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Message |
    
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12937
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 5:48 pm: | 
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On my way home from work yesterday, three people ran red lights right in front of me (in three different places). I saw them in the intersection from their sides, and a green light was facing me, which is how I knew they jumped the lights.
Here's a tip, folks. When you see a yellow light, don't ask yourself, "Can I make it through?" That will make you take a chance. The right question to ask yourself is, "Can I stop in time?" If so, then stop.
If you see a yellow light and you're not in the intersection, you probably can stop. And you should. Please.
Someone else jumped the light on my way to work this morning.
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newone
Citizen
Username: Newone
Post Number: 325
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 7:18 pm: |
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Unfortunately I see this all the time. Just yesterday at Parker and Valley, the Valley light turned red and a good 2 to 3 seconds passed and a minivan goes barreling through. Luckily (this time), no one was in the intersection. |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1287
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 7:21 pm: |
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I shouldn't post this, just in case I get into an accident... but when I see people running lights I have a ridiculous compulsion to shoot out and hit them on purpose.
I hate stuff like this - what is it about NJ drivers that makes them think they're so important? I could understand all the speeding and lane changing if we were in NASCAR country... but what's the deal up here? |
\2{Monster}
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 2496
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 7:49 pm: |
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Case, I feel the same way, and I've scared plenty of drivers making them think I was going to hit them.
I've lived and visited plenty of places around the states and the rest of the world, besides NJ in general, I've found that the drivers in this localized area are some of the worst I've seen.
I'm not knocking middle aged women here, I love them, but I've seen more of these occurrences
by women who appear to be of middle age, than I've witnessed of others in this area.
It's as if people think they are the shizznet and the world should get out of their way, or for some reason they are just oblivious to the world around them.
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sportsnut
Citizen
Username: Sportsnut
Post Number: 2334
Registered: 10-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 8:03 pm: |
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Speaking of bad driving...Tonight on the way to pick up my son at the Y police had blocked Valley between Park and Oakland (I think) so traffic was routed up Park towards Prospect. Needless to say cars that needed to make a left onto prospect caused quite a delay. Someone idiot in a green Pontiac decided that they could no longer wait their turn and decided to pass all the cars waiting to turn onto prospect. This person got to the top of the hill and proceeded to make a left turn (from the left hand lane) not caring in the least if someone traveling on prospect needed to turn onto park. Just when I think people couldn't get any more rude or stupid someone proves me wrong. |
CLK
Supporter
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 2010
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 8:16 pm: |
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People around here drive as if driving is a competitive sport, and that they'll lose if they don't take every advantage. I could brush it off as a commentary on the empty, shallow, and pathetic lives of these people, if it weren't so dangerous. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2478
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 8:23 pm: |
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And the young 'uns bring it with them to college. When I worked at the U of DE (and as a long time Delawarean) we dreaded start of Fall semester due to upscale Joisey kids with fancy cars and bad driving habits. Often, their parents' driving was even more aggressive when they came down to visit! Entitlement attitudes in the parking lot, at intersections and the infamous insistence that if they're making a left through an intersection, they have the right of way.
ZOIKS! And now I carry the tag of shame and get so branded when I go home.. |
John
Citizen
Username: Jdm
Post Number: 3
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 10:29 pm: |
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Serious question:
When natives take driving lessons, are they told to pull into the intersection when waiting to make a left turn?
This (a) lets traffic pass around them from behind, and (b) lets them make them turn as soon as possible when an opening appears in the on-coming traffic.
This is one of the most common - and annoying - Jersey-driver things I notice. |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 1675
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 10:37 pm: |
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Watched a driver today in SO make a left turn in front of me from the right lane--- terrific maneuver--- driver must have seen that in a "chase movie."
I wish only that someone had "front-ended" his car. I feel entitled to a little schadenfreud. |
tom
Citizen
Username: Tom
Post Number: 4528
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 14, 2006 - 10:48 pm: |
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John, good question. I was taught how to do it in growing up in Ohio, where drivers are almost too civilized. I wonder how people can get into their 40s and still not be clued in to the fact that more than one car should get through an intersection during a cycle.
