Do you stop at stop signs?

[brucepick]

I stop for stop signs. Maybe not absolutely completely but I "stop". I fully stop for traffic lights.

I also stop fully for "right on red" at traffic lights. In my state it's "Right on red AFTER STOP" but I see people cruise through those right-on-reds at all speeds including at full speed.

Just yesterday I was accelerating from a stop,through a light that had just turned green, and a car blew straight through the intersection crossing my path, against his own red light. (Not right on red.) I had to hit the brakes hard or one of us would have broadsided the other. I admit this story is a bit off topic for the thread but this kind of stuff WILL happen occasionally, and if you drive enough hours there's a reasonable chance it will happen to you one day. So please, be careful!

If we'd collided, the other driver would have been at fault, but my day and night would have been ruined, at a minimum. It's important to be watchful for any potential hazards.

[Frank Lee]

Midwesterners "stop fully" for right-on-reds here too- and they stay stopped until it turns green I mean, right-on-red has only been the law of the land for the last 99 years so I guess I shouldn't expect everyone to know about it.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

Midwesterners "stop fully" for right-on-reds here too- and they stay stopped until it turns green I mean, right-on-red has only been the law of the land for the last 99 years so I guess I shouldn't expect everyone to know about it.

For about a year now we've had the novelty of red light cameras in our county. They are making so much money on them they now want to balance the entire county budget on it by doubling their number. (I say why stop there? Why not put one on every corner?)

By now virtually everyone living here has gotten an automated ticket ($50 fine, with no record incurred if you pay it - but with an additional $20 court fee, "adding insult to injury" if you challenge it and you absolutely will lose your case, because the judge's attitude is that "the machine is always right".

But the worst part is that now drivers are scared s---less of moving at all while at the light, including making a legal right turn on red after a full stop. I was behind one the other day in my convertible. After screaming at the guy in front of me "GO! It's LEGAL!" he finally did after about a two minute wait. Some others will just sit there interminably, until the light turns green. This is a good example of the so-called "chilling effect"; AKA the psychological phenomenon of 'learned helplessness'. Ignorance of the law may be no excuse, but the end result here illustrates how ignorant many drivers really are.

[dcb]

The other side of that is I have learned to be so relaxed about driving that I have no qualms sitting there, especially if the guy behind me is bein an a-hole. Pretty sure I would hunt down someone who rear-ended me though and make them pay. I've a right to be there without getting run into.

[Frank Lee]

I was run into at a light in Ohio with my truck and trailer was in no position to go hunting anyone down. I pulled over at the first opportunity and thought they would too but of course they knew it was all on them so they split. Also took gravel to the windshield from a landscaping truck in Ohio and it cracked the windshield. Was heavily loaded so could hardly get out of my own way so no chasing there either. God I hate Ohio.

I'm not usually Type A when driving but I don't care for sitting at a right on red behind some immoble stump, if only for the unneccesary idling.

[Thymeclock]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

God I hate Ohio.

Yep, I've driven through Ohio several times. It's a state with ugly terrain, unattractive women, and far too many traffic cops. (Not that I've ever been ticketed there, but I've heard stories from those unfortunates who have been,)

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Thymeclock

Ohio...unattractive women

The 1930s called for you, they want their fugliest sexist retard back...

[drewb]

It's a good technique to save mpg, but for me, there is a point to hypermiling where it becomes impractical - where mpg is more important than safety. Either way, stay safe people.

[drv2die]

where i live it is a must to stop usually even if there is a yield you have to stop and wait for a opening at least in my driving window. all the stops are pretty much blind , there is one to blocks from my house here you cant see on coming traffic on way from landscaping and the other from a retaining wall. if you tried rolling through a sign here you would likely be in a accident.

[UFO]

I ran the traffic sequencing light on the freeway ramp today. No one was waiting, no cross traffic. That's why I picked the third poll option.

Besides, there are lights on automatic sequencing that change even with no one waiting. I will sometimes run one in particular when no one is waiting or approaching -- if it has just changed to red. Hey, it's on a good downhill stretch, I hate to kill my glide.