Terrifying Close Call
Tonight as we were coming home from the monthly meeting of our local sf club, we had an absolutely terrifying close call. I'd stopped at an intersection, waiting to turn left, and just as I got the green arrow, a car came blowing through the red light. If I'd pulled out the instant the green arrow came on, that idiot would've broadsided me. How bad would've depended entirely on the point of impact -- if he'd hit around the front or rear wheel, it would've totaled the car and thrown it around, but seat belts and airbags probably would've kept us safe and we would've walked away. If he'd hit the driver's side door, it's anyone's guess how well the side curtain airbags would've protected me.
As I reviewed the dashcam video data, I noticed that I started shouting my astonishment and ire moments after the car entered the intersection -- and the car was going so fast it cleared the intersection in less than a second. Going frame by frame, it's moving so quickly that the image of it in each frame is blurred.
I'm thinking that I saw the headlights in my peripheral vision before I was even consciously aware of what was happening, and that's why I didn't enter the intersection the moment the green light came on.
We've been seeing a lot more of this kind of behavior. My brother-in-law mentioned several times he's seen people run red lights like that, and I've seen a lot of mentions of it on Nextdoor.
As I reviewed the dashcam video data, I noticed that I started shouting my astonishment and ire moments after the car entered the intersection -- and the car was going so fast it cleared the intersection in less than a second. Going frame by frame, it's moving so quickly that the image of it in each frame is blurred.
I'm thinking that I saw the headlights in my peripheral vision before I was even consciously aware of what was happening, and that's why I didn't enter the intersection the moment the green light came on.
We've been seeing a lot more of this kind of behavior. My brother-in-law mentioned several times he's seen people run red lights like that, and I've seen a lot of mentions of it on Nextdoor.