And of course people in the biggest SUVs are the worst at this. |
Albatross
Citizen
Username: Albatross
Post Number: 810
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 12:36 am: |
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John: The answer to your question is yes. The NJ Driver's Manual, if I remember correctly, divides the intersection into 4 boxes:
[3][2]
[4][1]
and instructes that to make a left, one pulls into box 1, waits for oncoming traffic to clear, and once it has, turn the wheel through box 2 and straighten in box 3. Box 4 should never be touched.
I don't know if it was listed in previous editions, but its being taught as of a year ago.
My all-time 'favorite' habit of Jersey drivers is that 75% of them don't know how a 4-way stop intersection works. |
John
Citizen
Username: Jdm
Post Number: 5
Registered: 3-2006
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 12:52 am: |
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Albatross,
Glad to hear it's in there, but it must be 8 times out of 10 that I see the driver waiting, not moving at all when the light turns green.
The other 2 times, of course, the driver immediately turns in front of on-coming traffic, which often pauses to let them through! 
My mid-western wife will heartily agree with you on the 4-ways, though I think that problem is more wide-spread.
Now about those people who slow down on highway entrance lanes... |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2480
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 6:29 am: |
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John's second sentence is what I'm talking about. Most of the time at 4-ways, I find that the left turning driver seems to think s/he should be quick off the mark, and cross in front of oncoming traffic. |
Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 342
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 8:39 am: |
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In the words of that guy from the movie 'Starman'
"So...green means go...red means stop...and yellow means go really fast."
But you are all getting worked up over nothing...this is Jersey...no one knows how to drive. |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 1389
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 9:11 am: |
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My pet peeve is when people brake when the light is GREEN!!! It's almost like they're thinking "just in case it turns yellow, let me slow down". From what I've witnessed, these people aren't going so fast that they're just trying to be cautious on their approach to an intersection. It's dangerous to do this, particularly when there's someone (me) behind you. I see my mother do this all the time and it drives me crazy. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12947
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 9:53 am: |
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LilLB, I agree it's unnecessary and usually inconsiderate, but I disagree it's dangerous. If it causes a rear-end collision or a near collision, it's because the person behind is tailgating, and the fault lies with the person behind. You must be ready for sudden unexplained stops by the person ahead of you. Please consider this.
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mooewe
Citizen
Username: Mooewe
Post Number: 330
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 10:12 am: |
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I'm going to add a little rule of mine to the waiting-in-the-intersection-to-turn-left scenario: if you are the 2nd car, DON'T enter the intersection until the first car has made its turn. Why? Because of the idiots in the oncoming traffic who will run the yellow/red light. You will find yourself in the intersection with pissed off drivers approaching from the sides. |
LilLB
Citizen
Username: Lillb
Post Number: 1390
Registered: 10-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 10:18 am: |
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Tom - I hear ya. Rest assured I am well aware that it's important to keep a safe distance and be as prepared as you can for the unexpected to occur when driving - I still remember a thing or two from drivers ed many moons ago. However, I say it's dangerous because it is unexpected - people see green and think "go" - they're not expecting a person to almost come to a complete stop. Any time you do something that is unexpected and without warning in a car, I think there's a potential danger. So, yes, of course you have to take precautions as a driver, but there are a lot of bonehead moves out there that I see (including not communicating to others you are going to make a turn by signaling) that I'd like to eliminate them if possible....
By the way - I'm in an incredibly sour mood today, and I have a feeling my post is coming across as such - for that I apologize -- it's not really directed at you. Unfortunately, I'm feeling so rotton that I'm going to follow through and post my crankiness anyway. Sorry.... |
Carla
Citizen
Username: Elbowroom
Post Number: 55
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 10:19 am: |
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First people complain about people running red lights and then they complain about people using caution when the light is green? Maybe they are watching out for the red light runners? People will never be happy.
