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#1
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
This afternoon we pushed the button to activate the light on minor cross
street of a four lane road. The light changed, the traffic stopped, or so we thought, and we proceed across. About half way across, a Toyota Corolla blew through the red light at high speed, about 12 feet in front of me. If I had been two seconds or so faster it'd have been the end. So I was thinking that it really was much more dangerous to cross on the green, trusting that the cross traffic would stop, than to simply wait for a break in traffic and run the red light. This is a map of the location in Cupertino: "http://i34.tinypic.com/2n9etqs.jpg" and it's a heavily used crossing by high school students. I think the driver was focusing on the next traffic light, a few hundred feet south, though the left lane of southbound traffic stopped and you'd think she'd have wondered about why the traffic in the left lane wasn't moving. |
#2
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
On Sep 21, 10:13*pm, SMS wrote:
This afternoon we pushed the button to activate the light on minor cross street of a four lane road. The light changed, the traffic stopped, or so we thought, and we proceed across. About half way across, a Toyota Corolla blew through the red light at high speed, about 12 feet in front of me. If I had been two seconds or so faster it'd have been the end. So I was thinking that it really was much more dangerous to cross on the green, trusting that the cross traffic would stop, than to simply wait for a break in traffic and run the red light. This is a map of the location in Cupertino: "http://i34.tinypic.com/2n9etqs.jpg" and it's a heavily used crossing by high school students. I think the driver was focusing on the next traffic light, a few hundred feet south, though the left lane of southbound traffic stopped and you'd think she'd have wondered about why the traffic in the left lane wasn't moving. She probably had a case of 'recto-cranial insertion'. Lewis. ***** |
#3
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
She probably had a case of 'recto-cranial insertion'.
=v= As illustrated by the great Nina Paley: http://www.ninapaley.com/archives/20...on-drivin.html _Jym_ |
#4
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
SMS wrote:
This afternoon we pushed the button to activate the light on minor cross street of a four lane road. The light changed, the traffic stopped, or so we thought, and we proceed across. About half way across, a Toyota Corolla blew through the red light at high speed, about 12 feet in front of me. If I had been two seconds or so faster it'd have been the end. So I was thinking that it really was much more dangerous to cross on the green, trusting that the cross traffic would stop, than to simply wait for a break in traffic and run the red light. This is a map of the location in Cupertino: "http://i34.tinypic.com/2n9etqs.jpg" and it's a heavily used crossing by high school students. I think the driver was focusing on the next traffic light, a few hundred feet south, though the left lane of southbound traffic stopped and you'd think she'd have wondered about why the traffic in the left lane wasn't moving. I'm not sure about the conclusion (safer to run), but given how little protection a cyclist has in a MV collision, I think it's prudent to ride more than defensively. One of my first lessons after moving to the big city was to look both ways on one-way streets. I learned to assume that traffic won't always be predictable (or lawful). A fender bender in a car can easily be a fatality on a bike. There are a few situations that I perceive to be riskier when complying with the law. One is stopping in a mixed left/straight lane. I usually won't wait for my left turn light, I'll just go ASAP, light or no, just to get out of the kill zone. I know of one particularly lethal crossing on a nearby bike path. The cross traffic has a light, but also a yield sign for right turning. Peds/cyclists in the crosswalk can easily assume that all traffic is stopped for the light, but right turners can (and do) blow through without even slowing. Since ped/cyclist traffic is crossing from the right, motorists don't see them as they are looking left for merging traffic (a common hazard in sidewalk cycling). As a friend said when I complained about an oncoming driver not using their turn signals: "I wouldn't have believed them anyway". Words to live by. |
#5
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
On Sep 22, 8:11*am, Peter Cole wrote:
As a friend said when I complained about an oncoming driver not using their turn signals: "I wouldn't have believed them anyway". Words to live by. Amen! |
#6
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
Peter Cole wrote:
I'm not sure about the conclusion (safer to run), but given how little protection a cyclist has in a MV collision, I think it's prudent to ride more than defensively. One of my first lessons after moving to the big city was to look both ways on one-way streets. I learned to assume that traffic won't always be predictable (or lawful). A fender bender in a car can easily be a fatality on a bike. What I see as really dangerous is four lane roads where you can't see the far lane of traffic. Of the two lanes going in a certain direction, one lane will stop, but the other lane won't. This is a big problem at crosswalks where there are no traffi controls, you see it often. The driver that blows through has his or her view of the pedestrian blocked by the car that is stopped. I remember reading somewhere once that pedestrian crosswalks are the most dangerous place to cross a street. First, they are usually at intersections, so you have traffic coming from four directions rather than two if you crossed mid-street. Second, pedestrians get a false sense of security because the crosswalk is marked, and third, you often get one lane stopping and the other lane not understanding why the traffic is stopped. The place this happened to me is a heavily used cross street during