Red Light Ticket

[mikea]

Dave,

In 2005 we took a driving trip from Texas, up the Blue Ridge Parkway to NYC... in a Ford Expedition. Nobody told us that finding a place to park BIG rigs in NYC is nearly impossible, certainly expensive (you drive in, and they take your car upstairs in an ELEVATOR!), and the lanes are NARROW, especially on the bridges. I felt like I got permanent carpal tunnel from driving with my elbows pulled in for a week.

Anyway, to answer your question about it being illegal in other states to make a right turn on red... I found some GOOD web sites before we went that described NYC driving rules, and they are different.
...

Lots of other crazy stuff, but it prevents gridlock. You do have to drive assertive; if you're a "shy" driver, you'll go nowhere in NYC.

They also have "Do Not Block the Box" which gives pedestrians a chance to actually cross the street.

In Chicago the cab drivers look at pedestrians like the bowling ball looks at the bowling pins.

 

[wsuffa]

I checked both the driver's manal and the actual state statutes in Minnesota and Michigan for any support of either of your statements and found none. Can you supply text or links to an actual law stating that "you can't enter an intersection unless you are reasonbly sure (whatever that means) that you can make the turn without having to stop" or that you are violating the law if "light turns red as you are clearing the intersection".

The MN driver's manual does state that a driver should keep the wheels straight when stopping for a left turn which suggests that a left turn need not be completed without stopping.

Lance,

there is a good discussion here on the yellow light issue:

http://knowledge.fhwa.dot.gov/cops/...85257105000E48DA&Group=Signals&tab=DISCUSSION

The following is a quote from that discussion:

"The law as stated in the (California) UVC is considered a permissive yellow law, meaning that the driver can enter the intersection during the entire yellow interval and be in the intersection during the red indication as long as he/she entered the intersection during the yellow interval. As of 1992, permissive yellow rules were followed by at least half of the states (4). However, in other states there are two types of restrictive yellow laws that apply, namely: Vehicles can neither enter the intersection nor be in the intersection on red; or
Vehicles must stop upon receiving the yellow indication, unless it is not possible to do so safely."

From the tone of the discussion, apparently even driving instructors are not in full agreement on how to handle yellow lights.

Admittedly, these laws are not always strictly enforced, although the growing use (and controversy over) red light cameras is changing that. I especially liked the one case in Montgomery County, MD where the traffic light with the camera had a substantially shorter yellow light cycle (2.7 seconds vs 4 seconds or more) than any other light along that stretch of road... and that camera had nearly $1 million in traffic fines issued.

 

[Graueradler]

I know that traffic law is a state thing but this is one case where I wish it was federal. It would be nice if the traffic laws across the United States were the same everywhere and we had a United States drivers license so you didn't have to take a new test every time you moved to another state.

 

[James_Dean]

I know that traffic law is a state thing but this is one case where I wish it was federal. It would be nice if the traffic laws across the United States were the same everywhere and we had a United States drivers license so you didn't have to take a new test every time you moved to another state.

Have to disagree. You want Dianne Feinstein and Hillary Clinton to have anything to say about the traffic procedures applied in your city?

Didn't think so.


James Dean

 

[EHITCH]

If the signal light turns red, and you are still in the middle of the intersection, you are in violation.

I believe this varies from state to state. For example, in Illinois the rules of the road specifically say:
"If you enter an intersection while the light is green, you may finish your turn even though the light turns red."

Of course you have to yield to traffic, but this is one of the finer points of IL driving regs that surprised me when I moved here.

E Hitchcock

 

[mikea]

I believe this varies from state to state. For example, in Illinois the rules of the road specifically say:
"If you enter an intersection while the light is green, you may finish your turn even though the light turns red."

Of course you have to yield to traffic, but this is one of the finer points of IL driving regs that surprised me when I moved here.

E Hitchcock

Is this really only an Illinois thing? How could it be otherwise?

Otherwise you'd have a lot of people dying of age waiting to make a left turn.

BTW, were also taught in driver's ed that you could enter the interesection on a yellow. As I said otherwise, you might hear a lot of screeching brakes. That's why the hipsters really do enter on a the RED. It goes like "the STOP sign means think about slowing down, so the red light must mean..."

No to mention the South Side technique that you can just power ahead and MAKE your left turn to instant the light turns green as long as your car is fast enough to clear the intersection before the other guy can hit you. Extra points if pedestrians have to run for their lives.

 

[EHITCH]

No to mention the South Side technique that you can just power ahead and MAKE your left turn to instant the light turns green as long as your car is fast enough to clear the intersection before the other guy can hit you. Extra points if pedestrians have to run for their lives.

Or just hit the pedestrians. Two weeks ago I was in the right lane, at a stop sign, signalling to go right, when a pedestrian stepped into the crosswalk in front of me, and the idiot behind me hit his horn and started signalling obscenities at me. Guess I just should have hit the lady so he could get on his way.

 

[silver-eagle]

Turning left wouldn't be as much a problem if people went through the intersection "at a safe speed". That's more like 20-25 instead of the 35-40 many do. Of course, if you slow to that speed, you're likely to get run over. And while the intersection is regulated by a traffic light, a little courtesy (properly placed) would allow left turning traffic to proceed nicely.
As to pedestrians, when did it become smart to challenge a 2,000 pound plus vehicle by stepping off the curb in front of them.

 

[SkyHog]

Is this one of those cleaver ways of defeating the obsenity filter that Chuck was talking about?

Uh oh - Jesse is being "cleaver" again.

I can guarantee you its not June this time. Must be the Beav.

 

[jesse]

Uh oh - Jesse is being "cleaver" again.

I can guarantee you its not June this time. Must be the Beav.

I really do try to be clever sometimes.. but it seems lately that I'm coming off as cleaver... Something tells I'm not as clever as I thought I was.

Oh well. Back to cutting meat with my heavy broad-bladed arm.