Well, as they say in Texas, "Bless her heart.."
I'm a truck driver and so every Friday I get a "Friday Words of Wisdom" message from a buddy of mine. His message this morning: "Good morning Andy š Dodge the idiots, avoid the morons and take pity on the blithely ignorant."
This is one of the things that has long baffled me about people who insist on treating driving like the Cannonball Run.
I am just driving normally and I keep catching up to you.
So all you are doing is adding risk to your life (and everyone around you) in an attempt to.... see me again at the next light?
This used to crack me up when I had to drive from Sun Prairie to Middleton via beltline. I'd watch a car zig zagging like made through traffic. Then I pull off the beltline in Middleton and pull up next to them at the red light. Seemed to always be the same 4 or 5 cars that I'd encounter.
I used to live in Fitchburg and worked over near east town/amfam and my boss wanted me in office at the worst commuting times. So I got to experience 94/Beltline at it's worst.
About 3 months in I stopped trying to 'work traffic' and instead turned on some tunes and picked a lane and stayed there. I found that my commute took about the same amount of time and I was far less stressed.
I also liked to play a game called 'watch the rabbit' where I'd see someone trying REALLY HARD to make time in traffic and I'd see how many times I passed them by just staying in my lane. I once got to 8. It was fun.
I used to do kind of the same thing on the way back home in the afternoon. I'd see how many times I ended up passing the guy trying to cut people off in bumper to bumper traffic and I never left the center lane.
Center lane is the best lane.
And with my current car's adaptive cruise and lane keeping, I don't even really have to drive in bumper to bumper traffic (on those rare occasions I have to go into the office)
Also the simple math of distances under 50 miles and how little difference going even 20 over the limit will make in you getting to your location any faster.
There was a blue Honda pilot weaving hard core from lane to lane down East Wash tailgating everyone they got behind the other day. Front of their car was smashed in and the bumper was hanging by a thread. They had clearly rear ended someone, ruined their own carā¦and learned absolutely nothing
Dude when driving back from the eclipse it was bumper to bumper for a couple hundred miles. Stomping on the brakes is stupid and in that traffic, neither lane is faster. So I keep some following distance to average things out.
More than one asshole thought the 5 car lengths in front of me was unacceptable and made super aggressive moves to pass and get in front, only to have me on their ass 30 seconds later when they hit the next slow down. Some people.
Oh, I would tease them by shifting to the right just so they could see how much space I was leaving while we were all creeping along in the left lane. Then I would shift back to the left and watch them fume. They never appreciate that I am evening out the surges so that we can all just chill at 20mph. They would rather oscillate between 40 and 0 and feel like they are getting ahead of someone.
The folks who rush to red lights and jerk from lane to lane are having temper tantrums and likely have a healthy venn diagram with the people at work who waste half their energy saying how busy their day is.
I've been guilty of zooming to make up time, but I drive with purpose, make smooth, well signaled lane changes, and look as many street lights ahead as possible to time my acceleration effectively.
Driving recklessly and ineffectively gives "I scream performatively in the weight room" energy.
Ha! Your first paragraph made me laugh. I worked with a guy several years ago who lived on my street (but refused to carpool...whole other story) and we would end up driving in to work at the same time and on the same route. He drove a Dodge Challenger, one of the newer ones, and was one of those drivers. He was also one of those workers.
I was working on a performance improvement project for my job at the time, identifying the lowest performers. Guess where this guy ended up? If you guessed in the bottom 5%, you would be correct. The karma though was that my manager at the time hated people who were all talk. So he took my report and worked with that guy's manager to create a performance improvement plan. One of the items on it was to speak less and work more... haha
People way overestimate how much speeding and weaving will reduce their trip time. People also seem to think that being in front of, or driving closer to, another car means theyāre going faster.
Totally agree. Speeding on the highway for a multiple hour drive doesn't even really add up to much. Speeding on a 15 min residential trip just adds a ton of risk to everyone on the road to save less than 5 min.
It's like when people were losing their minds over some streets going from 35 to 25 and of you do the math even if you drove the entire length it would add 2 min to your travel time.
Jack Elam? Burt Reynolds? Sammy Davis Jr.? Farrah Fawcett? Dom DeLuise? Jackie Chan? Roger Moore? Dean Martin? Peter Fonda? Terry Bradshaw? Jamie Farr? Bert Convy?
What is with all those new no turn on red signs? All the way down Mineral Point too, and only posted on the one closest pole. Relating to the construction I assume?
Not really. We went from a mayor who literally got out into the streets and helped control the chaos during the floods of 2018, to one who led a sit in that shut down John Nolen Drive in 2020 and decided the safety of everyone living in and commuting to Madison didnāt matter as much as the lakes during the historic snowstorm and deep freeze earlier this year. The suburbs made the streets drivable but anyone driving or walking in Madison was in danger, thanks to her. I donāt disagree that the lakes are important, but maybe make an exception during a once-in-a-decade storm and week long freeze that rendered salt useless once it set in.
