those drivers that just dont care at all. Those tossers that dont use indicators are just the same, if not worse than red light runners. Countless times I have almost been run down by those ignorant drivers that fail to comprehend a signal needs to be given. I feel sorry for you Andrew, and to those that run reds, well your stupid. However there are worse offences than running a red light. Drink driving is one, and this I despise. I despise all driving offences, and feel that tougher measures need to be brought in to deal with those criminals that commit them. We will not see a reduction in these offences otherwise. If they continue to persist, then they need their licences taken away. That should teach the bastards.
We have the laws, but they need to be enforced. If a delay on green signal system were to be installed, it might prevent some crashes. A little foresight by the driver stopped on red to give a few seconds on green before proceeding would also be a preventative measure. this would give a few precious seconds that may save your life.
Red light runners are the most selfish and self-centered people in our society. By running a red light they are really saying:
“My time is more important than your life”.
We should do ANYTHING we can to keep these people from running red lights.
Maybe one of the answers in big cities might be the use of cameras that take your picture and then send it to you with a fine.
Of course nothing beats common sense and obeying the rules of the road. But in rural areas where the police are stretched to the limit, everone figures that they beat the light and not get caught
A look and see when a light turns red would give those with the “right” to move a chance to be “safe right” VS “dead right”. Another issue just as critical is speed. In most areas you must drive speed limit of 10+ or get run over.
If you are too lazy to look left and right before proceeding into an intersection and you let a traffic control device dictate your decision, it is a simple matter of you get what you asked for. Follow the rules of the road and anticipate the genious who doesn’t.
I totally agree with “No More Laws” I won’t leave an intersection when it turns green without looking left, right, left. I was taught that back before drivers ed existed. I little common sense and patience behind the wheel will keep me out of an accident. Now if we can just educate the other 90% out there!!
Here’s a suggestion: How about a blinking yellow prior to the light turning red? I was in Germany this past Summer and notice the light sequence on traffic lights went from green to yellow to blinking yellow just before the light turned red. This might help some of those folks who like to blow through on the yellow!!!
genious??????????
Yea, I agree, 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.
I also find it interesting that on the survey, men were more honest about running red lights than women.
Just over 2 years ago, I was struck by someone who blew a red light. I was heading north and the light had been green for some time. There were cars stopped in the right hand lane of this 4 lane road, and the kid blew the light in the left lane. I looked both ways twice. Because of the stopped vehicles, I did not see that this guy was going to blow a red light.
He was not injured, but the fire department had to cut me out of the car, and transport my thankfully unconscious body to the hospital where I spent the next week. I had several broken ribs, a punctured and collapsed lung, a broken pelvis, a damaged left knee, a bruised kidney, and a bruise on the left side of my brain that almost required drilling. I’ve had to go through surgery too which meant several months of recovery both at the time of the accident and one year later. The kid was driving a bigger vehicle, an SUV, and he got to go home undamaged.
To those of you that are talking about looking both ways, that doesn’t always solve things. I remember that day crystal clear until the moment of impact and I remember looking both ways. If you make that kind of ignorant comment about victims, you must be blowing lights every once and a while. I don’t hate the kid that hit me, but I do hate ignorant perceptions about the severe consequences of blowing traffic lights.
Andrew: Thanks for bringing reality to this senseless line of communication!
I guess if you get robbed on the street at 10 pm, it’s your fault for going out alone; if your house is broken into, you should have purchased a better security alarm; and if you’re assaulted by a rapist…I won’t even go there!
It is time that we stop blaming the victim and start prosecuting those people who BREAK THE LAW!
I am simply amazed at how far this country has slipped into a comatose state of ignorance.
If any of you ‘victim blamers’ are ever on the receiving end of a crime, please let us all know how you took the witness stand, told the judge ‘my bad’, and asked that the defendant be released. I’m sure that some how, some way you deserved exactly what you got.
They want to install red-light cameras in Houston and many are fighting it as an invasion of privacy. What could be more of an invasion of your privacy than a 6,000 pound SUV running a red light and smashing your skull!
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!
Yea lets kill them!!!!!!!!!!
Speaking of people who have issues with accountability
“I also find it interesting that on the survey, men were more honest about running red lights than women.”
Whether in jest or otherwise totally inappropriate.
Dear Disgusted,
To clarify: The “selfish” ones are those drivers that continually run these red lights on purpose…not the drivers that make an honest mistake or oversight.
And you are incorrect in saying that “running a red light is not different than disobeying a stop sign, speeding or a host of other actions that do not show good judgment”. Running a red light is significantly different since it more often causes serious injury (or death) than most other driving offenses. As you pointed out…”it’s the outcome of the offense” that matters. And the outcome of intentionally running red lights can be mighty ugly.
