Running Red Lights

[MakeItHappen 15]

I almost was taken out today by a lady going thru a red light.

I was pulling out of WalMart onto Sanderson. Sanderson runs north-south. Sanderson has two lanes in each direction. I was making a left turn. The intersection has a three-lane exit from WalMart facing east. I was in the southern left turn lane, aka the middle lane. There was a big-ass SUV in the northern left turn lane.

The light turns green for us. The SUV and I start into the intersection. The SUV slows down about 10 feet into the intersection. I continue. Then I see why the SUV slowed down. The SUV was blocking my line of sight of traffic to the north. There was a car heading south. For some reason I glanced back up at the light. I wanted to make sure it was green. It was. Then as I looked back at the car bearing down on me, I said 'DO SOMETHING!' to myself. I thought brakes will not help. I am already in the path of this car. About the time my shoulder was even with the right side of the car I determined that flooring it was the best way out.

I floored the accelerator and quickly remembered to turn. You can't go straight.

As our vehicles pass, I feel and hear a tiny thump. It was almost imperceptible. Turns out that we tagged each other. The car's front left turn signal was broken. There was no damage to my truck.

The sight of that car heading right for me to T-bone me is something I won't forget.
One moment I'm thinking 'I'm going to be hit'. The next instant I'm thinking 'no I'm not, I'm going to get out of the way'. You only have to miss. It kind of reminded me of all the cars that tried to take me out on my motorcycle or people trying to take me out under canopy.

The reaper lurks.


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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[Rebecca 0]

Yeah, the reaper lurks, and it's the stupid assholes on wheels out to do his job for him.

There was a freak on the highway this morning, going well above the speed of traffic, which was already over the limit, jerking in and out of lanes, 6-inches from the bumpers of other cars, no indicator.

He swerved into the space I had left in front of my car with a hair's breadth between him and the poor little Geo Metro in front. Then he was shaking his crazy long mullet like a girl trying to fluff her hair. He was jamming to the radio, and sticking his head out the side, and at one point, he ended up next to me and gave me a slimy, sleazy grin.

Yeah, the reaper's using that one too, sooner or later.

Glad you're OK, dude. Good reflexes.

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

[AMax 0]

The trick I learned from a fellow race car driver (who himself is a big pain in a butt for police because of his style of driving on street roads) is to always slow down at intersections and scan for potential cars running the red light even when you have a green. Always.

Technically there is a small window between the point when yellow turns into red and the red turns into green on perpendicular road. This gap reduces the chances of collisions but in reality we cannot trust anyone on the road.

Here is another example. You are at the stop light and about to make a right turn onto a bigger road.
There is a car approaching you from the left. The car has a right turn signal ON. Technically, this car is not a hazard. In reality, they often keep going forward (potentially hitting you at high rate of speed).

[ChasingBlueSky 0]

I had some HS girl blow thru a stop sign some years back and plow thru me while I was on my bike. Luckily I saw her at the last moment and jumped up off my bike enough not get run over by her...but she still caught my leg and I slammed into the car. I snapped to about 25 feet from the car. Bruised ankle, busted shoulder, whiplash.

A few years later I was riding in the back of a friends car when a group of girls decided to do a U-Turn in the middle of Clark (just North of Wrigley Field) on a busy, rainy Friday night. We T-boned them, snapped their axle in half and I cracked my sternum.

A year later I was riding passenger again and a friend hydroplaned down a hill into a pickup truck and I cracked my sternum, again....and whiplash.

A year later I was sitting at a stop light when a drunk man decided to back into my car six times. Permanent damage to my lower back and hip....even more whiplash. (If i was a horse they would have taken me out back and shot me by now!)

The last three accidents all happened on the same day (Dec 23).

I figured skydiving had to be safer than being in a car!

_________________________________________
you can burn the land and boil the sea, but you can't take the sky from me....
I WILL fly again.....

[Dougiefresh 0]

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always slow down at intersections and scan for potential cars running the red light even when you have a green

Assume that the person in the other car will do the stupidest thing possible. Then watch them do it.

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. --Douglas Adams

[doddy 0]

have been taken out by a dick running a red light.....
fortunatly for me i was in my ford then so he got wriiten off and i drove away (damaged but still drivable) i cant stand people who dont bloody pay attention to what the F**K is going on when they are driving and because i have kids in the car i am more aware than i used to be.


but hey im alive so thats good!

A man who views the world at 50, the same as he did when he was 20, has wasted 30 yrs of his life.

"Muhammad Ali"

[sunshine 2]

Yay. Glad you're ok. I was hit head on by a truck many years ago. I sometimes still have nightmares about it.

