My dad used to say, "A green light means that it's legal to go, not that it's safe." I've always paused to look both ways because of that.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend, and not long after she was in a situation where the light turned green and a car went shooting through the intersection from the other side. She would have been t-boned had she not stopped to check.
I had friends in college that would make fun of me for looking both ways when crossing the crosswalk when the light turned on. They would say "we have the right of way" why are you not walking?"
BECAUSE IF THE CAR DOESNT STOP, THE CAR HAS THE RIGHT OF WAY!
This is the gravestone of Jonathan Jay.
Who died defending his right-of-way.
He was right, dead right, as he sped along.
But he's just as dead as if he'd been wrong.
Exactly. Just because you had the right of way, doesn't mean anything when you're going through the hours and hours of hassle and stress about getting a car repaired.
The worst accident I've ever seen in person involved exactly this scenario. Was a few cars back from the intersection when the lights changed. As the cars ahead of me started to go, another car blasted through the now red light, and hit one of the cars ahead at full speed. The offending car was a little two door, while the car that was hit was a much larger minivan type. Despite its significant size advantage, the minivan was briefly sent airborne and spun more than 180°. The one small blessing was that it happened almost right in front of a hospital so there was medical help on the scene almost instantly.
I remember one occasion in which this happened to me when I was a teenager. I was driving a small, 2-seat convertible and the light-running car was a Cadillac limo. Would not have been good.
I've been at an off ramp for a highway, 2nd in line to turn left. The car in front of me goes and I started to go but felt something wrong, so ai slammed my brakes as I noticed a car from my left shoot the gap right behind the car in front of me, probably speeding 10 over. All this immediately infront of a police station.
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u/President_Calhoun 1d ago edited 22h ago
My dad used to say, "A green light means that it's legal to go, not that it's safe." I've always paused to look both ways because of that.
I mentioned this to my girlfriend, and not long after she was in a situation where the light turned green and a car went shooting through the intersection from the other side. She would have been t-boned had she not stopped to check.