Sometimes, they are around

[pecunium]

So... Barry and I were on our way home from some shopping and we pulled up to a red light. We were second in the line, and two lanes over. It happens the intersection has a 3-function cycle, instead of the more common 2-function.

So the pattern is a NS, and then a different function in the NS. To be honest I am not sure what the differences are. The only times I am at that intersection going NS is for a turn to the E.

The pick-up truck in the left turn lane wasn't aware of this, and decided to try and make an aggreessive left turn as soon as the light changed. But it didn't, and he had the sense to not try to bull his way through cross traffic.

While we were being amused at his foolhardiness, a police cruiser pulled up, not quite next to us (because of the cars, and the slight curve of the street). The NS traffic cleared and the light in that direction went yellow.

The pick-up, ran the red to make his left. The cop was stunned. It took him a few seconds to start moving... pull into the left turn lane and hit the lights and siren. The light was turnig as he entered the intersection. Whem we cleared the intersection the truck was already half a mile down the road, with about 1/3rd of a mile between him and the cop.

So the guy is looking at not less than two violations. Running the red (§ 21461), and the illegal left (§ 21801 (a)) and just maybe... §2800.1 Evading a police officer.

There was a distinct whiff of schadenfruede as we pulled past the intersection.

Comments

I was hit in this situation

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

when I was sixteen, with a brand new car. It was a double-hex, I was turning left on basically red light and he was basically gunning to get through the intersection. My fault was turning left on red, his fault was running a red light AND (because he was driving a Tip-Top Plumbing truck with no commercial license, just a basic driver's license).

Where I live now (in urbia, about five minutes from KC's downtown) it is NEVER safe at all to be the first out when a light changes to green, or to run yellow lights. You have even odds of being whacked One night I was taking a friend home and we watched seven cars run the red light at Armor and Troost, they appeared to be people driving together too.

But it is always gratifying to see an idiot get a ticket.

[michael-b-lee.livejournal.com]

Something similar happened to me one night. I was at an intersection and about to turn north onto a busy street when a northbound SUV ran the red light at considerable speed. If I'd been a bit faster on the draw making the turn I would have had the SUV's grille in my passenger seat.

Fortunately, I was being cautious - because there was a patrol car right behind me. I basically turned northbound through the intersection and pulled onto the shoulder just as the officer hit his lights and went after the guy.

It doesn't happen often, but my, how satisfying it is when it occurs.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I wish I could remember who this happened to; someone I knew online only. She was in the left turn lane, signal on, waiting to turn. Officer pulled up behind her, turned on his lights. She made eye contact (via the rear-view mirror) and turned on her hazard lights.

When the left-turn signal came on, she made her turn and immediately pulled over and stopped. The officer ticketed her for something relatively minor like a burnt-out tail light, and "evading". I think she contested the evading charge and it was dropped, but I'm not positive of that.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

That's a bullshit evading charge.

I still recall my first vehicular "solo". I got my license in Tennessee. So I tooled from Oak Ridge, to Knoxville. I don't know what street it was, but it was huge (three lanes in either direction, left turn lane(s?).

It also had a curve through the intersection.

I had the green light, was not speeding; idjit decided to make a left. We stopped not more than a couple of feet from each other... his left corner practically up my grille.

And he was furious. I think I was in such shock that it was something like half a mile before I could pull over and shake.

That would be scary

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

To face someone who by the grace of physics has avoided an accident due to his own stupidity, and then is pissed off because he's being inconvenienced by the almost-accident.

I've only lost my mind on about three or four people, which is a Good thing. I'm told that i'm magnificent, I do not use profanity (which is normally every tenth word) and that the reaming is always deserved. Last one was someone who had bugged me about a nothing issue before our local annual con, and kept bugging me, by the time the con arrived she was calling me every day even thought I told her to just cut it the f-k out. She made the mistake of getting in my face while I was hanging our art show, and as I said, it was apparently magnificent. She still does not speak much to me and it's been ten years. i'm not particularly bothered by that.

Over the winter I was involved in a very slow motion accident on snow, my only misfortune was that the person who's bumper I hit had motion sensors on said bumper. Sigh. I'm glad I had liability insurance.