The bad driving behaivior mentioned above is not exclusive to NJ. I see bad drivers everywhere I go.
In general people just need to slow down. Don't speed up to the next red light. If you are driving on the Parkway or 78, please keep to the right except to pass. Don't drive so closely. Just chill out a little. We'll all get where we gotta go. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12952
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 10:23 am: |
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Good points, Carla, as always.
You reminded me of this column from last year. It's a good one.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=27&article_id=7652&page_numbe r=1
"Neither a seether nor a soother be."
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newone
Citizen
Username: Newone
Post Number: 329
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 9:43 pm: |
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How about the people who drive real slow and when they get to the light and it is turning red, they suddenly speed up and go through the light. |
SO Ref
Citizen
Username: So_refugee
Post Number: 1588
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 15, 2006 - 9:52 pm: |
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Why do folks seem to think that the speed LIMIT is the baseline for minimum driving speed instead of a maximum limit??? Try going 25 down Prospect and people act like you've gone insane. WTF?? |
Carla
Citizen
Username: Elbowroom
Post Number: 59
Registered: 9-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 7:55 am: |
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Yesterday a large woman in a minivan started tailgating me down a quiet neighborhood street where people walk their dogs and push strollers. The street is considered a short cut so I guess she expected me to drive faster than 25mph limit around the blind corners. I slowed down and she didn't get my point. Back off Biatch!!! Instead she started tooting. People like this need to learn a lesson. Unfortunately it won't be until they kill someone. |
mjh
Supporter
Username: Mjh
Post Number: 394
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 8:04 am: |
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Carla, I feel your pain. People like the woman you describe make me happy to slow down below the speed limit.......while making sure they do not have room to drive around me!
I hate to be honked at or tailgated for driving the speed limit! |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 12986
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, March 16, 2006 - 8:20 am: |
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People like that don't learn their lessons, even after bad stuff happens.
I don't usually try to impede them. It usually makes the situation worse. I try to pull over to let them by.
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Joan
Supporter
Username: Joancrystal
Post Number: 7142
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 11:48 am: |
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I don't know how many times I have started to cross the street at an intersection (which is not governed by any traffic light) when the following happens:
(1) There is no traffic coming in the lane closest to me so I start across the street.
(2) The car closest to me in the far lane, which is about half an avenue block away when I start to cross, stops at the cross walk to permit me to cross the street the rest of the way.
(3) I take this as a signal that it is safe to cross through that second lane of traffic and proceed across the street.
(4) The car immediately behind the stopped car shoots around the stopped car to pass (thinking the driver of that car is trying to make a left hand turn perhaps?) and nearly runs me over since the driver of that second car couldn't see that the driver of the car in front of him/her had stopped for a pedestrian.
This makes me wonder if driving around a stopped vehicle at an intersection is always such a good idea. Shouldn't pedestrian safety be more important that making it through the intersection a few seconds faster? |
cody
Citizen
Username: Cody
Post Number: 970
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 12:03 pm: |
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Should we add the fact that NJ drivers seem flummoxed by one-on-one merges? Like the one from the jughandle by Home Depot where you have to go from two lanes into one as you go by the Texas Weiners curve? Or the ones on Valley crossing Millburn and Vauxhall? I love when the driver on the left speeds up to block the driver on the right, who usually has no place to go to avoid the driver squeezing them out. Especially cute if the car on the left is behind the car on the right and decides to pass rather than merge in behind the car that should be first.
I used to think all the NJ driver stories were myths when I was growing up in Brooklyn. Moved here 25 years ago. They're not myths. |
Cynicalgirl
Citizen
Username: Cynicalgirl
Post Number: 2493
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 12:10 pm: |
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Not a "lights" issue, but saw a piece of driving behavior Friday night in downtown Maplewood that blew me and my husband away.
