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  #1  
Old 08-11-2017, 12:24 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Default Do you do this at stoplights?

Look at the red car on the right.

I call it the "Invisible Car Phenomenon." In the graphic below, the road that goes east-to-west has a red light and the road that goes north-to-south has green. The red car is stopped anywhere from an entire car length to a stretch limo length behind the white stop line. I call it the Invisible Car Phenomenon, because I'm guessing the driver of the red car must see a car in front of him that no one else sees I see this phenomenon nearly every day at least a couple times.

I've brought this up before and the usual answer (and only one that makes sense...sort of) is that people are being cautious in case they get rear-ended so that they are not pushed out into the intersection and into cross-traffic. Personally, I think most stop lines are already placed far enough away from cross traffic where this is unnecessary. If the danger were that real, they wouldn't have engineered intersections the way they are. I can understand maybe someone stopping a foot or two short of the line, but not an entire car length or more.

What say you? Am I missing something? Always been a head-scratcher for me.

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Old 08-11-2017, 12:29 PM
amyFB amyFB is offline
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How does the red car's position affect the other drivers?

Do you perceive a road-safety issue at play with the red car's position?
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:30 PM
Rudals Rudals is offline
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I know exactly what you're talking about!!! I just don't get it. What drives me nuts is that these drivers keep on moving little by little. It just baffles me to see these people.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:37 PM
Nyghthawk Nyghthawk is offline
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I live in a college town that is also a retirement mecca. Drivers here alternate between twenty somethings texting while dodging in and out of traffic lanes and little old ladies that should have stopped driving when WJC was still president.

Have you ever checked the age on the "red car" drivers? The examples of that I see are all past 80.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:37 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amyFB View Post
How does the red car's position affect the other drivers?

Do you perceive a road-safety issue at play with the red car's position?
I know where you're heading with this, and that's not the point. I'm simply curious as to why people do this. I'm not complaining. You might see someone walking down the street tapping the top of their head with their hand. It doesn't affect anyone else, but most people would be wondering why they're doing that
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:42 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Originally Posted by Rudals View Post
I know exactly what you're talking about!!! I just don't get it. What drives me nuts is that these drivers keep on moving little by little. It just baffles me to see these people.
Yes, sometimes I see that too, but often they don't budge until the light turns green (or just before it turns green).

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nyghthawk View Post
Have you ever checked the age on the "red car" drivers? The examples of that I see are all past 80.
I don't usually make eye contact with the driver, just see it in my side mirror or over my shoulder, but I'm pretty sure I've seen younger folks doing it too.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:48 PM
Irish Pennant Irish Pennant is offline
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The person in the red car was on their cell phone and realized too late that they needed to make a left. They are waiting for the turn signal and hoping that the lane will stay clear.

Or

The person in the red car is on their cell phone and missed the light change.

Or

The person in the red car was told to stop by their onboard electronic navigator and they can't go until it tells them to.

Or

The person in the red car is really short and they need to lay back in order to see the stop light that's above because they can't see the one that's across the intersection.

Or

The person in the lime green car is someone they don't want to make eye contact with.


Or Or Or

I don't know why people to the things they do, they just do it.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:51 PM
BradleyS BradleyS is offline
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Yep, all the time in South Texas.
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Old 08-11-2017, 12:58 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Pennant View Post
The person in the red car was on their cell phone and realized too late that they needed to make a left. They are waiting for the turn signal and hoping that the lane will stay clear.
Could be, but normally those people would put their blinker on. The ones I observe do not have a blinker on and they always end up going straight when we get the green light. Oh, and this happens in other lanes besides the one adjacent to the turn lanes. Sometimes it's even a car IN the turn lane. The graphic was just random.

Quote:
The person in the red car is on their cell phone and missed the light change.
Not sure what you mean. The light is red the whole time. They're supposed to be stopped.

Quote:
The person in the red car was told to stop by their onboard electronic navigator and they can't go until it tells them to.


Quote:
The person in the red car is really short and they need to lay back in order to see the stop light that's above because they can't see the one that's across the intersection.
Maybe it's different where you live, but there is only one set of lights for each direction where I live--across the intersection, and it seems like being too tall would be the issue there, not too short.

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The person in the lime green car is someone they don't want to make eye contact with.
Could be!

Quote:
Or Or Or
...The person in the red car is writing down the lime green car's license plate and turning him in, but it takes the whole light cycle to write it down.
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Old 08-11-2017, 01:07 PM
Irish Pennant Irish Pennant is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jhmulkey View Post


Not sure what you mean. The light is red the whole time. They're supposed to be stopped.
It's a long phone call and they've been sitting there through more than one cycle of the light.
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Old 08-11-2017, 01:10 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Irish Pennant View Post
It's a long phone call and they've been sitting there through more than one cycle of the light.
Ah, ok, but I'm talking about people I personally see pull up to the red light and stop short like this (it's usually when I'm the lime green car, and I look back wondering why the lane next to me is "empty" when traffic is heavy).
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Old 08-11-2017, 01:43 PM
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Mr. Jelly Mr. Jelly is offline
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This is yet another example of someone trying to find logic in a world of illogical people. You definitely have to keep this answer in you multiple answer check sheet.
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Old 08-11-2017, 02:07 PM
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I know a young mother of two who was sitting at a red light when an accident happened in the intersection. One of the cars and its debris came over and hit her car and windshield, injuring her, though thankfully not seriously, and neither child in the back seat was hurt. Today, if she is first in line at a red light, she stops further behind the white line than most people would. I understand this, and do not hold it against her.

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Old 08-11-2017, 02:14 PM
jhmulkey jhmulkey is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cotten View Post
I know a young mother of two who was sitting at a red light when an accident happened in the intersection. One of the cars and its debris came over and hit her car and windshield, injuring her, though thankfully not seriously, and neither child in the back seat was hurt. Today, if she is first in line at a red light, she stops further behind the white line than most people would. I understand this, and do not hold it against her.

cotten
While I can understand that on an individual's psychological level, logically it could very well be that the debris could fly further and hit her where she now stops, but would have missed her were she pulled up to the line. Or maybe not. That's one of those "when it's your time, you can't do anything about it" situations.

Again, I'm with you on understanding why someone might have that fear and behave in a certain way, and neither would I hold that against them*. I just don't think that's a matter of "best practice" when it comes to defensive driving.

*Actually I don't hold it against anybody whatever the reason is, even if it's not a good reason. Others may judge someone for this, but I don't. For me, it's simply curiosity.

Last edited by jhmulkey; 08-11-2017 at 02:21 PM.
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  #15  
Old 08-11-2017, 02:38 PM
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One thing I always do if I'm first in line is give it a heartbeat or two after the light turns green. If there's a red light runner on the cross street, I don't want to meet him personally.
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