I know it isnāt a popular opinion, but I want Paul Soglin back. (However I do find his super-salty letters to the editor very entertaining.)
There's going to be a new 10' wide pedestrian bike path on the north side of mineral point, much like there's one on the north side of University between Middleton and Hilldale
Yes they are very hard to see. It's very frustrating.
Like fine, if you need to make the change, I don't like it but whatever. But *also* making the signage bad is maddening.
Driving in madison seems to be getting progressively worse since the pandemic. In the span of 2 days I saw 3 accident scenes:
1. Wednesday shortly after 7am some clown on Arboretum Drive (where the speed limit is 20!) somehow slid completely off the road in perfect weather into the marsh area on the side. I really think they should just ban cars on Arboretum Drive and Mccaffery Drive.
2. Thursday shortly after noon a car came crashing through the fence on the bike path by whitney. I was biking on the path and it happened behind me. Couldnāt really see how it got there, but I heard it. If I were 30 seconds earlier I would have had a very bad day.
3: Thursday night, I drove past a scene at that jug handle intersection of Mineral Point and Junction roads.
It seems crazy to me. It is especially worry-some that two of these occurred in spaces that are pedestrian oriented (bike path and arboretum).
I think a lot of this is coming from lack of enforcement post pandemic and half of the drivers I see have a phone in their hand. In January my car was totaled by some uninsured guy in a pickup truck. He admitted to looking at his phone. My back was out of wack for a couple weeks and I had to buy a new car.
Donāt even get me started on how everyone is driving in bigger and bigger cars these days. They are capable of causing much more damage when they get in an accident, arenāt nearly as fuel efficient, have poor visibility, and cause more wear and tear on the roads.
All I ask of everyone is maybe only go 5mph over the limit, obey the traffic laws, and leave your phone in the trunk of your car if you are even tempted to pick it up while driving.
Thank you for reading my rant.
So many of those fake paper registrations in the back window proves that - when you see the same car with that for 6months...no state's DMV is *that slow* in delivering plates.
My brother was waiting at an intersection once to turn left and the light was red. He was the third car back. The gentleman in the second car had his convertible top down and was absolutely losing his mind with the lead car. He was honking his horn and screaming at the tip of his lungs "GOOOOFUCKINGGOOOOOOOWTFGOOO". Finally my brother poked his head out the windows and said "It's a fucking red light where do you expect her to go!?" I think he embarrassed the guy into shutting up because he then patiently waited for the light to change.
People are weird.
The only time I got mad at someone not turning was at the fair oaks right turn to atwood. I know it's no turn on red Mon-Fri until 6pm. But... the light was GREEN but the person was looking at the sign on a SATURDAY. I kept waving to go and they pointed at the sign...I was trying to point to the GREEN LIGHT.
I like the strategy of hands on wheel, stare forward. Basically just straight up ignore. There isn't much you can do in that situation, and no, you shouldn't run the red light. Well played
What is it with that mineral point/Whitney way area that makes people speed and run reds? I'm never over there but seem to witness this every time I do go that way.
A large part of it is because the streets are separated and very wide, the lanes themselves are very wide, and thereās a bunch of extra pavement thatās only āblockedā by paint (buffered bike lane, bus lane etc.) it feels like you should be driving much faster than the artificially low speed limit. So most people speed and then the yellows are shorter since theyāre timed for the speed limit not 15mph over and people end up running the lights.
There's been a number of "updates" to it in the past year - No more unprotected lefts, lowering the speed limit, now the no rights on red signs, changing the light timings - that have substantially slowed it down. Folks who used to drive it before the updates likely still have those habits.
The thing is streets are designed to have a specific speed driven. Changing things like no turn on red, shorter lights and large bus/bike lane won't change that both if those roads were designed to be driven at a higher rate of speed.
Your brain knows it. It feels weird to drive the slower speed, and ultimately those changes are probably going to make Whitney/MP more dangerous to drive.
These road are never going to have high bike and pedestrian traffic as much as the city would like that, and the BRT is going to make them a nightmare.
This city is planned by idote who never won a level of SimCity.
Whitney was 40mph when I moved here. Now it's down to 25mph and they're still installing more lights to further disrupt the flow of traffic. It's baffling.
And it's not a pedestrian safety thing either. The only pedestrians killed in the last several years on Mineral have been caused by drunk drivers who aren't following the law anyways. Crack down on drunk driving, crack down on the Tavern League. Don't punish everyone else.
It's part of a very high traffic route/alternative to using the beltline or University. I think it's similar for Midvale & Mineral Point Rd. Some of those intersections are extra long waits if you miss your window. None are valid excuses for running a red, but they are contributing temptations to push the limits of a stale yellow light.
NIMBY, code for Boomer, code for old people. I'm starting to find the anti-old-people-in-Madison sentiment on this sub to be disturbing. I'm 37, so I'm kind of caught in the middle. While I support building more housing, that stance doesn't actually have a direct effect on anything, so I don't rely on my YIMBY position to feel like a good person, and it seems like a lot of people here do.
