When I was growing up I learned that green means go, red means stop, and yellow means the light is going to change to red pretty soon.
So if the light is about to change to red, what does that mean? Some people think it means slow down. Some people think it means speed up. Others think it means go through the intersection so that you don't have to wait through a red light.
I think what Andrew learned in drivers ed makes loads of sense. A yellow means "Stop if you can do so safely." So rather than a yellow being "You're going to have to decide what to do," it seems like less to think about (and right now I neeeeed less to think about!) to remember "yellow means stop."
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Yeah, see, that's what I learned when learning how to drive. Yellow means to stop, unless you're at a point where you absolutely can't. In fact, I was taught to set a "marker" (a point of reference) - if the light turns yellow and I'm not up to that tree, then I stop, if I'm past it, then I keep going.
ReplyDeleteWhich is all well and good... until you're driving in the city. And then all the rules change, because people ride up on your rear and should you suddenly decide to stop for a yellow light (and not make it a very smooth stop) they're going to hit you, or some such thing.
Not saying you shouldn't stop. But as I've learned in Ft. Wayne, you really gotta pay about as much attention to the people behind as the people in front. I mean, sure, if they hit you it's their fault. But I'm always worried they may not have insurance or it'll be a big hassle.
And then there's the whole other stupid problem in this place of having all left-turns being their own lights, which means you get an incredibly short left turn light and then you have to wait for 5 minutes until you get that short light again. If I get up there on a yellow, I go!
So I probably go through yellow lights more often than I should... Oops.
And here when I *started* writing this, I was just going to say that was a good idea. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut...
>>because people ride up on your rear and should you suddenly decide to stop for a yellow light (and not make it a very smooth stop) they're going to hit you,
ReplyDeleteYup yup yup. "Yellow means stop if it is safe to do so" involves awareness of what's behind you and not just keeping the car from skidding by braking too fast.