All this talk of “freedom” when it comes to running red lights, and using cameras to catch people who do it, gives one pause.
Just don’t pause when confronted with a yellow light or someone might rear-end you.
Earlier this month, the Sunday Denver Post had a longish article about red-light cameras, and the mixed reaction they get from drivers — “a flashpoint for controversy,” it said.
Some say there’s way too much red-light-running going on, and anything that can be done to make violators think they might get caught is worth it.
Others say it’s just another example of “Big Brother” government. “So many of our freedoms are dramatically encroached on,” said one Aurora plumber.
Who knew that running a red light was a “freedom”?
Maybe it’s a lack of driver training. Thirty years ago, about 95 percent of high-school students took driver’s ed, Allen Robinson, CEO of the American Driver and Traffic Safety Education Association, told USA Today in a late 2009 interview. Today it’s about 15 percent. And it shows.
Uneducated driving has become epidemic. People don’t know when to stop, when to signal or how to park at a parking meter. And that’s just for starters.
Denver’s yellow-light intervals in many places are too short. But the argument that more cameras will make people too cautious and cause more rear-end collisions seems to come from those who don’t see a light that’s been yellow for a while as a compelling reason to do anything other than speed up.
It has been a very long time since I’ve had reason to consult a driver’s training handbook, but there still is one. The Colorado Driver Handbook is available online, too, and it has things in there that seem almost quaint.
What it says about yellow lights is actually more restrictive than I remember. A steady yellow light, the handbook says, means “A red light is about to appear. Stop unless you are already within the intersection.”
Also stop before entering the crosswalk. Don’t force pedestrians to walk over your car. It leaves footprints and could damage the paint.
The handbook doesn’t really say that last part, but it does say this: Signal for at least 100 feet before you begin your turn, and make it 200 feet if you’re traveling more than 40 mph. There seems to be a school of thought that you shouldn’t signal until you’re actually making the turn — a practice that provides no useful information whatsoever.
“Your signal lets other drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians know your intentions,” the handbook points out. You’re supposed to provide information, not affirmation.
It says to keep a three-second gap between you and the car ahead. The faster you’re going, the bigger the gap. Back in the day, they told us to keep one car length for every 10 mph of speed. This does not apply when you’re stopped at a light, however. Close it up.
The handbook gives advice about parking (get within 12 inches of the curb) but not about parking meters. Two meters on the same pole is a confusing situation, apparently. Denver started doing this a few years ago, probably to save money on poles, and hoped that drivers would understand that one car was supposed to park ahead of the pole and one car behind. But some drivers park so their car’s front passenger door, or some other part of its torso, is alongside the pole. This effectively blocks two parking spaces. Cars are supposed to be between poles, not straddling them.
One more thing: Don’t drive with one foot on the gas and the other on the brake. If your brake lights are on all the time, drivers behind you can’t tell when you’re really stopping or if you’re just going to blow through that red light.
Fred Brown (punditfwb@aol.com), retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a political analyst for 9News.
