I can confirm that approximately 0% of drivers stop before turning right on red in my location in the Northeast, as well. I have actually had other drivers chase me through traffic to catch up with me at the next light and get out of their vehicles to threaten me because they were so angry that I stopped before turning on red, like you are legally required to do. It’s absolutely insane.
People treat a right turn on red like it’s their own personal green light and everyone else just has to get out of their way. They don’t look to see what’s coming and most of the time they don’t even slow down first.
There are intersections where if you’re familiar with them you know what is safe. For example at one intersection near me if I just miss the green I know the next signal is to give cross traffic left turn greens, which means no one else can be going into the lanes. I do stop, but only for a brief moment because there can always be inattentive drivers doing the wrong thing.
Of course I’m not one to really get pissed at folks for not conforming to my driving preferences, so that part is weird to me, but I do get annoyed when someone stops for like 20 seconds with no traffic. If you do that, you might get the shortest toot with my horn I can manage to wake you up if you’ve somehow forgotten you can turn, but that’s it.
I don’t go anywhere with so tight a time margin that an extra minute or two in traffic is going to matter.
Well that annoys me too, especially when someone has both a green light and green turn arrow - and they don’t go, they just sit there. I’m like - what more do you need, an engraved invitiation to go ahead and turn?? Then of course the light changes and we’re all stuck waiting for the next signal.
I’m a very cautious driver, I’ve learned to be defensive in my driving and always keep my eyes peeled. So I do think it’s better to err on the side of caution. I try to take into account that someone might be older or having eye problems or needs a few more seconds to complete a turn.
I live in Utah - which is bad enough, but I deal with this punitive driving malarky all the time. People getting angry at me for stopping at a red light before continuing into the turn - as if I’m the one doing something wrong!! And just where are all these people in such a frantic, panicked rush to get to that having to courteously wait for someone to turn is going to ruin their entire g-d day.
You talk about people always thinking they have a personal green light. Here in Utah, NOBODY yields right of way to anyone. In fact, every day we have more people getting hit by our Trax commuter trains because they refuse to stop for the flashing red signals and wait.
And don’t think for a minute anyone here will yield right of way even if you’re the one who actually has it. They never look to see if someone is coming in front or behind them - they are so oblivious to everyone else and just expect people to jump out of their way. It’s really sad to see this anti-intellectual, anti-humanitarian trend in dangerous driving.
I can confirm that approximately 0% of drivers stop before turning right on red in my location in the Northeast, as well. I have actually had other drivers chase me through traffic to catch up with me at the next light and get out of their vehicles to threaten me because they were so angry that I stopped before turning on red, like you are legally required to do. It’s absolutely insane.
People treat a right turn on red like it’s their own personal green light and everyone else just has to get out of their way. They don’t look to see what’s coming and most of the time they don’t even slow down first.
There are intersections where if you’re familiar with them you know what is safe. For example at one intersection near me if I just miss the green I know the next signal is to give cross traffic left turn greens, which means no one else can be going into the lanes. I do stop, but only for a brief moment because there can always be inattentive drivers doing the wrong thing.
Of course I’m not one to really get pissed at folks for not conforming to my driving preferences, so that part is weird to me, but I do get annoyed when someone stops for like 20 seconds with no traffic. If you do that, you might get the shortest toot with my horn I can manage to wake you up if you’ve somehow forgotten you can turn, but that’s it.
I don’t go anywhere with so tight a time margin that an extra minute or two in traffic is going to matter.
Well that annoys me too, especially when someone has both a green light and green turn arrow - and they don’t go, they just sit there. I’m like - what more do you need, an engraved invitiation to go ahead and turn?? Then of course the light changes and we’re all stuck waiting for the next signal.
I’m a very cautious driver, I’ve learned to be defensive in my driving and always keep my eyes peeled. So I do think it’s better to err on the side of caution. I try to take into account that someone might be older or having eye problems or needs a few more seconds to complete a turn.
I live in Utah - which is bad enough, but I deal with this punitive driving malarky all the time. People getting angry at me for stopping at a red light before continuing into the turn - as if I’m the one doing something wrong!! And just where are all these people in such a frantic, panicked rush to get to that having to courteously wait for someone to turn is going to ruin their entire g-d day.
You talk about people always thinking they have a personal green light. Here in Utah, NOBODY yields right of way to anyone. In fact, every day we have more people getting hit by our Trax commuter trains because they refuse to stop for the flashing red signals and wait.
And don’t think for a minute anyone here will yield right of way even if you’re the one who actually has it. They never look to see if someone is coming in front or behind them - they are so oblivious to everyone else and just expect people to jump out of their way. It’s really sad to see this anti-intellectual, anti-humanitarian trend in dangerous driving.