If I count to three at a green and you don’t move I’m assuming you’re staring at your phone or are otherwise distracted. It’s less “those seconds are precious” and more “pay attention and get off your fucking phone when driving.”
Yeah, this right here. If you’re mad it happens to you when you are just making sure everyone is actually stopping at their red light, you can blame the morons who stare at their phones while driving and run red lights, and the morons who stare at their phones while waiting at red lights.
Seriously put your fucking phone down, you’re driving
I’ve driven in places where a few seconds was just how long people sat at the green light. I didn’t get it until I was there long enough to notice how insanely often cross traffic was definitely successfully sneaking through that yellow at the last moment.
I don’t do it to that extent, but I do now give it a few beats to account for other drivers insanity.
I try to assume positive things, so if someone hasn’t gone after a few I tend to assume that they’ve done what I know I’ve done, which is to pull up to the light and rather than intently watch the light, to keep looking at the road and cross traffic and just not notice the light change in my upper periphery.
Way more common if there’s a protected turn at the intersection or it’s otherwise not symmetrical.This is usually accounted for by the traffic light pattern. Where I’m from both sides will be red for about ~2 seconds before it changes to green. Obviously it’s never a bad thing to be watching for cars running the red light but waiting 3 seconds AFTER a green would annoy the hell out of me lol
In some places that “lemme just squeeze through” can be pretty egregious.
Whether the system accounts for it or not doesn’t change the fact that I’ve driven in places where you’d be foolish not to pause.I didn’t bring the habit home, at least not to the extent I saw, but it made me a lot more forgiving of people who pause and a lot more aware of how often I actually see people run a red just as it turns green for me.
I’ve had to drive places where time mattered, and even then five seconds just did not matter.
I’ve got eyes I can see what’s happening lol
Ah, when you said you assumed they were on their phone I figured that meant you assumed they were on their phone, not that you could see them using their phones.
Seeing someone using their phone at a green light is different from just getting mad at someone for not moving within three seconds.
I mean 9 times out of 10 you can tell when somebody is using a phone. I’m not honking if I am two or three cars back
My trick: IMMEDIATELY release the brake so the guy behind me knows I’m clearly paying complete attention, but don’t touch the gas until I’ve seen folks starting to stop from both directions and don’t see any potential runners. Also more efficient to start from a roll than a stop.
This kind of subtle communication is really helpful while driving. When I’m blocked moving somewhere, I’ll leave tons of space so I can crawl at a barely perceptible pace towards the blockage as it moves outta the way. e.g. I want to let pedestrians in a crosswalk get both feet onto the curb* but that might be unusual to the point another driver doesn’t know if I’m waiting or distracted. The crawl says “yeah I’m going…” and prevents honks. Though def need enough space, a slow enough speed, and a smile and a wave, so the pedestrian won’t feel rushed or in danger.
*non-divided/medianless roads
Genius. This is the perfect solution.
How does that work if you are on an uphill? You will just roll back into the car behind you, unless you mean balance on the clutch? But then how does it work if it is a fairly steep downhill? You will just roll forward anyway if you release the brakes. The other issue is that your brake lights do not light up if you use your handbrake instead. All this to prevent someone getting impatient over a split second delay; it’s just not worth the hassle. You are better of using that effort to observe your surroundings better and not worry about what the person behind you thinks.
I do this sort of thing at busy stop-signed intersections. See, many people in my area have a tendency to be nice and wave you through, even when they have the right of way - it’s infuriating! They’re just slowing us both down by not being assertive and predictable. So I’ve taken up the habit of adjusting my speed approaching the intersection to avoid stopping at the same time as someone else. Usually that means slowing down a little bit early, then just creeping for a couple seconds but not quite coming to a stop until I see them start to accelerate away. Less often I’ll do the opposite though, if it looks like I’ll get to the intersection slightly sooner than another person, or I know that I should have the right of way, I’ll be more aggressive and try to stop and accelerate away (safely) before they would even need to wait on me.