To the person who was injured in the accident by the teenager. My sympathy to you, if that is what you are looking for.
My opinion “No More Laws” was with regard to our knucklehead policiticians that feel obligated to continue to pass ridiculous laws (I’m not referring to running red lights either)that allow munincipalities to continue to road tax us to death when passing through their suburban towns. All this under the guise of safety. It’s all about the cash and nothing else.
Laws don’t make our society safer. If the breeders out there in the world would use common sense and proper parenting to raise a child to respect others, maybe those children as adults would be conscientious and respectful of others in life and, while driving, and not run red lights. Who knows.
FYI…I didn’t think my comments would incite so many of you. Have a nice weekend
Good idea, Bob.
It’s either them or it’s us.
Let’s just take them out now with a pre-emptive strike on those selfish drivers.
“If you are too lazy to look left and right before proceeding into an intersection and you let a traffic control device dictate your decision, it is a simple matter of you get what you asked for. Follow the rules of the road and anticipate the genious who doesn’t.”
This is your original post. I posted about my accident because I did look (TWICE BOTH WAYS!) and still managed to get hit. You were implying that only people who were lazy and didn’t look got hit.
Otherwise, I do agree with your post about laws and tax money. Perhaps if the rules for getting a license in the first place were a little more stringent, and the punishments for blowing lights a little more harsh, people would take it more seriously. The offenders should be paying for things, not other taxpayers.
I understand you looked both ways twice. You are the 1% exception then. Sorry for your pain.
FYI… punishment in the eyes of goverment is cash! If they (the offender) can’t pay it, then jail, which makes a person unable to earn cash because of job loss. And those that do have the cash to pay are not deterred in the first place
Do you see the way the system works? Educate people to use common sense OR have ignorant people to just stop breeding more ignorant people. Both unattainable goals, so we leave it to the knuckleheads in offices to pass laws to protect us from the 1% scenario for the people who line their pockets.
Having talked to individuals from other states, running red lights has been on the increase the past 2 years. The people I see doing this appear to think this is a right instead of breaking the law. I have decided to never enter an intersection when a light has just turned green before checking cross traffic. As a result, I have prevented serious injury or damage to myself and my car many times on the way to work. Running red lights seems to be a part of the “road rage” phenomenon.
Many of the comments here are clearly from narrow minded blaming fools. Andrew, I too am sorry for your accident.
I am a woman, and I admit that I have run a red light or two in my day. Does that make me “Selfish”? Does that mean that I value my time more than someone else’s life? Absolutely NOT! What it means is that I, like most other drivers, have made the mistake of running red lights at times. And I don’t have any problem admitting that I am human and make mistakes. For those of you who want to preach the high and mighty, please take this a little further…running a red light is not different than disobeying a stop sign, speeding or a host of other actions that do not show good judgment.
The offense doesn’t really matter, it’s the outcome of the offense. There are plenty of things that we all do everyday that are a risk to ourselves and/or others.
Should people be more responsible and pay more attention? Absolutely! We ALL do. Me, you and everyone else. People should look in the mirror before they cast stones and accuse others of stupidity!
Dear Disgusted:
It’s this type of rationalization that has RUINED our country. Are you implying that you were LESS selfish than the SUV driver because you didn’t cause an accident? Your logic is faulty. It is the ACTION that is selfish and not the consequence. A ‘victimless’ crime is still a crime. And your victim is just a ran light away.
All truth is relative. I’m okay, you’re okay. Nobody’s perfect. We are the world. Blah, blah, blah.
We need to go back to define right and wrong, call a spade a spade, and quit justifying our behavior with that “I’m only human” nonsense.
Your excuses are lame and would add insult to injury if you ever hit me.
I wish someone had challenged me to practice SELF CONTROL when I was younger. Instead I got a whole lot of sympathy and support while I blamed everything and everyone else – from my parents to the president. But that’s another issue for another day in another forum….
Now please people – no more comments on this one. I have to move on!!
Yes, red light runners are a pain in the backside; I agree. But so are those drivers that just dont care at all. Those tossers that dont use indicators are just the same, if not worse than red light runners. Countless times I have almost been run down by those ignorant drivers that fail to comprehend a signal needs to be given. I feel sorry for you Andrew, and to those that run reds, well your stupid. However there are worse offences than running a red light. Drink driving is one, and this I despise. I despise all driving offences, and feel that tougher measures need to be brought in to deal with those criminals that commit them. We will not see a reduction in these offences otherwise. If they continue to persist, then they need their licences taken away. That should teach the bastards.