As most of you know, it's real crowded in the early evening, especially right before the 7:20 movie. We were proceeding down Maplewood Ave, from Jefferson towards the the ice cream store end of town. Traffic crawling as people stop to wait for someone to pull out, etc. Anyway, there was a woman in a Suburu wagon (dk green) calmly doubleparked in front of Bill and Harry's. No, she was not illegally making another diagonal slot near the Burgdorff stone bldg, nor was she waiting for someone to pull out. She just sat there, face pointed away from the traffic. Meanwhile, the barely two-way traffic is moving at a crawl. You could *just* get around her if there was a gap in the oncoming traffic in the other lane. Mind-blowingly selfish!
I wish to heck one could do a citizen's arrest at times like that. I kinda undertand the illegal bit of making a temporary parking space where there isn't one, up along side the cars. But to sit in traffic, calmly, not even waiting for someone obviously pulling out?
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CLK
Supporter
Username: Clkelley
Post Number: 2034
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 1:39 pm: |
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cody, that intersection at the Home Depot gets my goat, too. However I see it from the other perspective. I usually travel in the left lane there - just force of habit. What usually happens is some clown on the right, traveling behind me, tries to overtake me to merge in. (and in any case, the merge is from the right to left, so if two cars are abreast, the person traveling in the right lane should yield.) Usually the only way to let them in would be to come to a dead stop, so I try get by them quickly. I call this being "courteous," as I am trying to get them to where they can safely merge sooner. They may think I'm cutting them off. Though I see them as the ones trying to cut somebody off - if you're behind me, merge in behind me! Speeding up to try to overtake somebody in front of you in an area where two lanes are merging is idiotic and dangerous.
Either way you look at it, it's terribly dangerous , and people are way too aggressive there. That turn and the people coming out of that little parking lot make it even more dangerous.
I also have seen terrible aggression at the other two intersections you mention on Valley St. I honestly wish they would turn those into left lane = left turn only, right lane for straight or right turn. That's how I treat the two lanes, and a lot of others seem to do the same - but then there are the heavy-on-the-pedal creeps who try to pass everybody on the left. Like you're going to get where you're going, what? 40 seconds sooner?
That would make the most sense and would avoid a lot of that business you talk about, where the people on the left don't let the people on the right merge in. It's insane the way it is. |
Debby
Citizen
Username: Debby
Post Number: 2233
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Sunday, March 19, 2006 - 3:24 pm: |
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Everytime I see the title of this thread I think about the episode of Taxi when Jim Ignatowski was taking his driver's license written test. He asked Alex for help and whispered, "Psst! What does the amber light mean?"
Alex whispered back, "Slow down."
Jim: "Wha-a-a-t du-u-u-u-z the a-a-m-b-er li-i-i-ght m-e-e-a-n?" |
Bob K
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 10990
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 1:05 pm: |
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Two points, if I may.
Anyone who doesn't use caution when they have a green light is taking a chance because of the fairly large subset of people who think making a right on red gives them the right of way.
Second, some towns have put up automatic cameras to be able to mail tickets to people running yellow lights at dangerous intersections. Far from lowering the accident rate it actually increases it because people make emergency type stops, anti-lock brakes chirping away, to avoid the ticket and get rearended.
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newone
Citizen
Username: Newone
Post Number: 343
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 7:26 pm: |
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Here are my shore pet peeves collecting during my tenure with the beach patrol -
calling the sand "dirt" and the ocean the "lake"
yelling shark! when the porpoises come swimming by
swimming outside of the flags
walking on the dunes by the "stay off the dunes" signs
casting your lure into the middle of the swimmers when there is a run of snapper blues coming in
Also, when the new renters come on the island and the drive about 6 mph in a 25 mph zone and stop at every single block to look for their house....how about pulling over and letting the traffic go by?
I'm sure there are more but I can't think of them now... |
newone
Citizen
Username: Newone
Post Number: 345
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Monday, March 20, 2006 - 8:17 pm: |
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Oops - my bad, this should be under the pet peeves subject. Sorry. |
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