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B/G: we're in the middle of some reasonably heavy rain. My attempt to attach a picture of the radar echo failed miserably.
In weather like this the traffic gets really bad. We're not as wussy as that sounds: a lot of these people are cyclists, not pedestrians, and wet brakes + bad traffic is unsafe, not just wet and cold and muddy and icky. Also, the buses are jam packed in rain (more so than normal) as everyone who either walks or buses chooses to bus. And there is no way that the city could afford to run enough buses for rainy weather, because that's way more buses than are normally used.
So we have protected right turn lanes here. There's a little island for pedestrians, and we make a two stage crossing: across the right-hand turn lane, and then using the cross walk across the rest of traffic. There is a yield sign and a zebra crossing across the right hand turn lane. Pedestrians very obviously have right of way. Yes, I can technically yield it, but driving through (when you'd been in stop-and-go traffic, so no excuses about stopping distance) and then having the gall to give me the open-hand, "thank you for yielding" wave is just annoying. I did not intentionally yield right-of-way, I just don't take it back when you try to steal it in rainy weather, because I understand basic physics.
Another thing I understand is the reason behind anti-gridlock laws. Sure, I understand that you might end up with one or two cars in the intersection or in the crosswalk. You can't always judge, and you don't want to end up being the person who held up the entire line. But cars entering the intersection when the car ahead of them is clearly stopped only halfway through? The whole point of the gridlock law is to prevent the problems that come when you assume that traffic will advance before the light changes. People have demonstrated that they can't be trusted to judge that properly. Accept it, accept that you don't live in a small town, and live with it. Yes, the cyclists got to go through. You don't fit in their lane. Yes, I'm speaking to you in the minivan. (I really don't know what they were thinking).
In weather like this the traffic gets really bad. We're not as wussy as that sounds: a lot of these people are cyclists, not pedestrians, and wet brakes + bad traffic is unsafe, not just wet and cold and muddy and icky. Also, the buses are jam packed in rain (more so than normal) as everyone who either walks or buses chooses to bus. And there is no way that the city could afford to run enough buses for rainy weather, because that's way more buses than are normally used.
So we have protected right turn lanes here. There's a little island for pedestrians, and we make a two stage crossing: across the right-hand turn lane, and then using the cross walk across the rest of traffic. There is a yield sign and a zebra crossing across the right hand turn lane. Pedestrians very obviously have right of way. Yes, I can technically yield it, but driving through (when you'd been in stop-and-go traffic, so no excuses about stopping distance) and then having the gall to give me the open-hand, "thank you for yielding" wave is just annoying. I did not intentionally yield right-of-way, I just don't take it back when you try to steal it in rainy weather, because I understand basic physics.
Another thing I understand is the reason behind anti-gridlock laws. Sure, I understand that you might end up with one or two cars in the intersection or in the crosswalk. You can't always judge, and you don't want to end up being the person who held up the entire line. But cars entering the intersection when the car ahead of them is clearly stopped only halfway through? The whole point of the gridlock law is to prevent the problems that come when you assume that traffic will advance before the light changes. People have demonstrated that they can't be trusted to judge that properly. Accept it, accept that you don't live in a small town, and live with it. Yes, the cyclists got to go through. You don't fit in their lane. Yes, I'm speaking to you in the minivan. (I really don't know what they were thinking).
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