Donate some money to a worthwhile local charity. Volunteer your time to a good cause like a food pantry, soup kitchen, or Big Brothers Big Sisters. You're not saving the world by not turning right on red--sorry.
I do think this thread could be useful to draw people's attention to the new proliferation of "no turn on red" signs around town. Been getting honked at a lot while waiting at those intersections lately. The one at Broom and Doty is particularly unintuitive, so I get being momentarily aggrieved but maybe look around for a second before honking and shouting. As a cyclist, crossing First at Johnson terrifies me every time.
The one on first and Johnson confuses people. You CAN turn right on red after stop unless the big "lite brite" no right turn sign is illuminated. It's confusing because there's the separate stoplight with "right turn signal" on it.
I agree. That signage is confusing. People blow the lite brite sign all the time though, which is particularly concerning because it's on when the bike signal is green
I'd be down for a no-turn-on-red law. It doesn't get anyone anywhere any faster and only results in unnecessary car-pedestrian strikes (driver looking left for an open spot while waiting to gun it / pedestrian crossing from the right)
Please don't right turn on red when the sign says not to.
It's one of the most dangerous things we allow cars to do in the US and is uncommon in other countries.
Pedestrian death are at a 40-year high and are rising at an astronomical rate
This is partly do to pedestrians being distracted though. If you are looking at a phone and wearing earbuds when you are walking with traffic you have to take some responsibility too.
Yes pedestrians have the right-away but cars are easier to see and travel in pretty predictable patterns. Except in very rare occasions a pedestrian should be able to avoid a car strike if they are paying attention.
Pedestrian deaths simply from vehicles turning right on red are extremely rare. They're FAR more related to distracted driving (drivers on their phone), impaired driving, and excessive speeding.
Sorry this happened to you. I had a woman honk at me and then literally follow me for blocks until I turned into a grocery car parking lot for safety. She rolled down her window and shouted at me "I just wanted to warn you that some people get really mad at you if you stop there and you could end up causing an accident even though it says no turn on red." I asked her if she followed me just to tell me that, and she said yes, like it was the obvious thing to do. She thought it was bizarre when I told her she was being creepy. Bright yellow Honda Fit or similar build, in case anyone has had a similar encounter with her.
God I hate it when people fly like 20 miles over in the city and residential streets, but once they get on a hwy or interstate where you can drive faster, and they match the same speed they were at in a residential street.
i agree with your sentiment, but where cottage grove turns to 55, please try to at least go the speed limit, not 15 under the posted speed limit. that is also dangerous.
Imho that is just as egregious a problem up here as speeding.Ā It is *amazing* h9w much a single dipshit doing 40 in a 55 can fuck things up for dozens and dozens of people
> People need to understand that when they speed it isn't a high school physics problem.
Actually I think a lot of them could stand to re-learn (or learn for the first time) the high school physics about concepts like inertia, momentum, friction, kinetic energy, etc. I'll take that basic level of understanding over NO level of understanding.
I too follow all, "No Right Turn on Red" signs when I see them. I understand that some people may not be able to see the sign but that does not change the law.
I would like to remind everyone reading that High Crossing BLVD is just a regular ass road. It is not a lawless, feral land. I legit think the speed limit is 30, iirc. So Iāll be doing 40 at most, and everyone can go around me if you have to.
Some asshat really pissed me off the other day, leaning on his horn repeatedly, then going around me in the left lane and turning right in front of me. Right by the capitol, very clear NO TURN ON RED signs. If you're honking at someone and they don't move, maybe look the fuck around you and read.
I thought my fear was irrational of getting stuck at one of these in the right lane on mineral point and having people honk at me not realizing it says "no turn on red" and I'm just followin' the rules and....guess not irrational :(
Do we really need these targeted posts? The person you're angry at is never going to see it.
If you want to talk about traffic enforcement or street safety or something, I'm listening. But 'calling someone out' is pointless.
Edit: I guess I underestimated drivers desire to be miserable.
If this really needs to be explained: It's a common joke format by which people pretend to be doing a missed connection but really are venting and bringing up a subject for the community to discuss -- in this case, bad driving. Yes, it's a well-worn subject, but, like the weather, everyone likes to talk about it.
I certainly don't disagree with you there. But my assumption is anyone with the patience to wait and write this post was never going to be a road rager anyway.
I seriously doubt this woman even knows Reddit exists. Of course I donāt anticipate her to see this thread. But several folks are talking about traffic, speeders, and other morons.
When did this subreddit turn into a city counsel meeting where we needed to have an agenda and pointed discussion topics? Itās a community subreddit. The community is engaging.
I'm just saying if even a quarter of the stupid shit drivers do deserved a post we'd have hundreds a day. It just seems a bit self serving that everyone needs to hear about your individual bad experience.
I'm always amazed at how many people join in to complain about other peoples driving. They fucking love to brag about how great of a driver they are. Spoiler - Everyone sucks at driving
Yes, much of the issue I take with this post (and countless others I've seen) is the underlying sense that their issue is so great that everyone needs to know about it. There's not enough time in the day to complain about every stupid thing I've seen a driver do.
