Idiot on Moped and Left Turn on Red

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

Idiot on a Moped

Driving to work this morning, I stop at a red light at the line. In the next lane a person on a moped stops.

Said person has his phone out and is texting.

On a moped.

And he isn't wearing ANY safety gear! No helmet or anything, just a sweatshirt and jeans.

The light turns green and I go. Glancing in my mirror, I see this guy hasn't even moved. He's still texting! Right before I look away, the cars behind him start going around. This is a very busy street.

Idiot is gonna get himself killed or arrested with that kind of nonsense. Arrested preferable.


Left Turn on Red

Senario: You're in a left turn lane. There is an arrow-light standing alone, away from the main traffic lights. This left-turn arrow light is red. Do you:

A) Turn when the traffic is clear and the light is still red
B) Turn whenever you feel like it
C) Wait for the arrow to turn green


If you answer A or B, you're most of the people in town. See, the way I learned it, red arrow means Do Not Go. Just me?

[Exaspera]

No, it's not you. You turn on a green arrow. They just haven't gotten caught, yet.

[Aut]

The green arrow/yield lights have become really common around here (you either have a green arrow or you can turn on regular green when traffic clears). Except the intersection closest to my house. It still has the stand alone turn signal. Several times I've been stopped at that light only to get honked at and actually have people drive around me on 2 different occassions for not going because traffic is clear. I'm not going because it's red. Can't get any redder.

[Kogarashi]

We have one of those here for the nearest on-ramp to the highway. Two lanes each way, with on-ramp perpendicular, forming an intersection. Just the on-ramp; the other side of the road is a ball park.

Eastbound, the side with the ramp, both lanes have a solid light and a "no turn on red" sign. When the light is green, you can go straight or turn right onto the ramp. When it's red, you stop and stay stopped (though some people will turn on red despite the sign).

Westbound, the two lanes have two solid lights and a standalone arrow light for the left turn. There's a "left turn signal" sign hanging between the standalone arrow signal and the two solid lights. There are no arrows painted on the left-hand lane, so I suppose that if one wanted, due to the lack of arrows and the presence of two solid lights, one could drive straight through in either lane regardless of the arrow light's status. The solid lights never turn red; they're always green. The arrow turns red to allow oncoming traffic to go straight.

Despite the lack of visibility (oncoming traffic crests a small hill before reaching this intersection), lots of people will turn left on the red arrow to get onto the highway ramp if they think the coast is clear. I've gotten honked at for not turning on red before, but I'm not about to run a light just because someone else has a deathwish.

[Flying Grype]

I've never seen a red arrow up here. If the light is red, you can turn right if it's safe but you cannot go straight through or turn left. That's known.

If there's a green arrow pointing left you can turn left, or if there's a green light flashing you can go left, right, or forward because the opposite lane has a stop light. That's called advance green. When it stops flashing the advance green is over and traffic will be going through in both directions.

There might also be a sign with a left pointing arrow and a big red NO sign through it, meaning don't turn left at this intersection. It might have a qualifier such as "between 4-6 pm" or "bicycles and public transit vehicles excepted".

I just got my learner's permit this morning.

[Andara Bledin]

We don't have flashing green lights around here. Actually, those sound like a recipe for trouble, really.

^-.-^

[Cookie]

I just got my learner's permit this morning.

Congrats!

[IvorTangrean]

We don't have flashing green lights around here. Actually, those sound like a recipe for trouble, really.

^-.-^

We have them here and they are nice. If you get a flashing arrow you can just go, only looking for idiots. If you have a solid green then you know to slow down and watch for traffic.

[Chrismor]

I just got my learner's permit this morning.

Excellent! Good luck with the driving.

C.
Just after receiving the date for my second driving test attempt.

[Andara Bledin]

We have them here and they are nice. If you get a flashing arrow you can just go, only looking for idiots. If you have a solid green then you know to slow down and watch for traffic.

Our arrows, when we have them, are solid. Either green (right of way), yellow (changing), or red (stop). Sometimes we also have them where there is a turn signal that goes to yellow and then stops displaying entirely while straight traffic has a green, which indicates that you are allowed to turn but have to yield to oncoming traffic. This sounds like it's similar in practice to your blinking green.

^-.-^

[Magpie]

I've never seen a red arrow up here. If the light is red, you can turn right if it's safe but you cannot go straight through or turn left. That's known.

Downtown you'll see them occasionally. More common is the separate set of lights for left turns. (In fact, they may have replaced the red arrows). They're like the transit lights, but left-turn. They'll be labelled. I don't know if you're familiar with the intersection that's about 50m or more long. I think it's on Mount Pleasant. It, I believe, has separate lights for the left turns, at least when you're heading West.