Why do so many people run red lights now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a few times a year I see someone run a red light who wasn’t just over extending a yellow. I don’t think this is an increasingly common occurrence.

+1 This thread is bewildering to me, I don’t see this at all.

Do you live in DC? It’s constant in the areas where I drive mostly — usually around Capitol Hill and Penn Quarter. From what I’ve seen, it’s most common for VA and MD plates at rush hour, but I do also see it at all hours and from all types of cars.

[Anonymous]

Because people around here don't care about life anymore and cops are no longer ticketing and everyone knows it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a few times a year I see someone run a red light who wasn’t just over extending a yellow. I don’t think this is an increasingly common occurrence.

+1 This thread is bewildering to me, I don’t see this at all.

OK let me help you, drive through alexandria, on seminary road, then get on rt 7 then rt 236 to Annandale through fairfax or down to coulmunia pike past Arlington down to fairfax right past the police station, and come back you will see this easily 25 times no exaggeration.

[Anonymous]

I see it all the time in the Baltimore suburbs. Including left turns at red lights. Contrary to what PP claimed about Trump, 90% of these drivers are black males and when you look at the Baltimore voting patterns, it is hard to claim it's because of Trump.

They do it because the police aren't clamping down on it. And I'll let you figure out why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's a sign of how our country is descending into chaos, honestly. I think once Trump was elected and for four years he basically told the country that he plays by his own rules (remember his explanations for how little in tax he paid? because he was "smarter"), it made people subconsciously (or consciously) think "am I being a sucker? everyone else cheats and gets more than me as a result, so I might as well cheat too." And in comes out in small ways like running stop lights. Add to that, traffic enforcement, beyond the use of cameras is basically non-existent. And the cameras are infuriating, so at light where there are no cameras I can see how people can justify their need, their right to run the red light.

I think it’s more about enforcement. When do you ever see a traffic stop anymore? The police don’t want to deal with it after George Floyd.

[Anonymous]

Fake dealer tags

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fake dealer tags

NP. I think this is part of it though I think police have started cracking down on this a little.

Also, FWIW, I NEVER run red lights because I'm scared of getting t-boned. I'm in the exurbs and I've timed some of the lights around me. If you miss a light, it tacks another 3 minutes on to your commute. 3 lights and you're looking at 9 minutes.

[Anonymous]

There are too many traffic signals where stop signs should be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the problem is lights are messed up. You hit red lights at every intersection. Eventually people get fed up with red lights with long waits at every intersection. It's frustrating. Constitution Ave. used to have this thing where if traffic was flowing at the posted speed limit (25mph), lights would remain green. Everyone was careful to go the speed limit. The lights cooperated. At least that is the explanation I got when I asked why Constitution was easy to drive on?

Yes, in DC specifically, the lights are timed terribly. Years ago, they were timed great. They were timed in a way to actually move people through the city. Now cars get caught at every light. All that idling is terrible for the environment and raises drivers' blood pressure. It's unhealthy, inefficient and infuriating.

This. Apparently, in DC, “traffic calming” means creating gridlock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe a few times a year I see someone run a red light who wasn’t just over extending a yellow. I don’t think this is an increasingly common occurrence.

Really? I see it at least once a month. Full-on running of a light requiring crossing pedestrians to leap out of the way and other cars to blast horns. And daily I see way over-extending a yellow, as in, it turned red as you got there but you went anyway. See that outside the elementary school constantly.

And the same folks don't even bother with stop signs at all. I dearly wish Montgomery County would install cameras on every single red light and stop sign and ticket the hell out of these folks. They'd make back all the installation expenses very quickly in my neighborhood!

[Anonymous]

I'm so sorry. This week both my husband and I drove past red lights. We're preoccupied because our kid has developed medical problems and is in between surgeries, but that's not an excuse. Preoccupation on the road leads to fatal accidents, and we know we're not supposed to run red lights. I am concerned about other preoccupied drivers who also might behave inappropriately on the road.

Sigh. We'll do better.

[Anonymous]

Where are you seeing this?

[Anonymous]

I don’t see this at all in Arlington. I accidentally ran a red light once recently. I got confused at an intersection that was no turn on red and turned on red. I don’t see other people do that often or do more egregious red light running.

[Anonymous]

Because Right Turn On Red really changed everything. In the Olden days, stop signs and red lights meant one thing: STOP. Then it changed to: Stop. Make a judgement. Make a decision. Act. Some people aren’t good at some of these steps. Then people started going through this process faster, and began making rolling stops.
Now, some barely stop at all. So= Red means STOP isn’t as ingrained as it used to be, especially with bikes out there ignoring what used to be traffic rules that we all had in common.

Plus some people are distracted. And some light cycles are too short or unpredictable— so there really are some people out there who intended to stop but planned wrong.

To add: I don’t see this a lot, but it used to be almost nonexistent except in emergency situations and/ or when drivers were obviously impaired.

[Anonymous]

No ticketing anywhere around here=people driving cars like crazed maniacs.

Look at the death rate for car accidents around here it skyrocketed to like a 40%+ increase in Va.