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NONE!

Too much of a traffic engineers resources are spent conforming to "Guidelines" that are mandated by government regulators. My idea is send the junior engineers out into the field to observe the flow of traffic. Then give him the authority to adjust tne timing of the lights for efficient traffic movement at that location. Too many lights have a cycle of more than two minutes of red, then long periods where an approach has the green, but no cars are present.
I understand people trying to get to work on time. Often the violators were in queue when the light turned green and they did not make it through.
Imagine 3 or 4 of these lights along a busy street. So they take a small risk that might save several minutes.
Another alternative is having a police car sitting nearby a few times a month during the rush hour.

I was thinking that if one totally objects to RLCs, but it is a known intersection where what I describe happens with every cycle of the lights, perhaps permanently positioning a state trooper there would change behavior. But people know the state and city cannot afford that, so they do as they please. It irritates me when I have a solid green, yet cannot proceed. I suppose RLC haters grin at their green light, while keeping their foot on the brakes.

Or, those that run the red could realize that other drivers also have time pressures. Who's time is the more important. Obviously everyone thinks they are most important. Tough, it isn't. Learn patience.

btw are these red light runners the same people that park illegally?

Somebody pee in your pool? You're coming across as awfully cranky.

Spokybob's alternative is the sane one. The one that makes sense. Therefore by government logic it will be the plan that doesn't get implemented since that would cure the underlying problem in an environment where curing the symptoms is what matters.

I remember my buddy saying that back in the day, he drove from the South Shore of LI, to Midtown, along Queens Blvd., over Paul Simon's favorite bridge, without a single red, by doing the right speed.

People still ran lights back then along that route (it was so long ago, I bet most here weren't even born yet circa '92). Reason being, they exceeded the limit and still approached reds.

I saw an interesting theory--one city said their violation revenue has gone down after years of the RLCs. Why that gets interesting to me, is that the violators were paying for the system. As the violators disappear and revenues decrease, who will then pay for the system?

I remember my buddy saying that back in the day, he drove from the South Shore of LI, to Midtown, along Queens Blvd., over Paul Simon's favorite bridge, without a single red, by doing the right speed.

People still ran lights back then along that route (it was so long ago, I bet most here weren't even born yet circa '92). Reason being, they exceeded the limit and still approached reds.

I saw an interesting theory--one city said their violation revenue has gone down after years of the RLCs. Why that gets interesting to me, is that the violators were paying for the system. As the violators disappear and revenues decrease, who will then pay for the system?

They'd take the cameras down right after they finish taking down the tollbooths on all the tollroads where the construction bonds got paid off. (For our younger members or older ones who have forgotten: when toll roads were first constructed, the tollway authorities promised to "take down the tollbooths" as soon as construction bonds were paid off. With few exceptions--I-95 in SW Connecticut being one--it never happened. Of course.

somewhere a while back I read they don't do that anymore because it promotes speeding.

The obvious alternative is appropriate police enforcement. Rather than giving tickets to otherwise safe drivers that they were able to catch for something trivial, police could try pulling people over for blatently unsafe behavior. It's amazing to me what I see drivers do on a regular basis, even when I see police officers in sight that should have seen it.

If a particular intersection causes trouble, police could easily clean it up by camping out at that intersection once in a while.

I find it hard to believe there were 6 cars that all ran a red light. I very rarely see anyone blow a red light, let alone 6 cars all at once.

Come to Moline IL. You will see it for yourself. John Deere Road and 7th, left turn arrows are an example.

What happens is that numbers 3 and 4 can see that numbers 1 and 2 have the intersection blocked and so they get beside them.

Yet another person that thought his need over-rode considerations of others,

Traffic planners already try to set speed limits and time lights to optimize traffic. It's a difficult problem, exacerbated by inefficient roads. That in turn is because governments will not build what is necessary. It's not always the planners that are at fault.

I disagree with your statement. I see poor traffic management everywhere, especially in Moline and Milan Illinois. Every intersection with traffic detectors already has a programming box. Get those employees off their butts and program the signals correctly.

Both of those examples don't sound like running a red light to me.

That happens all day on LI. Maybe not six at a count, but almost every light in places....not to mention the right turns from the left lane.

It happens quite frequently in left turn situations. The light will short cycle in that the green only allows 3 or 4 cars to turn before cycling to red. Those in the queue run the light hoping to get turned before the 3 approaching lanes get into the intersection. A lot of the problem is during congested periods before the lights cycle to peak cycles timing.

As BoxCar indicated, the situation I was describing involves left turn signals. What has happened is that many drivers here have realized that our two second "all red" standard gives them the opportunity to cheat the red light in the left turn lane. They have learned that both sides of the traffic perpendicular to the lane from which they just turned will also have some reaction time before it starts up - giving them almost 3 seconds past the time that their signal turned red to make their left turn.

