It's getting to where I'm almost scared to drive anywhere. This was today coming home from lunch…

Was traveling at about 42ish, saw the light change from green to yellow when I was about 50-60' from the intersection, no big deal. Spotted the Green Cavalier coming up in the right turn lane… saw they weren't stopping for the yield sign… and of course she was on “gasp” her cell phone! might want to “save target as” first.
http://superjens.com/xterra/green.mpg

For those that are not familiar, I do have a camera mounted to the right of my rear view mirror hooked up to a VCR in the back that I start recording whenever I start the truck. I get a good piece of footage once or twice a week. But so far I have been lucky…

This is from a couple weeks ago, the gasp you here is Christine when she looked up from a magazine she was reading.
http://superjens.com/xterra/truck2.mpg

Sorry the files are so big, still trying to find the ideal setting for still have good video and audio.

Good stuff!

The truck driver probably should have made a right turn coming out of that driveway. Truck drivers should be more aware of blind curves, and that driver made a mistake.

That cavalier is just plain dumb. Do you have any friends in your local police dept? figure out that cavaliers lic plate and then have your buddies find their home address. Make a copy of the video and send it to them. Politely point out their error. I know if I got a video like that, I would definetly feel guilt and would be much more aware of my driving habits. But I know there are some real mentally challenged people out there and this wouldn't change them a bit.

(I have a friend who is a PD officer and whenever he is driving around and gets cut off or something, he remembers the plate # and when he gets into the office, he looks up the guys information. Then he give them a polite phone call and explained the situation (politely). 9 times out of 10, the people are very understanding and appologetic and vow to improve their habits.)

What do you expect? I dunno know about you, but if I got a call like that from a cop I wouldn't get all indignant and tell him I didn't do anything wrong, even if I felt that way...

Ramness, what card/software are you encoding with? Seems like the same pickle I'm in with my ATI All-In-Wonder, low audio volume and large file sizes.

Brent

That would be illigal
and if a local cop would do that to me , i would made sure his boss would know how he is using his Cop computers

I could be wrong, but I think there are laws that allows off-duty police officers some powers of their jobs. If they are allowed to carry guns while off-duty - why not look up a few lic #'s for traffic violations?

(Maybe its just for CA?)

The trailer video clearly shows that the driver of the Semi was pulling out and sitting there waiting for that car traveling in the opposite lane to pass to pull out and blocking your lane....But the funny thing is was why in the hell was he waiting and blocking your lane of travel when there was a middle turn off lane that he/she could have clearly used to prevent an accident from happening....

Now as far as the cavalier video goes,that's a hard one....the accidenct could have gone both ways...meaning in favor of if the accident did happen who would be at fault...Cause it does clearly show that the light turned yellow before you got to the intersection but it also clearly shows that the moron of the cavalier didn't make any attempt to slow down and yeild to on coming traffic...But if you would have crashed into the cavalier it would have been thier fault because you had the right of way....

See videos like that is what makes me hate driving because of morons like that...And I'm glad that you nearly avoided the both of them and no one was hurt,due the stupidness of someone's priveledges....

Good thing there wasn't anyone in the turn lane you used to escape the Cavalier. You might have had to choose between the Chevy (moron) and the innocent person in the turn lane.

Always hit the idiot.

While it wasn't your fault that woman pulled out, that light you blew through was VERY yellow. Show a cop that video and he may give YOU the ticket.

As for the second one, I think that was your fault. If you were going so fast around a blind corner that you had to swerve and lay on the horn when you realized there was someone there, you were overdriving conditions. What if instead of a truck there were two lanes of traffic backed up and stopped. You would have had nowhere to go. And that most definitely would have been your fault.

Wow. I had thought yellow lights weren't RED. Red meaning stop. Thats why they have yellow, as a warning RED is coming.

"Over driving conditions"? Seemed like normal conditions to me. I didn't see any 'blind curve' signs. Wasn't it a 4 lane highway with a center turn lane? Speed limit was probably 55. Truck driver got tired of waiting for his turn and pulled out. He should have been moving faster to get in the turn lane and swing his trailer out of the way of the approaching traffic.

A cop can give you a ticket for running a yellow that late. Oncoming traffic in the left lane waiting to turn is screwed if you run a yellow that late.

I suggest you watch it again. That truck is completely in the road before it even comes into view. Which means, when the truck pulled out, Ramness wasn't even in sight. That truck driver did nothing wrong. And it really doesn't matter. If there was a brick wall in the middle of the road and you were going too fast to see it around a corner, you're still at fault for overdriving conditions.

Actually in GA As long as you are across and out of the intersection by the time it is red you are fine. In working at a police department for many years I have never seen a ticket issued for running a yellow light... or entering on a late yellow... What kind of crazy laws do y'all have out there in CA?

Given how long that light was yellow, I'd be willing to bet it was red before you were out of the intersection. Regardless, you had way more than enough time to stop for that light.