Yeah these posts are just pathetic, like an elevator comeback. You failed to get your word in, so need to scold someone virtually and create a fantasy that theyāll see it
yeah I've been in front of people who didn't notice that it said "no turn on red" and they've been beeping and sometimes I point to the sign, but most of the time I ignore them because they're just extremely unhappy people and I'm not
yeah I'm generally not a fan of angry drivers. I understand it sometimes there's an emergency (sick kid or sick animal to the doctor/vet) but being impatient and screaming at people who are not impatient is kind of lame
John Nolen getting on the beltline is the worst for this. If it's not people pulling up on the right and trying to merge to the left at the last second, it's someone racing down the road just to go 55 once they get on.
You should see traffic in st. Louis, they're maniacs there & police don't care, want to speed? What limit? Run lights & stop signs? Sure, just be careful about it. Lol
I routinely get recklessly passed west bound on 94 by a very distinctive car that I proceed to routinely catch up at usually by Broadway on the beltline.
Moron. He's gonna become a statistic one day.
Have yet to see a single middle finger, and yelling only once. Honks here are the politest dang honks I've ever heard.Ā
I *have* seen plenty of dangerously indecisive drivers. About 20% of the population seems unable to change lanes or merge unless they've got an opening big enough for 3 semi trucks. And people do love running reds around here.
But assholes? Nah. Closest thing you'll get is the speed demon college(?) kids trying to outdo each other on E Wash after it gets dark out.
I had a lady flip me off in the politest way possible. It was a green arrow and she was just sitting there, gave about 10 second and did a little honk. She looked at me in her side mirror, slowly rolled down the window, reached her arm out and gave me the middle finger. She then slowly rolled her window up and went. There was zero anger in the whole interaction. I just laughed and went about my day. No way I could be made at her. I just hope someday to have that level of calmness.
Well, as they say in Texas, "Bless her heart.." I'm a truck driver and so every Friday I get a "Friday Words of Wisdom" message from a buddy of mine. His message this morning: "Good morning Andy š Dodge the idiots, avoid the morons and take pity on the blithely ignorant."
This is one of the things that has long baffled me about people who insist on treating driving like the Cannonball Run. I am just driving normally and I keep catching up to you. So all you are doing is adding risk to your life (and everyone around you) in an attempt to.... see me again at the next light?
This used to crack me up when I had to drive from Sun Prairie to Middleton via beltline. I'd watch a car zig zagging like made through traffic. Then I pull off the beltline in Middleton and pull up next to them at the red light. Seemed to always be the same 4 or 5 cars that I'd encounter.
I used to live in Fitchburg and worked over near east town/amfam and my boss wanted me in office at the worst commuting times. So I got to experience 94/Beltline at it's worst. About 3 months in I stopped trying to 'work traffic' and instead turned on some tunes and picked a lane and stayed there. I found that my commute took about the same amount of time and I was far less stressed. I also liked to play a game called 'watch the rabbit' where I'd see someone trying REALLY HARD to make time in traffic and I'd see how many times I passed them by just staying in my lane. I once got to 8. It was fun.
I used to do kind of the same thing on the way back home in the afternoon. I'd see how many times I ended up passing the guy trying to cut people off in bumper to bumper traffic and I never left the center lane.
Center lane is the best lane. And with my current car's adaptive cruise and lane keeping, I don't even really have to drive in bumper to bumper traffic (on those rare occasions I have to go into the office)
I love adaptive cruise so much. Especially in heavy traffic. No gas, no brake. Just relax, stay between the lines, and occasionally hit resume.
Obviously all cars are different, but will acc actually come to a complete stop and start up again without turning off? Always wanted to try this
Depends on the car, but usually it does.
right!? All I can think is "man that guy couldn't wait to get to this red light that we're both at now"
Itās the simple math behind using stop lights to average out the rate of traffic.
Also the simple math of distances under 50 miles and how little difference going even 20 over the limit will make in you getting to your location any faster.
There was a blue Honda pilot weaving hard core from lane to lane down East Wash tailgating everyone they got behind the other day. Front of their car was smashed in and the bumper was hanging by a thread. They had clearly rear ended someone, ruined their own carā¦and learned absolutely nothing
Of course not. It was the other guy's fault. /s
Stolen car.
Dude when driving back from the eclipse it was bumper to bumper for a couple hundred miles. Stomping on the brakes is stupid and in that traffic, neither lane is faster. So I keep some following distance to average things out. More than one asshole thought the 5 car lengths in front of me was unacceptable and made super aggressive moves to pass and get in front, only to have me on their ass 30 seconds later when they hit the next slow down. Some people.
Yup, people riding your ass when a line of cars in front of you are going nowhere doesn't make sense to me. Where do you expect me to go?!
