While it is rude to honk immediately when the light turns green, it is also true that taking too long to accelerate when the light changes severely reduces traffic flow and causes congestion. And this is commonly caused by distracted drivers. You are supposed to release your brake and begin moving at roughly the same time as the car in front of you, i.e. when the car in front of you turns off their brake lights or when the traffic signal turns green if you’re in the front.
Edit: “Too long” realistically means anything more than half a second. If everyone’s reaction time was one second it would reduce the number of cars per green light probably by half. That doesn’t mean it’s polite to honk after half a second but if your reaction time is that bad you should not be driving.
When I can clearly see you on your phone, yes.
Head down looking at their lap instead of driving. Straight to jail.
If only, sadly even doing that while you drive over human speed bumps is ok
they race up behind you, tailgate you, swerve to pass you in the next lane, then take several seconds to get going at the light, all while I’m still coasting in gently because I timed the light change
goddamn right I’m up their ass honking at them. get a fucking move on dipshit
i will never understand why us traffic lights go immediately from red to green. you have a whole-ass third light to use for signaling that the light is about to change, so people don’t have to floor it due to an unexpected change.
Drivers in the US would start treating that middle light as go and we’d be right back to square one
You don’t need to do a lot of enforcement to change that behaviour. And you can do the enforcement with red light cameras
Fuck red light cameras and fuck you for suggesting them.
In many localities voters have used initiative powers to ban red light cameras and in some jurisdictions red-light camera fines are deemed constitutional violations because the US Constitution requires those accused of crimes to be able to “confront their accuser” in court which is not possible if the accuser is a machine.
Red light and/or speed cameras are banned in many parts of the US, because courts have repeatedly ruled that they’re unconstitutional. The constitution’s sixth amendment guarantees the right to argue against your accuser in court. This was originally intended to prevent secret surprise court rulings, which the British used against Americans leading up to and during the revolution; The crown would accuse people of crimes and try them without any notice. When they obviously failed to show up to court, they were found guilty in absentia and arrested.
Regional courts have repeatedly banned the cameras, by ruling that because people can’t argue against an inanimate object, the object can’t accuse people of crimes. Basically, the constitution says you have the right to get your day in court, and some courts have interpreted that to mean the automated cameras violate that right.
That’s weird. Isn’t the accuser in that case the police or whoever is in charge of those cameras? The camera just provides evidence, doesn’t it?
Isn’t the accuser in that case the police or whoever is in charge of those cameras?
If it were a cop pulling you over and writing a ticket, sure. It would be that cop. They can show up in court and stand as a witness for you to cross-examine. But if the entire system is automated, which specific cop is the accuser?
Is the system completely automated in the US? We still have people from that department going through each picture, checking if there is indeed a violation. That person will then type out your license plate and a letter is sent to you.
If you pay, it’s done. If you don’t pay you will have to show up to court and make your case, while they will show up with that picture and date/time as proof.
The accuser in that case is the person that read the license plate from the picture.
That’s not how it works. I had to fight a ticket from one of these once.
An invalid ticket, for the record. I was innocent and I could prove it with dash cam footage. I did not run the red light, but as usual everybody acts like accusation is the same as guilt and you know how that song and dance goes.
First, those cameras are almost never operated by the state or the police. They’re run by a private company which is under some kind of contract with your state or municipality. You’ll find this is why racking up tickets from red light cameras usually can’t put points on your license.
Anyway, you will face your accuser in court if you challenge the ticket. That person will be some lackey from the company that owns the cameras, whose job it is to show up to court. Theoretically this person was also supposed to have reviewed the evidence related to the incident in question, and this is what lets them get around that pesky constitutional requirement you mentioned. In my state the requirement is that two pictures must be shown, a before and after, positively depicting the vehicle in question crossing into the intersection. In my case the second picture was mysteriously absent from the ticket, which of course the state still treated as “valid” until I challenged it. This despite the conspicuous empty square on the printout they mailed me where that photo was supposed to be. The twerp from the camera company tried several tactics (unsuccessfully) to weasel out of producing the second picture until the judge forced him to. To no one’s surprise whatsoever, it showed my car exactly in the same spot as the first picture and my ticket was dismissed.
I still had to take a day off of work to contest it, though, and the private entity knowingly lied and attempted to slap me with a fraudulent ticket knowing full well they would never actually be punished for doing so. And they weren’t.
The guy whose case was right after mine on the docket was disputing a similarly bogus ticket, which he showed me. He was a big black dude with a Harley I saw parked outside. The “damning” photo evidence printed on his ticket showed a skinny white guy in a wife beater on a crotch rocket. I have to imagine he won his case as well, but I did not stick around to find out.
So the system is indeed still bullshit, but not in the way people expect.
That’s not how it works where I live. I had to fight a ticket from one of these once, because I live in an area where courts haven’t ruled the cameras unconstitutional.
FTFY. The rest of your comment needs to have that context in mind, because the cameras’ legality entirely depends on where the camera in question is located.
Only nine states have outlawed red light cameras. Your “many” statement you made earlier is, in fact, just “some.”
The sixth amendment challenge has been proposed several times, but very few of the actual rulings I can find contained anyone successfully using this as an argument. One for instance is The People v. Khaled in California where the camera operators were not available for cross-examination. All the state has to do is provide their witnesses and the sixth challenge goes out the window.
Insofar as red light camera schemes have been declared unconstitutional in state courts, this is most often because the scheme in question exceeded the authority granted to cities and municipalities, which tried to go over the heads of their superseding states. You can call this a win since they were indeed declared “unconstitutional,” but not for the reason you specified. The US Supreme Court has also been silent on the sixth amendment argument.
