Differences between Portland and Eugene. The first in what may become a series.
The stoplights.
In Portland there is a much longer wait between when one set of lights turns red and the other turns green. You would think that this would cut down on the number of people who have run the red light and are now in the middle of the intersection when the other set of lights turns green. Well...I would think that anyhow. This is not so. In fact, there is a particular intersection that I go through twice a day on workdays, and I've yet to see less than two cars run the red and go through the intersection after my light has turned green.
I take no small amount of joy in stopping when the lights turn orange (or yellow, as it would seem most people call it. I call it orange, for no other reason than that it looks orange to me) or red at as many intersections as possible during rush hour. I am aware that this often enrages the people behind me who otherwise would have, all too happily, run the red light. I delight in slowing them down, in putting a little bit of order back into a chaotic situation, and in having a chance to take my day's frustrations out on a stranger in a perfectly reasonable, rational, and legal way.
In Portland there is a much longer wait between when one set of lights turns red and the other turns green. You would think that this would cut down on the number of people who have run the red light and are now in the middle of the intersection when the other set of lights turns green. Well...I would think that anyhow. This is not so. In fact, there is a particular intersection that I go through twice a day on workdays, and I've yet to see less than two cars run the red and go through the intersection after my light has turned green.
I take no small amount of joy in stopping when the lights turn orange (or yellow, as it would seem most people call it. I call it orange, for no other reason than that it looks orange to me) or red at as many intersections as possible during rush hour. I am aware that this often enrages the people behind me who otherwise would have, all too happily, run the red light. I delight in slowing them down, in putting a little bit of order back into a chaotic situation, and in having a chance to take my day's frustrations out on a stranger in a perfectly reasonable, rational, and legal way.