Another vote in agreement. I read this post and thought the author had no idea how long the light was green cause he wasn’t paying attention.
Also, the guy behind him made the light, but 3 cars back might not have because this guy is not paying attention.
If it’s a problem for those 3 cars back, then there is a traffic flow issue, (or not - sometimes slowing traffic makes it go faster overall). And while idiots on phones are an issue, if a second or two extra matters that much to you, then the solution is on you to have left home earlier. Spend 5 minutes less sitting on the toilet playing with your phone in the morning.
Again, you’re saying a second or 2, and it’s probably more like 10 seconds at a light that stays green for 20 seconds.
Having to get caught at a red light 2 times in a row because somebody is not paying attention is just annoying. It’s not a matter of me getting there on time. I don’t want to sit at a red light that I shouldn’t have to cause somebody is not paying attention.
The light leaving my neighborhood is about 5 seconds long, so you get 2 seconds to at least let off the brake. Missing it means waiting another 5 min before the light is green again. I get it, in my state we have people blowing through blatant red lights so it’s worth some action. but when there’s a line of 6 cars behind you, I’m not going to let you perpetuate the problem of people running reds… because you’re not even looking. Yes Joe next door, I see you on your phone, every day.
In more positive news, love the summer. Ride the bike more than drive the car. So much less headache. When I sell my house, I’m moving to a walkable city so my car is near pointless and it’s cheaper to Uber.
This is exactly what I’m thinking. This dude can snark all he wants but most drivers aren’t honking unless you’re sitting at a green light, more than likely because you’re not paying attention.
I’ve been honked at the instant a light has turned green. So fast that I didn’t go because they surely must have been honking for something else. Most drivers are reasonable but if you’ve never seen a driver lose their shit then you haven’t driven long enough.
That’s when I purposely sit at the light for an extra 5 seconds before moving. Am I an asshole? Maybe.
I’ve been honked at the instant a light has turned green.
And how was your visit to Ottawa?
It was Chicago lol. I fuckin hate driving in Chicago.
Most drivers are reasonable. A lot are distracted as well. I would be fully in favor of phones being locked down the moment you start your engine. If a call is that important, pull over.
It’s actually more like 4 seconds average, even if you are paying attention because most people only get moving when the person before them starts moving. So like thunder and lightning, there is a delay between the time you see the light turn green and the people ahead of you actually move.
It’s absolutely infuriating.
Sometimes it’s shifting gears. Clutch leg can get annoyed in heavy traffic. So, foot off the clutch, out of gear at a light for a little sigh of relief. Probably takes an extra second or 3 to get going. No phone involved.
In 2024 that’s increasingly rare and I can usually see them using their phone plain as day from behind.
You can switch gears when you see yellow light already so you don’t lose green light time. It takes me something between 0.5 to 1 sec to switch to first gear when my foot is at rest (not counting reaction time).
I have one counter argument. I’d rather see people on their phones when stopped than while actually in motion.
Annoying either way but I’d rather wait 3 extra seconds than watch them run someone over.
Counter counter argument, using you phone while driving is illegal for a reason. There’s no reason outside of extreme emergencies that anyone needs to use their phone while operating a vehicle.
Counter counter counter argument, people are gonna do it regardless 🤷♂️
I’m not disagreeing with you btw. Just acknowledging that. Especially the way cars are basically made with phones in mind anymore.
It’s still illegal if you’re in traffic even if stopped for a reason.
If you want to use your phone, pull over. I’ll give you a pass at a red light to punch in an address or load an audiobook since neither takes as long as a light change. It’s still not ideal, but I get it.
They ain’t only using it when stopped.
It sucks when you are at a light that is known to be green for a few seconds and red for minutes, and the asshole in front of you is on their fucking phone, then you are stuck for another round of red light.
Yeah, I give them 2 full seconds then tap my horn.
Just pay attention to the damn light
I had a guy lay on his horn because I chose not to run over the old lady crossing the street.
