OK. First a little back story. Back when I just turned 18 I lost my license for several years for burning out on the judge's lawn and flowers. (Sidenote: If anyone here decides to do something this stupid, make sure you're not driving the only make and model of your car in the county. It makes it very easy for the law to track you down. I found this out the hard way.) However, being an 18 year old and stupid I chose to continue to drive.

Now because I was driving without a licence and knew I would be totally boned if I got caught I developed some very good driving habits. Habits I continued to use even after I became legal at 21 and haven't received a ticket since. I never speed in town and never went more than 4 over on the highway and always, always, always kept right except to pass.

But now that gas is so expensive I find myself doing something I thought I'd never do: Running red lights. Here's the scenario: I get off work at 6AM and gave 8 lights between work and my home. Now these are newer lights so you'd think that they would have a sensor and be computerized, but you'd be wrong. They're timed just like the lights back in the '50s. This morning on 4 occasions I get to the intersection and the light goes red just before the point of no return. Blast. So I look around...Sunday morning at 6AM...No one coming. Do I sit here and idle the full 2 minutes or just take off? Well, I just took off. All 4 times. (Oh, I had a clear view and looked both ways first..but it still counts as running the light.) I know that there are a lot of news stories about people changing their driving habits because of gas prices but they're all about how they are changing them for the better. Mine arechanging for the worse.

My mind is saying that the extra money I pay in my eventual ticket and increase in insurance is not worth the risk. But my heart is telling me to go for it. I'd rather give the money to the city than to those filthy foreign and domestic oil companies.

So. My question is...is this happening to anyone else out there? Anyone actually becoming more reckless because of the price of gas? Just looking for some thoughts.

Cliffnotes:
I'm an excellent driver (just like Raymond.)
Gas prices go to $4.00+/gallon
Now I drive like a jackass.

 

prepare to get flamed

 

Actually I am doing the same thing with red lights. If its questionable I go for it. I know its wrong but I save all that gas and brake life. I need to stop. However, the worst that has happened to me is that it changed WHILE I was in the intersection. I have never run a solid red.

 

Probably...but I can take it. I got through Junior High, I can stand a little flaming.

 

seldom in my car, but when I would be out working in the middle of the night in my big wrecker I would hardly ever sit through a red light if there wasnt another car around. I would treat them like a stop sign. The cops never bothered me....they do the same thing in the middle of the night.

After 6am is pushing it though

 

Since you didn't stop to look both ways carefully but just did a glance, I am concerned about you hitting objects smaller than cars (like motorcycles and bicycles). Could you stop in time if you did see something?

This doesn't sound very safe.

And to answer your question, my driving has stayed about the same except for how often I take my motorcycle over my car.

 

Just shut the car down? I know it's harder on the starter, but you won't be burning fuel or running the risk of an accident/ticket/etc.

 

Since you're in the right lane (as you say), just make a right on red, then a quick U-turn, the right back on the other side of the intersection.

In FL, U-turns are commonplace. Your mileage may vary. I know PA has a shit fit about them.

 

I don't care what your reason(s) is. Running red lights is just stupid.

Know that others are sharing the same roads with you and they are counting on you to stop for red.

Especially more so for me because I see some stupid ass people while on my motorcycle. Your crusade to save a few pennies at the pump may cost me my life if we ever met at the wrong time in the wrong place.

 

Just to clarify. I came to a complete stop every time. I just sat there like a sucker with no cars coming in 3 directions.

But after thinking about it I think I'll suck it up and eat the gas money. I just can't stand the though of giving a bunch more of my money to the state for no good reason. Last year I gave them thousands with very little return on investment.

 

I hope your license gets taken away permanently.

 

What car do you drive that gets that bad mileage?

 

wtf?

Green light = GO
Red light = NO GO



Make more money

EDIT: btw, this insane gas price made me to have some great driving habits. I stopped speeding and started using cruise control @ 65 mph on the highways. I realized I'm saving ALOT of gas by doing it. I was pretty fucking reckless on the roads when the gas prices were cheaper.

 

If you are already coming to a stop, idling won't do much more damage to your fuel consumption.

At the risk of giving more dangerous suggestions, maintaining a continuous speed would be better, fuel economy wise. Please don't do this.

 

Nah...Like I already said I'm going back to following the rules. It's just not worth it.

 

I don't think saving gas is the best reason circumvent red lights in your case, the fact that is wastes time and does nobody any good is. If there's a red light and nobody is around to see it is it still red?

Another thing you can do is what someone else mentioned, and that I'm pretty sure is legal, is to take the free right, but rather than complete the right turn you decide at about 45 degree into the turn that you have made a mistake and actualy need to continue straight, so you pull a u-turn and take another free right to continue straight.

Some people have said and will say it's dumb to break the law under any cirumstance. Those people are Hitler's army, but moreover they must not know how pointless it feels to have a red light commanding you not to move out in the middle of nowhere early in the morning. That has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with the limitations of the technology and the highway department.

