LMAO, yellow means "Caution" in EVERY state......
Read your state manual. Massachusetts has the following..
"A steady yellow light means the traffic signal is changing from green to red. You must stop if it is safe to do so."
An intersection right by my office (which I cross to do work) I'd say 80% of red lights get run by someone dashing through at the last minute. Then again, this is MA. :)
Easy Designerfx. I didn't call all drivers bad, so don't call all pedestrians bad. If traffic has a RED light and I have a clear walk signal, and then a car races through the intersection at 40 mph to blow through the stale red light, it's certainly not the pedestrians fault.
The larger question - which, if any, is more likely to get a driver to change their behavior - a human officer with a ticket on the spot, or a camera which punishes you days/weeks later??
Steelwolf - my opening statement was more addressing the fact that most print and TV reports on red light cameras discuss only drivers and tickets - never pedestrian safety. Even this article (while only just a news update) only talked about cars and fairness to drivers - no mention of ped safety...
As a pedestrian I see more of the other side of this issue than drivers (althoguh I do drive from time to time.
I'm tired of almost dying every time I walk around town. Drivers ignoring stop lines and cruising into crosswalks before stopping. Drivers making right turns on red, but looking left WHILE MOVING to look for other cars while pedestrians are legally crossing from the driver's right side.
And, of course, drivers (yes plural) running red lights. The problem is so 'accepted' now that intersections now have a three second delay after a light turns red before opposing light and crosswalks go green, to allow for 'red light runners' to clear the intersections.
In most states a yellow light means 'stop' (unless you cannot stop). So running a yellow light and even a 'just turned' red light is 'acceptable', people are stretching that to now running stale red lights. Or they are just inattentive and cruise through an intersection because the driver in front of them did (while running a red light) and the second driver was looking at the car in front of them rather than the traffic signal.
So it comes down to cameras at red lights Peds want them because we're tired of close calls at every intersection. Drivers hate them because every driver thinks they 'just made it' and never ever deserve a ticket. This city shortening the yellow light time is sleezy and should not have been done. Cameras are supposed to record how long the light was red when the car ran the light, so they will supposedly not ticket the 'just missed' people. I really have no idea why people need to be notified that they should obey the law in this intersection and don't bother in the others.
There are a lot of privacy/big brother issues when cameras give tickets. But this isn't like going 35 in a 30mph zone. If you've run the red light, chances are you just missed hitting me...
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When is cable not cable
Re: Re: not so clear
Re: Re: cameras at red lights
easy sparky
The larger question - which, if any, is more likely to get a driver to change their behavior - a human officer with a ticket on the spot, or a camera which punishes you days/weeks later??
Steelwolf - my opening statement was more addressing the fact that most print and TV reports on red light cameras discuss only drivers and tickets - never pedestrian safety. Even this article (while only just a news update) only talked about cars and fairness to drivers - no mention of ped safety...
not so clear
I'm tired of almost dying every time I walk around town. Drivers ignoring stop lines and cruising into crosswalks before stopping. Drivers making right turns on red, but looking left WHILE MOVING to look for other cars while pedestrians are legally crossing from the driver's right side.
And, of course, drivers (yes plural) running red lights. The problem is so 'accepted' now that intersections now have a three second delay after a light turns red before opposing light and crosswalks go green, to allow for 'red light runners' to clear the intersections.
In most states a yellow light means 'stop' (unless you cannot stop). So running a yellow light and even a 'just turned' red light is 'acceptable', people are stretching that to now running stale red lights. Or they are just inattentive and cruise through an intersection because the driver in front of them did (while running a red light) and the second driver was looking at the car in front of them rather than the traffic signal.
So it comes down to cameras at red lights Peds want them because we're tired of close calls at every intersection. Drivers hate them because every driver thinks they 'just made it' and never ever deserve a ticket. This city shortening the yellow light time is sleezy and should not have been done. Cameras are supposed to record how long the light was red when the car ran the light, so they will supposedly not ticket the 'just missed' people. I really have no idea why people need to be notified that they should obey the law in this intersection and don't bother in the others.
There are a lot of privacy/big brother issues when cameras give tickets. But this isn't like going 35 in a 30mph zone. If you've run the red light, chances are you just missed hitting me...
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