Just pay attention to the damn old lady
Hey, if your light was green then…
/s bc some people, sheesh, you never know.
Even if I’m doing something I probably shouldn’t, I never miss a light for more than like half a second. It’s not hard to be both irresponsible and look up often.
Most people can’t even do one right 90% of the time. You think they can multi task?
It’s not even multi-tasking. You gotta know what you’re doing isn’t the right thing to be doing. “Shit, I have time to fill this vape - hope mom doesn’t catch me.” You keep your eyes on the move and don’t get into something you can’t afford to drop.
Some horns are stiff. It can be hard to make it go beep beep without going full HOOOOONK.
Cars should be smart enough by now to watch the lights for us. I’ve gotta scroll, baby.
Mine will tell me if the car in front of me is driving off, so we’re getting there.
They’d have to be there well over 60 whole seconds to have a slightly meaningful and somewhat noticeable impact on one’s commute.
60 seconds is easily achieved for someone further down the line who has to wait another light cycle. Not paying attention to the green light has a rippling impact.
Same with fuckers that don’t compress traffic down.
Yeah I fucking love it when some asshole on his phone takes forever to go at the green and only three cars get through and to have to wait an entire light cycle which is at minimum 90 seconds.
When the light turns green and you are unobstructed, you go. Simple as.
This guy doesn’t pay attention at lights
Seriously. Drivers really seem to lose their sense of time. Going 5 mph slower (or even 15) for a couple minutes won’t impact your arrival time (or will do so only negligibly) because you’re just going to have to wait at the next light anyway. And getting angry while driving is just as dangerous as other causes of distracted driving.
Won’t someone think of all the extra money they could have made their boss in that whole entire minute of time!? 😔
Edit: damn, I felt so certain that the /s was already implied, but okay…
Won’t someone think of the demerits or whatever I’m gonna get on my name after another 30-seconds-late clock in because my shitty capitalist boss has to nickel and dime me but I still need to survive?
Why are most lemmy leftists completely blind to the pragmatism of current real-world material conditions? You guys forget we still live in the late-stage capitalist hellscape?
Driving is never going to be predictable enough to consistently get you to a destination where 30 seconds is a life-or-death class difference. The other people you’re getting angry at are also workers struggling to live in the same capitalist hellscape and you don’t know what’s going on in or around their car (this is the “fundamental attribution error”). Your anger at other drivers is misplaced, and further, makes you a more dangerous driver.
They somehow do. I reckon a fair few aren’t there with us trying to make our six months without another writeup.
Get off your fucking phone.
What’s a “New York Minute”?
The time between when the light turns green and the car behind you honks.
There really are people who don’t give me time to react to the light change. I drive a manual. It takes time to clutch in, first gear, brake out, throttle in, clutch out. And don’t get me started on inclines.
I sometimes have to go straight through a specific light (where 95% of traffic goes right) to get home. So I’m first in line waiting at the red. No turn signal because I’m crossing the road. A woman in an SUV sitting behind me gives a little honk. Then a few seconds pass and she starts laying on her horn. I had to reach up and out of my sunroof and point straight ahead to tell her I am going straight. Stopped honking after that.
Oh and turning right on red is fucking optional.
Some people.
Right on red is optional AND requires a full stop first. The amount of people that just roll right through without a stop like they have any right of way then get pissed when the cross traffic blasts by in front of them
I drive a manual sometimes and never really have a problem starting at a light. The real problem is being 4 cars back and the car in front of you starts to move 3 inches forward after the light has been green for 30 seconds then abruptly stops and you stall your car. It’s great.
Umm you should be doing all of that at the same time?
I know this is just a silly meme, but it makes me feel a little hopeful seeing evidence of other people thinking like this on the road, y’know, responding with empathy and concern for strangers instead of immediate vengeful anger.
There’s no empathy here, it’s full snark. But snark is better than road rage, so I’ll take it.