___________________________________________
meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[doddy 0]

gee sunny thats awful for you.

my mum had a similar thing happen to her but she was on a motorbike and is and was very lucky to live.

hope all your nights are not clouded by nasty dreams.

I'll let you borrow my daughter dream catcher.. it keeps the bady's away. (works for her coz she is still little)

A man who views the world at 50, the same as he did when he was 20, has wasted 30 yrs of his life.

"Muhammad Ali"

[markd_nscr986 0]

Yeah,its so bad here(Colo.) that I do the fighter pilot look around before starting off from the green.......and it's saved me several times........on the motorcycle you have to assume that everyone is out to kill you and you'll do fine

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[BillyVance 34]

Great reflexes to avoid a worse collision! I don't know what that jackass was thinking...

One time I was riding in my friend's Porsche 914 late at night. We were approaching a flashing traffic light outside a mall, flashing yellow for us, flashing red for the cross-road. Right at the worst possible moment, some bumfuck teenager jackoff pulls out right into our path and we're going 50 mph, and not even enough time to brake or swerve, just WHAM! T-boned the fucker behind the driver's door, and spun him around over 180 degrees, the rear door and quarterpanel all smashed in. Bumfuck wasn't even hurt, and neither were we, since my friend's car was built like a brick shithouse, only crumpling the hood a little, and we finally drug to a stop a block away, as the brakes were taken out and the engine sheared off the mounts. The engine scraping on the street is what slowed us down to a grinding stop. Whoa... I was so impressed I went out and got my own 914! Sure wish I hadn't sold it a few years later...

Anyway, glad you survived without any damage and injuries! Be careful out there, California's full of crazy drivers... Oh wait... so is Alabama... hmm...

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[ltdiver 3]

Jan,

Wow! Very happy you're okay. Ah...the quick reflexes and clear thinking of a skydiver...

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[Gravitymaster 0]

Quote

I had some HS girl blow thru a stop sign some years back and plow thru me while I was on my bike. Luckily I saw her at the last moment and jumped up off my bike enough not get run over by her...but she still caught my leg and I slammed into the car. I snapped to about 25 feet from the car. Bruised ankle, busted shoulder, whiplash.

A few years later I was riding in the back of a friends car when a group of girls decided to do a U-Turn in the middle of Clark (just North of Wrigley Field) on a busy, rainy Friday night. We T-boned them, snapped their axle in half and I cracked my sternum.

A year later I was riding passenger again and a friend hydroplaned down a hill into a pickup truck and I cracked my sternum, again....and whiplash.

A year later I was sitting at a stop light when a drunk man decided to back into my car six times. Permanent damage to my lower back and hip....even more whiplash. (If i was a horse they would have taken me out back and shot me by now!)

The last three accidents all happened on the same day (Dec 23).

I figured skydiving had to be safer than being in a car!

Remind me never to skydive with you.

[kallend 1,672]

"Yield at entry roundabouts" (1) reduce accidents compared to traffic lights, and (2) reduce delays at the intersections, according to research reported by USDOT.

www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/fall95/p95a41.htm

Excessively long cycle times at traffic lights encourage red-light-running.

On the whole, traffic lights are the work of Satan (or at least, incompetent highway engineers).

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[diablopilot 2]

Glad you're ok. What did the numbnuts say when you stopped to look at the damage?

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[diablopilot 2]

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On the whole, traffic lights are the work of Satan

Agreed. I like me some roundabouts.......

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You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[gerrcoin 0]

Quote

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On the whole, traffic lights are the work of Satan

Agreed. I like me some roundabouts.......

Roundabouts are good in some areas but present their own problems. You can bet that the same idiot drivers mentioned in this thread will find ways to hit you just as easily. There's the usual lock up and skid or aquaplane through the centre island from an approach road. Plus on the multilane roundabouts you have to be very aware of your blind spots, because of the curving lane your standard mirrors will not show you the car you are about to hit. Either wideangle mirrors or use of the Mark I eyeball are required. Driving a van on a busy roundabout is not fun. Drivers need to be heads up and spatially aware, which we already know is not prevalent.

[bobsled92 0]

we have a round-a-bout near our DZ and to directions have a stop sign before entering and the other 2 ways don't. It seems NO ONE knows what to do when they get there. (same deal for the last 13 years I went there)

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[gerrcoin 0]

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we have a round-a-bout near our DZ and to directions have a stop sign before entering and the other 2 ways don't. It seems NO ONE knows what to do when they get there. (same deal for the last 13 years I went there)

I think the universal rule is for everyone to yield to traffic already on the roundabout. If you drive on the right then traffic on the roundabout goes counter-clockwise and you yield to traffic on your left. If you drive on the right left then the opposite is true. We have many of these here and still most people don't use them correctly, despite it being a required task on the driving test. The worst cases though are the large busy intersections with 3 or more lanes and traffic lights actually on the roundabout itself. Most people haven't a clue which lane they are supposed to get into on the approach roads and then have to do frantic lane swapping while driving around the thing.

