Saturday, July 02, 2005

Seeing red


I've been a little hard on red light cameras lately - to the point of wanting to abolish them outright. But there's a good reason for it. I don't think the average yellow light gives you enough time to stop for the red in every case. When I know I'm approaching an intersection with a red light camera, I tense up. Sometimes I get paranoid and speed up to get through it before the change starts. If the light turns yellow, I mash on the brakes to make sure I can stop in time. 'Cause I'll be damned if I'm going to pay a $270 fine.

Well, I have thought up a solution. It's a fact! You know how some intersections have a set of warning yellow lights a distance before the intersection that blink when the lights at said intersection are about to change to yellow? I propose to apply such a warning mechanism right into every set of traffic lights. The normal cycle of a traffic light is green, yellow then red. The improved cycle would be green, green with a flashing yellow, followed by just solid yellow, then red. This gives the motorist plenty of time to slow down for a change to a red.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

or they could just make the yellow 10 seconds longer?? :)

Karl Plesz said...

You're right. The problem with that solution is that if you weren't paying attention (and who does anymore), you wouldn't know how long the light had been in the yellow state. Besides, we are already conditioned for the cycle intervals we have now, we'd just add a n extra cycle - which already exists at some intersections, but in a different form.

Anonymous said...

Why do you need a longer yellow light? You're not supposed to ENTER the intersection on a yellow. The yellow is just to clear the intersection before it turns red. and if your not paying attention and playing with your mp3 player or talking on your cell phone get of the F***ing road .

Karl Plesz said...

So you're telling me that if the light has turned yellow and you're mere feet from entering the intersection, you should be able to stop safely in all circumstances? What the hell are you driving - a maglev?

Anonymous said...

When I learned to drive I was taught to look a light ahead and if it is a stale green (meaning if you did not see it turn green) you should be prepared to stop. you only get a red light ticket if you enter the intersection on the red

signed

driver with 1 million km driven 0 accidents 1 bogus speeding ticket

Karl Plesz said...

I understand everything you're saying. It still freaks me out, that's all. Before red light cameras, I drove normal. Never purposely drove through a red light. Now, whenever I see the camera, I tense up, and if I see the light turn yellow, I get paranoid, slam on the brakes - even though there might have been a good chance I could have made it. I am not a bad driver. I do not talk on my cell while driving.

Signed driver with 575,000km driven, 2 accidents (both the other party's fault), 2 speeding tickets.

Anonymous said...

I thought my comments were fairly intellegent

signed
Complete Dickhead F***tard

Karl Plesz said...

Wow. This post is getting much more mileage than I thought it would....

Anonymous said...

and it was just a slip of the finger that I hit enter before I signed it. I'll just change my name to Mr. C.D. F***tard for you Jon. I think you must like your job as a Professional chemical sniffer. Do you like elmers or lepage better in your baggie

Karl Plesz said...

I guess the finger slipped again, huh?