I’d also like to apologize to the black BMW yesterday. I’m sorry that I didn’t stop closer to the vehicle in front of me at the stop light. Even though it didn’t affect you in any way whatsoever, It was rude of me to not get as close as I possibly could to the car in front of me and your honking has made me reflect on my silly actions.
I dunno an extra second or two to me, at the green light, isn’t that egregious to me, really. If you’re at an intersection, sometimes the far lanes of the crossing road can be both empty, and totally hidden by a slew of cars waiting to go forward. This is more commonly the case, and more commonly dangerous, for traffic approaching in the furthest lane from you, since that lane can sometimes be a turn lane where right turn on red is allowed, and all it takes is one idiot driver to fuck up your whole day. Most of the times, traffic lights account for this, but it still happens. Not necessarily the end of the world if someone takes a second, and, as the meme says, it doesn’t mess up my day to have an extra second of delay.
No, the real problem, to me, is the people behind the first person at a green light, and acceleration. Follow distance is purely a property of the speed at which you are going, and lower speeds are much less consequential. There is no reason not to follow the car in front of you almost to the letter, and scale your speed to match their movement. It’s very annoying to me that many people will wait a full one or two seconds to “let the car in front of them go”, before they even start to move. This increases the traffic delays behind you, and can have substantial ramifications for traffic throughput over time, which can be kind of a nightmare in cities with more traffic. Obviously there’s always going to be a very minor delay in terms of raw reaction time, like, 250ms, in an expected environment like this where really the most that can change is that the car in front of you brakes very suddenly, so in all circumstances, you’re going to need a gap that allows you to react to that, and then progressively more as speed increases, consequences increases, and the novelty and unpredictability of the environment increases, you’re gonna need at least two seconds of gap and probably more like four to adequately react.
Likewise, you can cut down on traffic if everyone just accelerates a little more. Most people, I have noticed, are very conservative with their car’s acceleration, which makes sense in lots of environments, as sometimes you’re just rushing to get stopped by the next light down and most everyone will make it to the next light in any case, since light timings are worked out like that in advance, so it doesn’t matter too much. In many cases, it would actually benefit them to go slower, as going slower might allow them to retain some level of momentum through the next light, which might help them save on gas. Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast, sort of thing. On the other hand, there are some circumstances in which throughput is severely limited by a lack of acceleration since every car behind you is going to be limited by the maximum of your acceleration, so having a more conservative approach can kind of hurt traffic throughput a lot.
I wish they taught this shit in driver’s ed, I wish driver’s ed was mandatory, and I wish people knew how to fucking drive well. It’s kind of crazy how bad lots of people are at driving in general even though it’s kind of seen as a necessary thing in most of america to get anywhere.
ITT; Some angry ass people. Guys, sometimes people just need a second. If you’re in a rush well you should have planned for traffic, leave early, your rush is not my problem
sometimes people just need a second.
No. You’re driving, if you’re incapable of making quick decisions, especially for something as simple as green = quick check and go, then you shouldn’t be driving.
That’s not what people are whining about in this thread though, people are out here acting like 1 single second after a light JUST turned red is too long.
Nobody here said anything about a single second. Someone specifically mentions a mental count to 3. Which is essentially what I am doing in those situations too.
Because it is, the rippling effect down the line means that one second turns into just a couple cars back needing to sit through another entire cycle, turn 1 second into 90 seconds (minimum).
Stop being a “fuck you, I got mine” ass, pay attention and go when it’s green.
Jesus Christ some of y’all are probably on some crazy high blood pressure medicine with the stress you put yourselves under. 1 single second is not going to end the world brother
Except it’s not “1 second” you’re costing people minutes of their time when you prevent multiple additional cars from making the green because you’re too selfish to just pay attention to the light.
Omg. Minutes? Whole minutes?
What is this, Logan’s Run?
Yeah that’s incredibly rude to waste that much of someone’s time because you’re too selfish to just pay attention to the road. ‘I want to look at my phone for 10 more seconds so I’m going to make a stranger lose 3 minutes of their day’ is absurdly selfish.