I think that most tourists just end up doing laps of the roundabouts until they achieve an escape velocity and shoot across 3 or 4 lanes and invariably onto the wrong exit.

[bobsled92 0]

we get people with the stop sign , get out there and stop and people with NO stop sign stop dead half way through.

_______________________________
If I could be a Super Hero,
I chose to be: "GRANT-A-CLAUS". and work 365 days a Year.
http://www.hangout.no/speednews/

[markd_nscr986 0]

***On the whole, traffic lights are the work of Satan (or at least, incompetent highway engineers).


I think round-a-bouts are the work of the Devil
We have several in Golden and it just doesnt seem right going in to them counter-clock-wiseplus most of the drivers here haven't a clue how to drive in them

Marc SCR 6046 SCS 3004

[op5e 0]

I was on a motorbike (sarcasm/guess it was my fault) in a carpark when someone did not look as they turned a corner and T-boned me. Drivers who do not take care at stop signs/lights and who cut corners should loose their license straight away. Thank god for redlight camera's could you imagine how many people would speed through redlights if they knew they would never get caught.

I do like the touch of speed cameras being added to redlight cameras. So if you try to speed through it you get picked. Of course you know where they are and just slow down there.

[Shotgun 1]

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Agreed. I like me some roundabouts.......

For some crazy reason, the city of Austin decided to take out a bunch of 4-way stop signs in this one area and put in roundabouts... I'm not sure why, because I don't recall the 4-way stops ever being a problem... But the roundabouts turned out to be a HUGE problem... I just started trying to avoid driving on those streets because too many people didn't know how to use them...

As for the red lights, I spent a few days in the hospital thanks to someone running a red light (17 years ago, and I still have scars and back/neck problems from it) so I am pretty cautious about that. Luckily I have no memory of the car hitting me (or about to hit me) since I was knocked unconscious...

There is a traffic light at the end of the road where I live right now, and we see so many people run that light! I can't figure out why... but I always look before going on green (and have avoided several potential accidents by doing that)...

Glad to hear you're ok, Jan! And yes, the reaper is always lurking...

[ltdiver 3]

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We T-boned them, snapped their axle in half and I cracked my sternum.

Understand about being T-boned!

They had just put a new stop sign at the intersection next to our Perris DZ. A truck who was now supposed to stop and let me go through didn't even hit his brakes and t-boned my baby and me.

Even though it was a side impact, the hit was so hard that it deployed -both- my car's airbags. Axel broken, frame bent, rim distroyed, etc etc etc. Now I have ulnar nerve damage in my left arm and a neck that won't stop cracking. (my head hit the left side window pretty hard).

You know my avatar? It's me finally getting around to taking pictures with my Mustang GT (had planned to, just had never gotten around to it until -after- that accident). My avatar shows me and my baby's good side.

Here is a different view....

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[MakeItHappen 15]

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Glad you're ok. What did the numbnuts say when you stopped to look at the damage?

She was apologetic and remorseful. She said she knew she went through a red light.
She definitely realized that things could have been a lot worse.

I didn't even ask for the police to come. I figured a ticket would not make things better. No one was hurt and it was her car that had the broken turn signal.

I got the impression she was more of a 'deer in head lights'. She did not even swerve. Then again she probably did not have any place to go. I wonder if she even braked at all. I would love to hear what the SUV driver saw.

The strange thing is that I have to turn my head to the left to see the car coming in on me. It was only a car lane width away from me.

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Make It Happen
Parachute History
DiveMaker

[kallend 1,672]

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***On the whole, traffic lights are the work of Satan (or at least, incompetent highway engineers).


I think round-a-bouts are the work of the Devil
We have several in Golden and it just doesnt seem right going in to them counter-clock-wiseplus most of the drivers here haven't a clue how to drive in them

The roundabout or traffic circle comes in a number of forms, some of which are no better (maybe worse, if that's possible) than traffic lights. The specific design that is PROVEN safer and to provide fewer delays than traffic lights is the "yield at entry" variant. Even USDOT confirms the safety advantage.

Most traffic lights in this area (Chicago suburbs) are both unnecessary and incompetently programmed.

USDOT research also shows that there is no increase in safety when traffic lights are put at previously uncontrolled intersections.

Summary: research shows that compared to available alternatives, traffic lights provide less safety and more congestion and concomitant air pollution.

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The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.