July 22: Green Light Red Light

I am cruising. Not speeding; just cruising. Okay, that's not entirely true. I'm traveling five to ten miles an hour over the speed limit, but it's not like I'm going crazy here. I am simply cruising. It's 11:32 in the evening and I'm the only one on the road. Ahead in the distance I see the bright glow of the green light illuminating the road and nearby surroundings. I maintain my speed and prepare to fly through the intersection. The light changes, however, to yellow and finally rests on red just as I approach the crosswalk.

I turn my head to the right and see nothing for miles. I turn my head to the left and guess what, nothing! No one is coming from either direction and no one is waiting to turn left through the intersection. There aren't any pedestrians or emergency vehicles anywhere. The best part: Every traffic light at the intersection is red. Why am I stopped? Why am I sitting here like an idiot?

As I sit there with a blank expression on my face and an idle engine, I stare forward lost in frustration at the scenario. Should I go anyway? Who would see me? Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I notice a change in the illumination on the streets. I take my foot off the break and prepare to accelerate through the intersection when I realize that the change was not my light. It was the cross-street's! Well, that's just great. The cars that aren't there can now continue with their nightly journey.

After what seems like hours, my light goes from red to green and I can continue with my own journey. Pissed off, I drive through the night trying to make sense of it all. I just don't understand how traffic lights work and it really bothers me. I thought there was some kind of sensor; whether it be on the light itself or in the pavement. Don't tell me they're on a timer because that would just be dumb.

When I was younger (and sometimes now when I'm trying to be funny with a passenger) I would flick my high beams on and off in a situation like this. I used to think that I could trick the traffic light into thinking I was an oncoming emergency vehicle. Now, I tell my passengers that it works and hope that I get them to try it the next time they find themselves in the situation.

However it works, it needs to be remedied. Right now, we're just encouraging road rage. I know I speak for others when I say that I find myself speeding even more to make up for lost time after sitting for no reason. I've been told that the way my headlights reflect off of the road could have an effect on how the traffic light reacts, but that's just silly. I've had traffic lights force me to stop in the middle of the day, so how do you explain that one?

We're allowed to turn right at a red light, so why can't we drive through an intersection when it's clearly safe to do so? If I ever run for office, this is what I would change. I guarantee you people would eat it up.