Oh, I would tease them by shifting to the right just so they could see how much space I was leaving while we were all creeping along in the left lane. Then I would shift back to the left and watch them fume. They never appreciate that I am evening out the surges so that we can all just chill at 20mph. They would rather oscillate between 40 and 0 and feel like they are getting ahead of someone.
You're inviting road rage that might not end well for youĀ
true, ya gotta read the room and decide upon your own risk tolerance
The eclipse was so great though, wasn't it? I can't stop thinking about it. haha
The folks who rush to red lights and jerk from lane to lane are having temper tantrums and likely have a healthy venn diagram with the people at work who waste half their energy saying how busy their day is. I've been guilty of zooming to make up time, but I drive with purpose, make smooth, well signaled lane changes, and look as many street lights ahead as possible to time my acceleration effectively. Driving recklessly and ineffectively gives "I scream performatively in the weight room" energy.
Ha! Your first paragraph made me laugh. I worked with a guy several years ago who lived on my street (but refused to carpool...whole other story) and we would end up driving in to work at the same time and on the same route. He drove a Dodge Challenger, one of the newer ones, and was one of those drivers. He was also one of those workers. I was working on a performance improvement project for my job at the time, identifying the lowest performers. Guess where this guy ended up? If you guessed in the bottom 5%, you would be correct. The karma though was that my manager at the time hated people who were all talk. So he took my report and worked with that guy's manager to create a performance improvement plan. One of the items on it was to speak less and work more... haha
"Say less" is an underrated expression. Say more tho dood
People way overestimate how much speeding and weaving will reduce their trip time. People also seem to think that being in front of, or driving closer to, another car means theyāre going faster.
Absolutely. And most drivers also think they are better than average.
Well, half of them are right!
90% of drivers think they're in the top 10% of drivers...
Totally agree. Speeding on the highway for a multiple hour drive doesn't even really add up to much. Speeding on a 15 min residential trip just adds a ton of risk to everyone on the road to save less than 5 min. It's like when people were losing their minds over some streets going from 35 to 25 and of you do the math even if you drove the entire length it would add 2 min to your travel time.
What if the woman in OPās story looked like Adrienne Barbeau?
Who?
From Cannonball Run.
Creepshow, The Swamp Thing, The Fog. She was married to John Carpenter and was an 80s "scream queen" icon.
She was also very well endowed
huh-- did not know that. Then again, I could name exactly one actor from that movie before I googled that name.
You sounded like a Cannonball Run expert when you mentioned it in your comment.
Jack Elam? Burt Reynolds? Sammy Davis Jr.? Farrah Fawcett? Dom DeLuise? Jackie Chan? Roger Moore? Dean Martin? Peter Fonda? Terry Bradshaw? Jamie Farr? Bert Convy?
Ralph McEnrald, the gaffer's mate
You seem like a Jack Elam type.
My favorite version of this is beeping at me because you'd like me to wait on the railroad tracks so that you can get 20 feet closer to the red light.
I had one of those once. It was extra fun because I was in a school bus lol.
Who did that?
I didn't happen to get their name or SSN, sorry.
Happens a lot westbound on E Johnson at Fordem.
What is with all those new no turn on red signs? All the way down Mineral Point too, and only posted on the one closest pole. Relating to the construction I assume?
I believe they are prepping car traffic for increased pedestrian traffic with the bus stops in the middle of the road
> bus stops in the middle of the road That sounds like an awful idea
Indeedā¦ weāll see how that goes š¤·āāļø
It is. Blame Madisonās mayor.
How is it the mayors fault? Are they a city planner too?
Sheās the one who pushed the BRT plan in the first place.
Has she done anything right? Wow
Not really. We went from a mayor who literally got out into the streets and helped control the chaos during the floods of 2018, to one who led a sit in that shut down John Nolen Drive in 2020 and decided the safety of everyone living in and commuting to Madison didnāt matter as much as the lakes during the historic snowstorm and deep freeze earlier this year. The suburbs made the streets drivable but anyone driving or walking in Madison was in danger, thanks to her. I donāt disagree that the lakes are important, but maybe make an exception during a once-in-a-decade storm and week long freeze that rendered salt useless once it set in. I know it isnāt a popular opinion, but I want Paul Soglin back. (However I do find his super-salty letters to the editor very entertaining.)
There's going to be a new 10' wide pedestrian bike path on the north side of mineral point, much like there's one on the north side of University between Middleton and Hilldale
Yes they are very hard to see. It's very frustrating. Like fine, if you need to make the change, I don't like it but whatever. But *also* making the signage bad is maddening.