school hours because it's right by a pedestrian/bicycle route that crosses a creek and through a park, and it's a long way around to not use this route. I know of one particularly lethal crossing on a nearby bike path. The cross traffic has a light, but also a yield sign for right turning. Peds/cyclists in the crosswalk can easily assume that all traffic is stopped for the light, but right turners can (and do) blow through without even slowing. Since ped/cyclist traffic is crossing from the right, motorists don't see them as they are looking left for merging traffic (a common hazard in sidewalk cycling). Yeah, a lot of bike path crossings of streets are really bad. The same map I had a link to, ends at a street where there are no stop signs or yield signs, or barrier, just a ramp that goes down into the relatively busy neighborhood street. We have a horrible public works department in this city that doesn't believe in any sort of traffic calming. The next city over, Sunnyvale, seems to take traffic calming very seriously. |
#7
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
SMS aka Steven M. Scharf wrote:
Peter Cole wrote: I'm not sure about the conclusion (safer to run), but given how little protection a cyclist has in a MV collision, I think it's prudent to ride more than defensively. One of my first lessons after moving to the big city was to look both ways on one-way streets. I learned to assume that traffic won't always be predictable (or lawful). A fender bender in a car can easily be a fatality on a bike. What I see as really dangerous is four lane roads where you can't see the far lane of traffic. Of the two lanes going in a certain direction, one lane will stop, but the other lane won't. This is a big problem at crosswalks where there are no traffi controls, you see it often. The driver that blows through has his or her view of the pedestrian blocked by the car that is stopped. I remember reading somewhere once that pedestrian crosswalks are the most dangerous place to cross a street. First, they are usually at intersections, so you have traffic coming from four directions rather than two if you crossed mid-street. Second, pedestrians get a false sense of security because the crosswalk is marked, and third, you often get one lane stopping and the other lane not understanding why the traffic is stopped. I have had assholes [1] whip around me to the right when I stopped my automobile to yield to pedestrian(s) crossing in a marked crosswalk. The place this happened to me is a heavily used cross street during school hours because it's right by a pedestrian/bicycle route that crosses a creek and through a park, and it's a long way around to not use this route. I know of one particularly lethal crossing on a nearby bike path. The cross traffic has a light, but also a yield sign for right turning. Peds/cyclists in the crosswalk can easily assume that all traffic is stopped for the light, but right turners can (and do) blow through without even slowing. Since ped/cyclist traffic is crossing from the right, motorists don't see them as they are looking left for merging traffic (a common hazard in sidewalk cycling). Yeah, a lot of bike path crossings of streets are really bad. The same map I had a link to, ends at a street where there are no stop signs or yield signs, or barrier, just a ramp that goes down into the relatively busy neighborhood street. [...] Even worse, the MUPs have stop signs and/or poor sight distances, so one has to stop and then cross the street at a relatively slow speed, increasing the exposure time to cross traffic. [1] I wish I had a ruder and more offensive adjective for these sub-humans. -- Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia Life is bad, then you die. |
#8
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
SMS wrote:
We have a horrible public works department in this city that doesn't believe in any sort of traffic calming. The next city over, Sunnyvale, seems to take traffic calming very seriously. We just got a new guy who seems much more pro-calming than the old guy. I think it's spreading, albeit slowly. |
#9
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
Peter Cole wrote:
SMS wrote: We have a horrible public works department in this city that doesn't believe in any sort of traffic calming. The next city over, Sunnyvale, seems to take traffic calming very seriously. We just got a new guy who seems much more pro-calming than the old guy. I think it's spreading, albeit slowly. We had a great guy, who retired. He was extremely pro-traffic calming, much to the dismay of some of the city council that didn't like to ever be impeded while driving. After he left the city began to dismantle a lot of the stuff he did, including timed gates that shut off short-cuts through residential neighborhoods during commute times. I was hysterically laughing when I saw that our bicycle and pedestrian commission wanted to apply for LAB's "bicycle friendly city" status, following about six yeas of worsening the quality of cycling in the city. Unfortunately, it's nearly impossible to get rid of the public works director who we have now. The council isn't too happy with him, but only the city manager can fire him, and he won't. The majority of council would also like to dump the city manager, but his contract requires four out of five votes, and currently it's three to two (though no one will admit this). Our mayor would melt if someone dumped a bucket of water on her. I wish I could afford to live in Palo Alto. |
#10
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Maybe it's safer to run red lights than to wait for green lights.
"Peter Cole" (clip) As a friend said when I complained about an oncoming driver not using their turn signals: "I wouldn't have believed them anyway". (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ It's kind of like the confession to a crime with no corrorative evidence. Always look for things like the position of the front wheels, the angle of the car to the lane, speed, where the driver is looking, etc. |
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