RANT – Innovative way to run a red light

[datamuse]

The difference between drivers in the NE and drivers in the NW in a nutshell:

When sharing the road with a state trooper in a 60mph zone: in the NW, the driver will slow down to 55. In the NE, the driver will slow to 70.

Bahaha! It’s funny cause it’s true.

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[add]

You know, I always thought the posters here who said “Seattle is the WORST for red light runners!” were being a little over-dramatic. But I have to say, after living here for over 20 years, that I finally see where that’s coming from! In the last 24 hours, I literally saw 6 drivers run red lights. I’m not talking about “oops, I misjudged the timing on the yellow” or “I was waiting in the left-turn lane and finally got the chance to go” … these were blatant, hit-the-gas-after-the-light-turned-red. What the ??? Is there a full moon or something – holy cow!! So, instead of hoping that reasonable people will read this and heed the red lights, I’d say that those who are waiting for YOUR light to turn GREEN – give yourself an extra few seconds before heading into that intersection. Sheesh!

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[valvashon]

“There was a guy on a dirt-bike style motorcycle at the light when I pulled up. Apparently he didn’t want to wait any longer as I saw him take a right turn onto 35th (north). And then he immediately made a shallow U-turn (south), before making another right turn and continuing westbound on Avalon.

I didn’t see any flash from the red light cameras. The traffic light turned green about 10 seconds after he did this. I hope that extra 10 seconds was worth it to him.”

Back on topic here. The motorcyclist probably knew that his bike did not have enough mass to trip the embedded sensor, so he found a way to move things along without having the light change due to time or having a car trip the sensor on the other side of the street. The light probably changed due to you pulling forward (or behind him) or having another car pull up on the other side. Some intersections are wired for this possibility; one near my house will trip the light almost immediately if you stop on the second sensor. It thinks that a motorcycle or something else is in front of you that wasn’t detected. Two vehicles waiting= light getting tripped. Try it sometime. And don’t pull past the sensors into the crosswalk. To the light, you are no longer there.

Val

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