From CA Motor Vehicle Code:

"21452. (a) A driver facing a steady circular yellow or yellow arrow signal is, by that signal, warned that the related green movement is ending or that a red indication will be shown immediately thereafter."

Simple as that. It is not illegal in CA to enter the intersection on a yellow light provided your exit is clear.

Ramness570,

what's the angle of view from your lens? One of the problems with a "wide angle" lens (over 45 degrees) is that on casual viewing of the video it looks like you are driving way too fast. Do you know your actual speed on that traffic light incident?

I'd love to know how you surmise that he was 'over driving conditions'. What the hell does that mean?
Ramness could you tell us what the road condition was please. Wet/dry/snow/ice? Seems to me it was overcast and probably around 60 degrees?
I guess in California trucks don't un-expectantly appear in the highway as you round a curve? Or are all roads there straight? LOL

Oh and you said "That truck driver did nothing wrong." Nothing except failure to yield. Regardless of Ramness' speed, if he had hit the truck, the trucks at fault. Period.

A common misconception.
Turning traffic never, ever has right of way, unless they have an arrow (or are in England).

Only morons inch out into the intersection to make sure they get to turn when the light turns yellow. That is a 4 point 'failure to yield right of way' in every state. You can not cross the white line into the intersection until you have complete right of way, meaning, nothing is coming.

If the light turns yellow, and you are stopped, you are not allowed to enter the intersection.

Inching out into the intersection also decreases your viewable angle, making it harder to see what is coming.

Not trying to be a smart ass, but do you listen to Rodger Hedgecock? Reason I ask is the red light issue was debated for the traffic camera issue. It was determined that if you enter an intersection before it is red and you expect to get through without impedement, its okay.

I'll take this slow for ya. I don't know the exact stopping distance for the X, but let's say it's 140 or so feet from 60 mph. If you're doing 60 mph and can't see well over 140 feet in front of you, you are overdriving conditions. It's very simple really. It's common sense. If you're going around a corner at a speed that requires you to swerve around an obstacle because you don't have time to stop, you are overdriving conditions. It's like fog--if you can't see 150 feet in front of you, you shouldn't be doing 60 mph. I don't know how much simpler I can make it for you. Those 200 people who just piled up in the fog surprised me at first. But I guess, as you are an example, that thought process is normal.

Never heard of him. California doesn't have as big an issue because there are left turn arrows everywhere. Back in Michigan there are very few left turn arrows, so everybody has to wait until the light turns yellow before turning through a light. So when someone runs a really late yellow, everyone waiting to turn left is screwed.

When I said they were screwed, I meant that they had to wait another light cycle to make their turn. I didn't mean they had the right of way.

Well I guess we can all just assume that ILUVMYX is a perfect driver and always stops at yellow lights, slows for curves, drives the speed limit, and pulls over to the side of the road to change the radio station. I on the other hand am not by any means the perfect driver, nor have I ever claimed to be. I do my share of yellow light running, speeding, not completely stopping at stop signs when I'm the only one there (actually got pulled over for that once at 2am, I wasn't drunk so he didn't care).

Now today the speed limit on the road was 40 mph I was doing low 40s down it. It rained yesterday so there were some wet patches left but not any standing water. The intersection itself was dry for the most part except for that patch in the turn lane on the opposite side. As far as speed and braking goes I applied brake at aprox. the middle of the intersection and was stopped just after the line on the other side. I hit the bakes same time I hit the horn which was at 9 seconds, I was stopped by 12 I Don't know if you could hear it but ABS did its job and I still had full steering control. That lady didn't even flinch after that just kept right on talking on her phone, then passed the phone off to her passenger.

Oh and im not sure on the view angle of that lens, although with some string and protractor I should be able to tell you.

On the truck movie, not sure about the temperature. The ground was a little wet and the speed limit is 45. I had been doing about 55 prior to the curve, but I have had vehicles come out of that same driveway in front of me before so I had slowed down a little and changed to the left lane. On that one I probably could have come to a complete stop but with the wet ground I decided to just slow down a lot more and go around him.

Not quite. If the day comes when I submit two videos with the intention of showing how bad other people drive, but am myself at least partly to blame, feel free to give me as much grief as you want.

As they should. Waiting for a light to turn yellow, just so someone can sneak a left turn in is one of the more stupid things people do on the road. It delays the cross direction traffic from making their left turn on their green arrow, so it solves nothing.

The whole yellow light issue is state by state. In most states you CAN enter the intersection and wait on a yellow arrow. Some states allow you to be in the intersection on a red, IF you are already there. Some require you to be completely out of the intersection by the time the light turns red.

Yellow lights are simply a caution. They do NOT mean stop. They indicate a red is coming, or in the case of turn signals, that the right-of-way is ending.

Ian: there lots of intersections here that will make you wait 2-4 hours if you use your logic, of not entering the intersection and waiting for the yellow light

The law here ( NY, NJ...) you MUST go to the middle of intersection, and stop, and wait till Yellow light, ALOW cars who are going straight to finish they manevrs, and ONLY then make a left turn