Now, I have never seen an accident caused by such red light running. Rather the problem comes from intersections where those who made a legal left turn are only just able to straighten out before they are caught by the next traffic light in their new direction. Then, because those cars that illegally left turned were unable to clear the intersection, the left side perpendicular traffic is thus blocked and can not proceed either. This is especially a problem when that left side perpendicular traffic has a left turn green as well as a straight through green simultaneously. Most of the time, the left hand perpendicular cars who wanted to make a left turn are blocked entirely through their legal cycle and go nowhere. Sometimes they get to left turn on the next cycle, but that is a function of how many people cheat the light on their right side after the next cycle.

I was taught that you should not block an intersection. I try to anticipate whether I will be able to clear an intersection even if I have a green light and do not proceed until it is clear I will be able to do so. To me it just seems common courtesy, but others seem to give it no thought at all.

It isn't always just squeezing in behind the car in front.

A friend was in a serious accident when he was the third car to go through a green light and was hit by red light runner.

I also saw a life-threatening accident caused by a red-light runner.

I guess the victims just need to stop being so thin-skinned.

My vote is for police enforcement.

But, it seems that everybody is such a big rush to get somewhere, Lord help you if you get in their way. Now don't get me wrong I like to keep moving too, but not at the expensive of hurting someone or myself. Just ask yourself this question, how much quicker will I get to where I'm going if I run this light, or roll thru the intersection. If everybody wants to speed travel up, put that damn cell phone in your pocket and start paying attention , so that when the light does change you move instead of playing with your phone.

Gosh, I feel better!!!!

Believe the alternative you seek is police presence - if it's that much of a problem why not complin to the police department - a few tickets and a police cruiser showing presence will do wonders.

So, get some data together and go see the responsible organization. I did and was amazed at what I learned.

Some people go so far as to say it didn't happen! I was there--maybe I saw double and only 3 people ran the light?

Maybe that's why we all look at the problem differently. I mean, I found it so peaceful to be in VT in the 90's, sounds like a joke, but people left doors unlocked and keys to cars under the mat. Now, the person who lives in a city of 8.3 mil with 800 languages spoken would probably say, no, that never happened, people don't leave their doors unlocked and keys under a mat.

Maybe there's a little George Jetson in all of us. We may be dumb, but we ain't lost (actually George was lost).

I have a summer home on a lake and my primary home in a city. I agree it's like chalk and cheese.

Much prefer the lakeside, it's civilized. City is rush, rush and me first.

However, come the snows it's way too difficult for this old couple. Then we have to tolerate city life.

Huh?????????????????????

Was just about nailed by a red light runner yesterday. After slamming on my brakes to avoid the culprit, the cop behind me was not impressed. The runner got pulled over for a ticket.....

I didn't say it didn't happen. I said I'm having a hard time believing 6 cars blew a red light.

I do agree that timing of lights should be programmed better.

http://www.parade.com/askmarilyn/2013/03/24-why-arent-stopli...

Just because you haven't seen a turn lane empty on red doesn't mean it doesn't happen. I see it frequently along a main road here where the turn light is short for getting into a large shopping center - and it's a double left turn lane.

As to timing lights, many now are on "demand" cycles where a sensor is used to determine if a light is green. Add to that congestion and the need to keep the main route flowing and your timing waves bye-bye. Most lights do cycle to where you can go for blocks at a certain speed but most people don't drive those speeds as "they are too slow."

You're talking about turning left, left arrows, and your own situation. The original post talks about 6 cars blowing a red light, with hardly an explanation. I'm not denying that the left hand turn maneuver happens. I witnessed something like that today. However, the people turning left when it was no longer their turn to do so, did it on a solid green light. So, without specific details other than 6 cars blew through a red light, is hard for me to believe it.

After you see the ticket's fine you have to pay, then you start thinking if is it worth it to run the red light? Save 2 minutes of commute versus 4hrs of my paycheck after taxes... is it worth to work 4 more hours to pay for driving 2 less minutes of commute.? Not worth it...

If you get a ticket issued by a police, then you get the fine plus a point. After 9 points, you get your license suspended.

If you get a ticket issued by the camera, then you only get the fine. You never will get the license suspension. This is a better choice + more revenue, the previous alternative was too expensive for the state/county. This is good for the state's urns.

An alternative would be to get the picture of the car running the red light in the mail with a warning of suspension of your driver's license. After 3 or 4 warnings you get a suphoena to court and you pay court fines plus suspension of your driver's license. For this to be implemented, would require a camera that takes a picture of the driver too or maybe video for those drivers that turn their head to avoid the camera's picture.

On the street where I live we have a state highway a quarter mile away from our drive. Heading from our place there are 2 lanes for going straight, one a right turn only and a single left turn lane. There is a protected period for left turns with a green arrow, otherwise it is controlled by the green signal. The other side of the street has two through lanes, a right turn lane and TWO left turn lanes. Those cars can only turn when the arrow is green but in the evening there will always be several that will blow the light turning after the light has cycled from green to yellow (3.5 second yellow) and then red. There is also a 2 second clearing period where all lights are red before cross traffic can start but you still have those that blow through the red turn lights at 35 MPH to get onto the 6 lane leading to the freeway.