So, fixed that for you.
If you have to stoop to attacking someone’s grammar in an argument, you’ve already lost. I likely won’t be replying to this comment chain again.
Edit: Lol they edited their comment. The original was only as follows:
Only nine states have outlawed red light cameras. Your “many” statement you made earlier is, in fact, just “some.” So, fixed that for you.
seems like a pretty good reason for revoking a licence to me
That’s because practically nobody here drives a car with a manual transmission, and the reason for those in Europe is (or originally was) to give drivers notice when they need to get back into gear.
A knock-on consequence of this is that nobody in the US knows how to drive, they just point the wheel vaguely in some direction and mash the skinny pedal. If they don’t get the result they wanted, they stomp on the pedal harder. You ought to watch chucklefucks try to drive in the snow, especially those with SUVs and muscle cars with rear wheel drive. People treat the throttle as if it’s the “make the car go in the direction I’m looking button” and the rest of us know that’s not how it works.
surely traffic lights pre-date automatics?
It’s not hard if you can see the other lights in the intersection.
but why depend on that?
No idea.
they used to have this. it did not go well.
wait, what? why not? it works for the rest of the world…
would be interested to know an example country you’re thinking of.
wild stuff. thanks!
Yes, green means go!11! Even there’s an old lady that just didn’t finish crossing yet, she just had to do it in the few seconds allowed.
My favorite one is people honking at other drivers for not blocking an intersection because “it’s green!”. I don’t know the term in English but in French it’s a mix of intersection and blocage. Like, if the light is green but there is no space to advance because of gridlock, some apparently like to make it worse by advancing their car in an intersection and sit there while it turns red, and thus blocking the intersection. BuT It WaS GreEn!
Do you see this little pedal under your right foot? Just fucking use it and nobody will be honking.
What bothers me are the people who do go when the light turns green, but take their damn sweet time to do it…
Eeeease oofffff the braaaake…. Mooove fooot toooo gaaaaassssss… Creeeeep into intersection at 0.05mph….
…just as long as they get through before the light turns red again, fuck everyone behind them, I guess.
Fuck those people.
Can’t help but think if the light really just turned green, or if OP just noticed it was green and assumed it just changed but had been green for a while.
I live in an area where I think the worst drivers in the US live. I absolutely hate people who honk as soon as the light turns green. You don’t know what I can see, you don’t know if it is safe to go. Because sometimes it isn’t. I’ve had to learn to still look both ways after the light turns green because almost once a week (and I only drive 2-4 days most weeks) I see someone completely blow the red going 60 in a 45.
I also blame phones for traffic, because it goes the other way too. Why did you miss that green, because 3 people in front of you were on their phones. I usually give a slow 5 count before giving a beep.
In Spain you would have to wait for 5-10 seconds without moving for anyone to honk. At least where I live. People just don’t usually get angry about it. I don’t expect anyone to stare at the red light like it’s a race track. Maybe someone is adjusting the radio, maybe they are putting on sunglasses. I mean, I don’t care, I can arrive 5 seconds later. 99% of drivers here think the same.
I once worked with a British guy here. He drove me somewhere couple of times and he would always complain at how long Spanish drivers take to start when light changes. He crashed and totaled his car soon after. Slipped on a slightly wet asphalt and went out of the road. For me it’s typical that the worse drivers are the impatient ones. Just relax, it’s not a race.
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Ever seen a Japanese sports car go from 0 to 6 in 15 seconds? Honk at me when I’m on the line and the light just turned green and I’ll show you
If you truly want to be petty, sit until it’s a late yellow before you go. They’ll be stuck at the red. I wouldn’t do it if there’s anyone stuck behind the honker, but if it’s just the two of you then it’s an easy way to be very petty. It’ll piss some people off so badly that they’ll be liable to run the red.
Put on the handbrake, get out of the car, and calmly ask them what the problem is.
You forgot the ‘grab a crowbar’ part.
The last time I had to do this I pulled a rapier, actually. Although in my defense, the guy behind me jumped out with a tire iron first. It was purest happenstance that I had the thing in my back seat at the time but damned if the look on his face wasn’t worth it.
I’ve recounted this tale before. I have to wonder how that guy tells people his side of that story…
Or just drive off. If you rise to every barb, you’re almost definitely going to end up with a severely painful, chronic erection. Getting shot or run over is also on the table.
Depending on where you are in the US, this could literally get you shot.
I’m not in the US
You’re in pole position, you have a responsibility to those behind you. Be considerate and pay attention.
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I saw someone do that in Korea. The guy in front immediately stops the car and sits there for like 2 minutes as the guy behind honks and eventually does like a 7 point turn to go around.
I think ppl did it so much it became a challenge at some point.
youtube.com/shorts/ehECSg43LrE
youtube.com/shorts/P5_xzrNwWSU
youtube.com/shorts/s6_BOdKnex4Huh American lights don’t go amber first, just straight to green.
Also those shorts made my blood pressure rise.
Actually the drivers should consider the distances of cars to the traffic lights in relation to the speed of light and sound in the surrounding air - it would be more optimal if the waiting driver would start honking a bit earlier than the green light turns on so that the honk sound would reach the slow driver at the time the light from the green light reaches them.
(It just isn’t optimal to wait the green light to pass two or more cars & then the additional wait time for the slow sound to reach the driver holding up the line in the front.)
Physicists have discovered that the shortest division of time possible is the time between the light turning green and the car behind you honking.
