h a l f b a k e r yMy hatstand runneth over
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I live in a place on earth where motorists are the worst disciplined unimaginable, and traffic cops are always on the lookout for occasions to engage in mulcting; they make good partners though, in some kind of bizarre drama on the road, not only grotesque but deadly.
One most disturbing and dangerous
habit of motorists in my locale is to try to beat the read light; and the corresponding mulcting habit of cops is to stop any car crossing the intersection on a yellow light preceding the red stop light.
I have made this suggestion which I consider to be very good (ahem) to several local government offices having to do with traffic and road safety, but they refused to implement it. One most wicked and hardened government bureaucrat even told me that Congress has to pass a law for that simple traffic measure I was proposing. Now, as we all know, people in the government will not accept any suggestions from any citizens for the simple reason that the ideas don't come from them, and then they will never think of anything to improve our lives and our circumstances -- usually in their normal mindset.
Here is the suggestion:
Draw a yellow band across the street all the way from one side of the street to the opposite side, some fifty meters from the intersection or lesser as appropriate; when a motorist heading toward the intersection has crossed the yellow band, and then the traffic light turns to yellow preceding the red to stop, he will continue to cruise through the intersection; motorists who have not yet gone through the yellow band when the light turns to yellow will not drive at breakneck speed to beat the red light, they must stop at the intersection -- or they will be halted by the traffic cop if they push ahead.
I believe this suggestion to be most feasible for traffic order and safety; because as is the present practice, motorists have to make a decision whether to continue driving or not, when the yellow light turns on preceding the red to stop; and on this account traffic cops who are addicted to mulcting will get you for dangerous driving however carefully you have calculated, that you could safely and without speeding up cross the intersection, when the light turns to yellow preceding the red to stop.
This measure will dispense motorists from having to use their discretion to stop or continue driving on the yellow light preceding the red, and preempt the mulcting in traffic cops who avail of the yellow light to earn, i.e., extort, extra income.
Yrreg
Measured_20Yellow_20Lines
[xaviergisz, Jun 23 2006]
[link]
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I don't like long stories, I just like ideas, so I didn't read it. |
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i thinkk that buearacrat was brick-walling
you. states deal with their own traffic
regulations, get hissy when the federal
government gets involved, and don't have
individual congresses. |
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i do like the idea, if only because i tend to
have problems gauging that myself. |
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My Driver's ed teacher told us a thing or two about this. |
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At most intersections, there is a spot where the dashed white traffic lines turn solid. This is the point at which it is unsafe to change lanes before the intersection. If your car has reached this area before the traffic light turns yellow, you should be safe to go through. |
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At most signal intersections, there is a "Signal ahead" sign. If your car has not passed this point before the traffic light turns yellow, you should stop, because you will not be able to safely make the light before it turns red. |
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Yellow lines are not drawn because depending on the speed of your car, you may be able to make it or not in specific conditions. Old gradnfather driving at two miles an hour would never be able to get through the intersection before it turned red, but darn it, he crossed the yellow line, so he will claim to have the right of way, and keep right on going, even though the light has been red for a good fifty seconds. Speedy Sally on the other hand could not possibly stop safely if her front bumper was on the yellow line when the light turned yellow. |
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In the UK at least, it's technically illegal to drive through a yellow light. "Mulcting" or whatever you like to call it, if your laws are like ours then you should stop on yellow. |
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//I live in a place on earth where...they will be halted by the traffic cop//
China? |
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Also, in the UK we do have many junctions/roundabouts that do have different coloured (red usually) road surfaces before the lights. This surface is usually also an anti-skid surface. |
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It is also common in the UK to have cameras set at the lights in such a way as to trigger if you cross the line when the lights are red it photographs your numberplate and you get a ticket/points on you licence/fine for a traffic signal violation. |
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One thing that annoys me (particularly prevalent in London) is the people who do stop but only barely - their rear wheels are behind the line but the rest of the car is on the pedestrian crossing. These cameras catch these people too. |
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How about this: When the light turns from yellow to red, raise the parking-lot-style tire spike strip. Any car caught passing the impassible line on a red will be disabled. Paint spray-jets will mark the car in a rainbow of neon paint colors as soon as the offender crosses the line. Any tire service company that services such a car is required by law to notify the authorities! |
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