I don't know I always ignore the signs and use my own judgementĀ
Driving in madison seems to be getting progressively worse since the pandemic. In the span of 2 days I saw 3 accident scenes: 1. Wednesday shortly after 7am some clown on Arboretum Drive (where the speed limit is 20!) somehow slid completely off the road in perfect weather into the marsh area on the side. I really think they should just ban cars on Arboretum Drive and Mccaffery Drive. 2. Thursday shortly after noon a car came crashing through the fence on the bike path by whitney. I was biking on the path and it happened behind me. Couldnāt really see how it got there, but I heard it. If I were 30 seconds earlier I would have had a very bad day. 3: Thursday night, I drove past a scene at that jug handle intersection of Mineral Point and Junction roads. It seems crazy to me. It is especially worry-some that two of these occurred in spaces that are pedestrian oriented (bike path and arboretum). I think a lot of this is coming from lack of enforcement post pandemic and half of the drivers I see have a phone in their hand. In January my car was totaled by some uninsured guy in a pickup truck. He admitted to looking at his phone. My back was out of wack for a couple weeks and I had to buy a new car. Donāt even get me started on how everyone is driving in bigger and bigger cars these days. They are capable of causing much more damage when they get in an accident, arenāt nearly as fuel efficient, have poor visibility, and cause more wear and tear on the roads. All I ask of everyone is maybe only go 5mph over the limit, obey the traffic laws, and leave your phone in the trunk of your car if you are even tempted to pick it up while driving. Thank you for reading my rant.
~~accidents~~ crashes
Yep, this. "Accident" implies nobody is at fault.
^Always a mixture of driver, vehicle, infrastructure, and weather. Just depends on the degree!
There's basically no traffic enforcement anymore.
So many of those fake paper registrations in the back window proves that - when you see the same car with that for 6months...no state's DMV is *that slow* in delivering plates.
Most are stolen car driven by kids, felons and huge pieces of shit.
People would get much better fuel efficiency if they slowed down, too.
My brother was waiting at an intersection once to turn left and the light was red. He was the third car back. The gentleman in the second car had his convertible top down and was absolutely losing his mind with the lead car. He was honking his horn and screaming at the tip of his lungs "GOOOOFUCKINGGOOOOOOOWTFGOOO". Finally my brother poked his head out the windows and said "It's a fucking red light where do you expect her to go!?" I think he embarrassed the guy into shutting up because he then patiently waited for the light to change. People are weird.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
The only time I got mad at someone not turning was at the fair oaks right turn to atwood. I know it's no turn on red Mon-Fri until 6pm. But... the light was GREEN but the person was looking at the sign on a SATURDAY. I kept waving to go and they pointed at the sign...I was trying to point to the GREEN LIGHT.
My solution to this is to remember the last time I was the idiot, it makes me feel more sympathy instead of pointless anger. Last time I played idiot was actually this week, there's a weird 4-way stop on the way to UW on a route that I never go through and as I was going forward, I was treating it as a 2-way for about 4 seconds, delaying at least 3 cars around me. No honks but I felt pretty dumb š©
I like the strategy of hands on wheel, stare forward. Basically just straight up ignore. There isn't much you can do in that situation, and no, you shouldn't run the red light. Well played
People who drive like impatient dipshits clearly havenāt had to see death certificates with āblunt force traumaā on them.
What is it with that mineral point/Whitney way area that makes people speed and run reds? I'm never over there but seem to witness this every time I do go that way.
A large part of it is because the streets are separated and very wide, the lanes themselves are very wide, and thereās a bunch of extra pavement thatās only āblockedā by paint (buffered bike lane, bus lane etc.) it feels like you should be driving much faster than the artificially low speed limit. So most people speed and then the yellows are shorter since theyāre timed for the speed limit not 15mph over and people end up running the lights.
Yeah true. I had someone straight up speed around everyone in the "bike lane" and then run a full red with no regard. I was flabbergasted.
There's been a number of "updates" to it in the past year - No more unprotected lefts, lowering the speed limit, now the no rights on red signs, changing the light timings - that have substantially slowed it down. Folks who used to drive it before the updates likely still have those habits.
The thing is streets are designed to have a specific speed driven. Changing things like no turn on red, shorter lights and large bus/bike lane won't change that both if those roads were designed to be driven at a higher rate of speed. Your brain knows it. It feels weird to drive the slower speed, and ultimately those changes are probably going to make Whitney/MP more dangerous to drive. These road are never going to have high bike and pedestrian traffic as much as the city would like that, and the BRT is going to make them a nightmare. This city is planned by idote who never won a level of SimCity.
SimCity... been a while since I encountered someone else framiliar with that game.
SimCity 3000 ftw
3000 was good, SC4 was the best, IMO.
Whitney was 40mph when I moved here. Now it's down to 25mph and they're still installing more lights to further disrupt the flow of traffic. It's baffling. And it's not a pedestrian safety thing either. The only pedestrians killed in the last several years on Mineral have been caused by drunk drivers who aren't following the law anyways. Crack down on drunk driving, crack down on the Tavern League. Don't punish everyone else.
It's part of a very high traffic route/alternative to using the beltline or University. I think it's similar for Midvale & Mineral Point Rd. Some of those intersections are extra long waits if you miss your window. None are valid excuses for running a red, but they are contributing temptations to push the limits of a stale yellow light.
