Dick Hagerty: Epidemic of red-light runners will turn deadly

Running a red light should not be considered a traffic violation. It is a criminal act and should be treated accordingly. People get killed by red-light runners!

Too many drivers these days consider stoplights and stop signs to be mere inconveniences, perhaps a suggestion, not a mandate. The results of these events are often costly, sometimes fatal.

Just last week I was headed to lunch with my hiking partner in his car to plan our next outing. Sitting at the light on 14th Street, right next to The Modesto Bee, we had one of those “Oh No!” moments. The light turned green and we started to cross H Street. I was looking at the driver as we talked and noted a dark-colored sedan hurtling our way with clearly no intention of stopping or even slowing. I grabbed an arm and yelled, “Stop, Lou!” and the dark bomber hurtled past. It was just another “close call.”

A split second later and there would be no more hiking this summer. Probably for either of us.

This happened during the same week that I lent a car to another friend who lost his when he was T-boned by a red light runner in the Bay Area a couple of days previous to our close call.

On the way to church, same week, driving in the country down Milnes Road, I was passed by a jacked-up white pickup doing at least 90, and it was very clear he had no intention of stopping, or even slowing, for the two stop signs between us and Claus Road. These country idiots have turned this into a regular event, as at least once a week I see rural stop signs ignored, generally at high speed.

At the speeds these guys rocket through our rural stop signs, the result would definitely be deadly when they lose this vehicular “Russian roulette.”

Many years ago I got a ticket for running a red light. I had been paying zero attention during the green arrow period and slowly crossed as the light turned red. It would hardly have been fatal, but indeed it was a violation.

Off to traffic school where I learned a very interesting lesson about red lights. OK, two lessons. First lesson was not to run them, even at a very low speed, as I had done.

The second lesson was the answer to the question, “What does it mean when the light turns yellow?”

Ask that one in a group of people, and you will get many answers – and all of them will be wrong.

A yellow light does not mean slow down; it does not mean speed up; it does not mean stop; it does not mean prepare to stop.

All it means is “the light is going to turn red.” Pretty simple answer, actually.

Approaching the intersection you will see lines across the street in front of you. The first line of the crosswalk or the stop line next to a fixed stop sign are significant. These are “intersection limit lines” and get some part of your car across that line while the light is still yellow and you are legally crossing.

Most lights have a momentary delay between the time it turns red on one side and before it turns green on the other. But sit at the bottom of the Briggsmore Avenue overpass and watch the miscreants cross on their way to the freeway. Car after car will go through after the changing of the lights. You wonder when the police will figure out that monthly quotas can be quickly filled while monitoring this single intersection.

Those red-light runners are seldom threatening anyone’s life, however. And I maintain that the dude in the big-wheeled pickup, flying through the rural stop signs, needs to be relieved of his license for an extended period, then spend a few days in the county jail to boot. This driving style may be fun, but it sure can turn out ugly.

This story was originally published August 28, 2015 at 8:43 AM with the headline "Dick Hagerty: Epidemic of red-light runners will turn deadly."