Per Tekkie®:
Seems like one of those things that sounds good in a sales presentation, but may not work so well in practice.
The EMS driver is relying on oncoming traffic to heed a red light that suddenly appears with no yellow light, no warning whatsoever... just "Blink !" and it's red.... and, in the case I witnessed, the EMS driver is even proceeded through the light *before* it turned green for him.
Well , this happened 40 years ago when I was young and full of testosterone . And driving a '66 Impala SS396 ... how was I to know it was a cop ?
My thought is the same.
Cop in an unmarked van came up behind my wife and was tailgating her so she sped up to increase the distance to find out it was a cop and get a speeding ticket.
She was too embarrassed to tell me and paid it. Had I known, I would have fought it.
Some cops, like thieves, are often lazy and look for easy ways to make money.
There was a Facebook item about someone being stopped, and complained about bright light from police car. Policeman was not polite. Forget the outcome.
Greg
(PeteCresswell) posted for all of us...
The signals cycle through yellow to red. I wasn't there but EMS units are req'd to stop at red lights. Gotta get there to help, even on the hot calls .
Per Tekkie®:
This unit did not stop and the light did not change until they had passed through it. Period.... Couldn't see the lights on the other side, so I do not know if they cycled through yellow - but the change seemed improbably rapid for the conventional Green-Yellow-Red cycle around here - that is what prompted my speculation as to what traffic coming into that green light was to do when it flicked to red so rapidly
- with or without some token yellow.
As a frequent bike rider, I suspect I see more apparently-unsafe activity than most people driving motor vehicles around here do.... and I will try to look more closely/carefully next time I see an EMS unit coming my way into a red light.
Several years ago, in a small local town, I pulled up to a red light and sat there for over 10 minutes waiting for it to change to green. I intended to turn left. It was late at night with no traffic. But I knew if I went thru it, there would probably be some cop waiting to pull me over. I finally backed up, got in the right lane, made a legal right turn on red, drove a few blocks up the road, turned around in a parking lot, and proceeded to go in my intended direction.
The next day I called the police station and told them the problem. I was told that the town's electrician has tried to fix it but it appears the problem is underground and since it's winter, they can not dig it up until Spring. I suggested they turn those lights into flashing lights, or just shut them off and put stop signs on the posts until spring, or at least put some sort of sign that says "This light is broken". I was told to just treat them like a stop sign, come to a stop, check for traffic, and proceed to go when it's safe.
I said OK, but what do I do if I get pulled over for running a red light. He said that they are not pulling people over at that light as long as people stop and check for traffic before going. I explained that I did not live in that town and did not know what I should do. He said sorry, we will fix it as soon as weather allows. He said they have gotten a lot of calls about that light. I replied "I bet you have".
That Spring they did dig up near those lights and got them working properly. Until then, I did what they told me to do.
I wonder how many other non-residents sat at that light cussing for 10 minutes or more??? I know that in a big city, this would have been attended to quickly, even if it meant replacing them with stop signs until the repair was completed.....
LED headlights on cars are considerably whiter and thus appear much brighter than conventional headlamps. It can be annoying, but I assume the light output is still legal - it just *looks* too bright. Even painfully bright.
Plus, an awful lot of vehicles have one or both headlights misaligned, which can add to the aggravation for oncoming drivers.
And sometimes they're riding your bumper while they're using a plate reader or calling in the plate number to see if there are any open warrants or other reasons to make a stop. Once you've checked out okay, they usually back off.
Years ago the town cop followed my brother out of town, right on his bumper. As they came over a rizehe could tell it was the cruiser, so when they hame over the next rise he swerved slighly then nailed the brakes. The cop locked up all 4 and left the road. When my brother went back "to see how he was doing" the cop cursed at him and asked what the X$%LL he was doing, and all my brother said was "you didn't see the big dog??? I just missed him."
Priceless. Thanks for sharing.
They will show up just fine with an ambient light sensor that dims them at night.
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