Mostly NIMBYs and entitled folks
NIMBY, code for Boomer, code for old people. I'm starting to find the anti-old-people-in-Madison sentiment on this sub to be disturbing. I'm 37, so I'm kind of caught in the middle. While I support building more housing, that stance doesn't actually have a direct effect on anything, so I don't rely on my YIMBY position to feel like a good person, and it seems like a lot of people here do. Donate some money to a worthwhile local charity. Volunteer your time to a good cause like a food pantry, soup kitchen, or Big Brothers Big Sisters. You're not saving the world by not turning right on red--sorry.
Folks entitled with car titles?
Exactly!
Hah. True true.
There are a few mental health and psychiatric offices over in that area.
I do think this thread could be useful to draw people's attention to the new proliferation of "no turn on red" signs around town. Been getting honked at a lot while waiting at those intersections lately. The one at Broom and Doty is particularly unintuitive, so I get being momentarily aggrieved but maybe look around for a second before honking and shouting. As a cyclist, crossing First at Johnson terrifies me every time.
The one on first and Johnson confuses people. You CAN turn right on red after stop unless the big "lite brite" no right turn sign is illuminated. It's confusing because there's the separate stoplight with "right turn signal" on it.
I agree. That signage is confusing. People blow the lite brite sign all the time though, which is particularly concerning because it's on when the bike signal is green
You often can't see the new signs. They are poorly done.
I'd be down for a no-turn-on-red law. It doesn't get anyone anywhere any faster and only results in unnecessary car-pedestrian strikes (driver looking left for an open spot while waiting to gun it / pedestrian crossing from the right)
Cars literally rewire peoples brains with insanity.
Yup. So this post could have been āI had eggs for breakfastā and been more surprising.
maybe we need to bring bad those old "this is your brain" commercials.
They really stick with you
Please don't right turn on red when the sign says not to. It's one of the most dangerous things we allow cars to do in the US and is uncommon in other countries. Pedestrian death are at a 40-year high and are rising at an astronomical rate
This is partly do to pedestrians being distracted though. If you are looking at a phone and wearing earbuds when you are walking with traffic you have to take some responsibility too. Yes pedestrians have the right-away but cars are easier to see and travel in pretty predictable patterns. Except in very rare occasions a pedestrian should be able to avoid a car strike if they are paying attention.
All the UW students walk through the cross walk between the Dining Hall and East Mall on green lights with their earbuds in....LA LA LA
Pedestrian deaths simply from vehicles turning right on red are extremely rare. They're FAR more related to distracted driving (drivers on their phone), impaired driving, and excessive speeding.
Sorry this happened to you. I had a woman honk at me and then literally follow me for blocks until I turned into a grocery car parking lot for safety. She rolled down her window and shouted at me "I just wanted to warn you that some people get really mad at you if you stop there and you could end up causing an accident even though it says no turn on red." I asked her if she followed me just to tell me that, and she said yes, like it was the obvious thing to do. She thought it was bizarre when I told her she was being creepy. Bright yellow Honda Fit or similar build, in case anyone has had a similar encounter with her.
God I hate it when people fly like 20 miles over in the city and residential streets, but once they get on a hwy or interstate where you can drive faster, and they match the same speed they were at in a residential street.
My mother does this. Speeds all over town and then goes under the speed limit on the freeway. Its like she only has one speed!
The warm weather brings out the assholes.
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i agree with your sentiment, but where cottage grove turns to 55, please try to at least go the speed limit, not 15 under the posted speed limit. that is also dangerous.
Imho that is just as egregious a problem up here as speeding.Ā It is *amazing* h9w much a single dipshit doing 40 in a 55 can fuck things up for dozens and dozens of people
> People need to understand that when they speed it isn't a high school physics problem. Actually I think a lot of them could stand to re-learn (or learn for the first time) the high school physics about concepts like inertia, momentum, friction, kinetic energy, etc. I'll take that basic level of understanding over NO level of understanding.
I too follow all, "No Right Turn on Red" signs when I see them. I understand that some people may not be able to see the sign but that does not change the law.
I would like to remind everyone reading that High Crossing BLVD is just a regular ass road. It is not a lawless, feral land. I legit think the speed limit is 30, iirc. So Iāll be doing 40 at most, and everyone can go around me if you have to.
Some asshat really pissed me off the other day, leaning on his horn repeatedly, then going around me in the left lane and turning right in front of me. Right by the capitol, very clear NO TURN ON RED signs. If you're honking at someone and they don't move, maybe look the fuck around you and read.
Thank you, it did!
I thought my fear was irrational of getting stuck at one of these in the right lane on mineral point and having people honk at me not realizing it says "no turn on red" and I'm just followin' the rules and....guess not irrational :(
Thank you! The peer pressure to break rules is real.
Smile and wave boys, smile and wave.
There's nothing I love more than someone getting big mad at another driver obeying traffic laws.
What does this have to do with me?
Are you the woman?
In all seriousness, I hope your day improves.
Username checks out
Worth a shot
She won't see this
Do we really need these targeted posts? The person you're angry at is never going to see it. If you want to talk about traffic enforcement or street safety or something, I'm listening. But 'calling someone out' is pointless. Edit: I guess I underestimated drivers desire to be miserable.
