4AM no cop, ain’t got time to wait.

"XJDano" (xjdano)
08/08/2018 at 09:38 • Filed to: caught on dashcam

I did this once, followed right behind someone else and got a ticket.

DISCUSSION (28)

Urambo Tauro > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 09:49

Hot take: this ought to be legal.

So should rolling through stop signs, provided that you’ve slowed down enough to 100% confirm that traffic is clear.

I’m not defending people who do this. Just saying that it shouldn’t be a ticketable offense in the first place if there’s no conflicting traffic.

fintail > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 09:51

Funny, I do this now and then, but I make 100% sure there are no enforcers in sight. There’s one light where I sometimes don’t stop - wide open intersection that randomly triggers the oncoming turn lane for no reason, perfect visibility, just a waste of time and fuel due to poor controls.

Stopping and going on red shouldn’t be an issue at certain hours, and probably isn’t a real issue other than to reach quotas.

LOREM IPSUM > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 09:52

While chatting with an officer once, he was trying to explain how he didn’t like harassing people needlessly, and used that very situation as an example of when he would NOT pull someone over even though they were technically breaking the law.

Conversation has stuck with me for 20 years give or take, but I still never do it because I suspect he was the exception, not the norm.

LOREM IPSUM > fintail
08/08/2018 at 09:59

Poorly setup controls are the norm here.

Must force a stop at every intersection, because f- economy and natural resources.... But don't tell us we're not the greenest place ever, cause we totally are.

Takuro Spirit > Urambo Tauro
08/08/2018 at 09:59

It is, depending on the state. There are clarifications that you have to come to a complete stop, and wait for a specified length of time.

Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero > Urambo Tauro
08/08/2018 at 10:00

easiest way to fix it would be to make the stop lights flash red between the hours of lets say 1 and 4 am essentially making them stop signs

extraspecialbitter > Urambo Tauro
08/08/2018 at 10:00

If it were only good-natured car enthusiasts out on the streets, I’d agree with you. Unfortunately, I’ve (been) run into (by) a special few who consider looking both ways to be too difficult.

Also, I thought I remembered there being a rule saying you can go after what should’ve been two light cycles.

fintail > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 10:05

Looking at local driving talent (not much better where I am right now), I can see some justification for 4 way stops, but also from lower mainland experience, many don’t stop anyway, it likely isn’t helping. In terms of driving prowess, this area sometimes doesn’t feel the most first-worldy.

A big issue here is synchronization/optimization of controls/lights. My town seems to try on some roads, but other locations don’t seem to care. Nothing snarls traffic like stupid light timing.

If you’re into buying residency or laundering money in real estate, or maybe one of the lucky demographic who bought in when normal people could do so, it is a pretty awesome place.

LOREM IPSUM > fintail
08/08/2018 at 10:11

I’m preaching to the choir, lol.

You’re so right about people not stopping. So many times I’ve gone through a light that just turned yellow that I could have technically stopped for if I didn’t mind an excessively hard halt, and thought to myself in the process “you could have and maybe should have stopped” only to have 2 more cars follow behind me.

Milky > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 10:12

This is almost legal in Detroit. I used to do it all of the time, now that I’m not a college kid out at all times I do it less. But sometimes you haven’t seen anyone and I’ve seen cops do it in the middle of the day with people around.

LOREM IPSUM > Sampsonite24-Earth's Least Likeliest Hero
08/08/2018 at 10:17

There was a time, long ago, that this was done at certain intersections from what I recall.

Haven't seen it in decades, presumably because giving out pointless tickets is good revenue.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 10:26

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/red-light-cameras-bc-1.4776315

mmmm money for the government

BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind > Urambo Tauro
08/08/2018 at 10:28

It’s legal in PA now to go through a red if there’s no traffic coming. The law was hanged a few years ago due to motorcycles not tripping the lights, but they made it apply to all vehicles.

Party-vi > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 10:30

I did this just this morning - drove through a red light to get across a divided highway. No one on it at 3:50AM.

facw > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 10:41

I think I’ve only does this when the loop detector failed to work and just left me with a red light forever. Super common when cycling, because most detectors aren’t designed for that, though there was one in Houston that my old car never triggered.

ateamfan42 > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 11:12

I was a passenger with a friend who did this once. In the middle of the day. With an unregistered car. Directly in front of a cop.

The cop pulled a u-turn and came up behind us. My friend pulled over expecting a traffic stop. The cop pulled up alongside us, rolled down his window and asked if everything was alright. My friend said “Y es, I just thought you were coming to talk to me.” Cop: “Nope.”

Sometimes I hate my friend a little bit.

fintail > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 11:14

The rat race here is trying to catch up with Vancouver. Not there yet, but not for a lack of trying.

I notice in many lower mainland dashcam compilations, a stunning amount of light runners - and not just missing it by a second or something else relatively benign.

LOREM IPSUM > fintail
08/08/2018 at 11:17

Not just limited to cars either. Nothing like seeing a semi or tandem dump truck blow through a light that had already been solidly red for a good two-c ount.

LOREM IPSUM > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
08/08/2018 at 11:24

Kinja'd!!!

fintail > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 12:00

I can believe it.

When there’s no enforcement, why not? I can’t see how ICBC remains solvent, given the talent pool in that region.

LOREM IPSUM > fintail
08/08/2018 at 12:01

Vehicular homicide comes to mind, lol.

fintail > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 12:02

For those without money anyway.

The risks are worth it for many, and when cameras only go after violations of arbitrary speed limits, it can be easy.

LOREM IPSUM > fintail
08/08/2018 at 12:05

ICBC is operating so far in the red I suspect it would have folded decades ago were the government not (presumably) propping it up.

fintail > LOREM IPSUM
08/08/2018 at 12:18

It’d be interesting to see what a typical new driver in Vancouver would pay with a normal system.

XJDano > facw
08/08/2018 at 20:57

So what I’ve heard is you can attach one on those small strong magnets (because your bike probably isn’t steel) and it’ll do the same as disrupting the thingy in the ground where it makes the light turn.

This may be absolutely false, magnets are on the cutting-edge of witchcraft.

XJDano > Party-vi
08/08/2018 at 20:59

I actually did it myself just a few lights down, as I was turning left, the crosswalk things changed and by the time I made the turn the arrow came on.

facw > XJDano
08/08/2018 at 21:07

It’s probably true, and yeah my bike is mostly aluminum, so I’m sure it is a bit harder to detect than a steel framed bike would be (though probably still easier than a carbon-fib er bike). Part of the problem though is that the loop itself is not positioned where a bike would normally stop, in which case it doesn’t really help regardless of what they bike is made of (some municipalities paint a graphic indicating where the bike needs to stop to tr igger it).

XJDano > facw
08/08/2018 at 22:36

Once I saw a pair of bikers, they stopped but didn’t trigger light, lady behind them was nice and kept a safe distance but didn’t understand she needed to be right on their asses to trigger the light, they had to wave her in to get close. She crept up and eventually ran them over anyway.

Just kidding. But plausible.