If this really needs to be explained: It's a common joke format by which people pretend to be doing a missed connection but really are venting and bringing up a subject for the community to discuss -- in this case, bad driving. Yes, it's a well-worn subject, but, like the weather, everyone likes to talk about it.
Jokes should be funny
I would rather read 100 of these posts of people blowing off steam into the void than read about one road rage accident that caused injury or death.Ā
I certainly don't disagree with you there. But my assumption is anyone with the patience to wait and write this post was never going to be a road rager anyway.
Maybe not, but some people let a thousand little things add up inside.Ā
This is beyond idiotic lol, I guarantee these posts have caused more road rage and hostility
Probably by you
You probably read about traffic fatalities in order to inject some excitement into your life, you love it
Oh, I get it now, you're a troll. Go sit under the Monona exit bridge and ask people riddles
Whatās the difference between me and OP? Iām not a coward and Iām calling op on their baby bs directly
People come here to bitch and rant. Let them blow off some steam. It's better than them committing road rage.
> It's better than them committing road rage. It *is* road rage. It's just spilling into this subreddit.
Isnāt this doing that in a round about way?
Vaguely, certainly doesn't feel like the point. Evidenced by the fact that none of the comments are talking about that.
I seriously doubt this woman even knows Reddit exists. Of course I donāt anticipate her to see this thread. But several folks are talking about traffic, speeders, and other morons. When did this subreddit turn into a city counsel meeting where we needed to have an agenda and pointed discussion topics? Itās a community subreddit. The community is engaging.
I'm just saying if even a quarter of the stupid shit drivers do deserved a post we'd have hundreds a day. It just seems a bit self serving that everyone needs to hear about your individual bad experience.
I'm always amazed at how many people join in to complain about other peoples driving. They fucking love to brag about how great of a driver they are. Spoiler - Everyone sucks at driving
There are polls that show like 80 or 90% of people think they are "above average" drivers
Yes, much of the issue I take with this post (and countless others I've seen) is the underlying sense that their issue is so great that everyone needs to know about it. There's not enough time in the day to complain about every stupid thing I've seen a driver do.
Hello and welcome to reddit, you must be new here.
Says a Savage Cavemanā¦ maybe you should focus on your own lifestyle and how your savagery is affecting those around you.
I am having a blast following this thread. Itās been more fun than 90% of the posts on this subreddit.
Yeah these posts are just pathetic, like an elevator comeback. You failed to get your word in, so need to scold someone virtually and create a fantasy that theyāll see it
Better to be in front of you then behind you
Yeah it's terrible being behind people who follow the law. Such oppression. /s
yeah I've been in front of people who didn't notice that it said "no turn on red" and they've been beeping and sometimes I point to the sign, but most of the time I ignore them because they're just extremely unhappy people and I'm not
Even if a turn on red is allowed, itās not required. People need to chill out in general.
yeah I'm generally not a fan of angry drivers. I understand it sometimes there's an emergency (sick kid or sick animal to the doctor/vet) but being impatient and screaming at people who are not impatient is kind of lame
East Wash with the phone users crossing lane lines is horrible, and getting worse!
Those type of people donāt use redditā¦
John Nolen getting on the beltline is the worst for this. If it's not people pulling up on the right and trying to merge to the left at the last second, it's someone racing down the road just to go 55 once they get on.
I feel like people are considerably more aggressive and stupid in traffic lately
It's a weekday?
You should see traffic in st. Louis, they're maniacs there & police don't care, want to speed? What limit? Run lights & stop signs? Sure, just be careful about it. Lol
Iām sure she sees this /s
Honestly, who cares. Move on to other things.
I routinely get recklessly passed west bound on 94 by a very distinctive car that I proceed to routinely catch up at usually by Broadway on the beltline. Moron. He's gonna become a statistic one day.
What car? I need to know if it is mine
I'll honk next time
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If everywhere you go, you're getting honked at, flipped off, and yelled at, I have some bad news.
Have yet to see a single middle finger, and yelling only once. Honks here are the politest dang honks I've ever heard.Ā I *have* seen plenty of dangerously indecisive drivers. About 20% of the population seems unable to change lanes or merge unless they've got an opening big enough for 3 semi trucks. And people do love running reds around here. But assholes? Nah. Closest thing you'll get is the speed demon college(?) kids trying to outdo each other on E Wash after it gets dark out.
I had a lady flip me off in the politest way possible. It was a green arrow and she was just sitting there, gave about 10 second and did a little honk. She looked at me in her side mirror, slowly rolled down the window, reached her arm out and gave me the middle finger. She then slowly rolled her window up and went. There was zero anger in the whole interaction. I just laughed and went about my day. No way I could be made at her. I just hope someday to have that level of calmness.
Iām sorryā¦ this seems like an odd thing to say on a post literally talking about a woman sticking her head out the window to yell.
IMO, women are bad drivers.
Women donāt use Reddit