 

<-- Thank you OP for finally giving me a reason to use this.

 

Glad you realized that.
Stick with the good driving habits- they'll also conserve gas as well as keep you from unwillingly meeting law enforcement.

 

I do the same thing (running red lights), but ONLY and I mean only when it's something like 2am and there are literally no cars at all that I can see in any direction. Who knows if those headlights half a mile away belong to a cop?

 

In america, red means stop, green means go and yellow means stomp on it.... but if you are desperate to save gas, the U turn method is more legal than running the light.

 

Called looking both ways.. No fucking car is magically gonna pop up and tbone him or him tboning a car..

Lights are there to keep careless people from having accidents.. If you stop look both ways and keep and eye and ear out its nothing dangerous.. just against the 'law' but the law is there so people wont die and no one will die if he does that..

 

They're not there to stop careless people from having accidents, they're there to reduce traffic and keep everyone safe (not just the careless ones). But I mean, if there are no cars AT ALL, fuck it just go.

Just make sure the light doesn't have a camera though. In LA new ones pop up everyday at intersections I've been crossing through for a long time.

 

running red lights to save gas? that's just silly... I run red lights to save brake pads

 

That's a good point. It used to be that you didn't have to acknowledge those tickets because they were issued to the owner of the vehicle and not the person driving the car and if your friend borrows your car that doesn't make you guilt of any traffic infraction they commit, and that paying the ticket was admission of guilt. I haven't seen one of those tickets in a long time but I'm pretty sure that it's worded such that you agree that you are paying the fine because you were the one who committed the offense.

I'm sure they will re-write the laws if they haven't already to maximize profits. A nearby city with a population of 50,000 or so brought in around $250,000 in one year from camera tickets.

 

Usually if its in a residential area/place that I'm familiar with I'll make a right, do a u-turn then another right.

I'm glad that people are changing their driving habits, but you shouldn't have to anyway. I always smile whenever I see people's brake lights come on when there's a cop on the side of the road... I suddenly surge ahead of everyone even though I'm maintaining my (legal) speed.

Big whoop on running a red light to save gas though... you'd have to be bordering on neurotic to do such a thing. Same goes with those people who drive to a gas station that's out of the way to get gas that's 12 cents cheaper for a gallon.

Just do the math and decide for yourself. How much gas do you think you're going to save if you run 3 red lights a day? 50 cents a day max? Now calculate how much the red light violation ticket will be, and the potential of your insurance going up and how much that'll be, not to mention all the time you waste and stress you get from needing to ask for time off to go to traffic court and have to listen to a bunch of dumbasses argue for a lost cause.

I'll stop at a red light if its 4am and no one's around, thank you very much. Not worth it, thanks.

 

i really don't think idling burns a lot of gas. I think people say that if you are stopping for more than a minute, shutting down the car will save gas, but less than that, you will use more gas. The amount you use idling is probably ridiculously small compared to the amount you use getting back up to speed. Plus if you get one ticket, you'll probably have to dish out a millions worth of red lights that you decide to run.

I haven't changed my driving habits at all, unless maybe it's on my mind, and i'm stuck behind a car, once in a while, i'll just be lazy and not pass it, and draft behind it.

I've only ran maybe 3 red lights ever. Once when my car broke down in highschool and I decided to roll down the street to my house, at 3am. The other times were on my bike, when it wasn't detecting me.

 

slow it down before you kill someone, because you will

 

 

Asian driving, basically. They do that in the south of Taiwan, even during the day.

Not condoning it, but ... *shrug*

 

Maybe, maybe not, but what if there is someone walking across the street? How about someone on a bike? Much tougher to see those. I'm sure the judge in your manslaughter case will have some sympathy, since he has to pay high gas prices too.

 

Gas just isn't a good enough reason to do that stuff.

 

Geez, you guys need to learn patience. Running them? Turning right then making another right?

Youre the people I laugh at when the crazies drive on the shoulder to pass someone or try and haul ass around a shortcut then get pwned when they miss the light anyway.

 

ONLY smart thing you have said so far. If you're that concerned about saving gas, then car pool or something like that.

 

You probabyl waste more gas by stomping on the gas when you see a yellow light than by sitting at a light for two minutes.

 

No shit, this guy has a 20-year history of being a complete idiot.

 

you sure you dont live in Arizona?

 

between you avatar and your thought process, i can't stop laughing...ahaha.
Since you are 38 i figure you are just venting...and that makes it even funnier....gotta love it

 

haha are you for real? how much gas do you think you are saving man? And how cheap are you seriously? wow thats the weirdest thing I have heard in a long time

 

Did you know that 70% of motorcycle accidents occur at intersections, and they typically involve a car?

Did you know that cars pulling out in front of motorcycles is a leading cause of motorcycle accidents and fatalities?

Did you also know that the number one reason (excuse) of drivers involved in motorcycle accidents was "I never saw him coming"?

It's because our brains are accustomed to looking for the shape of a car, not the narrow profile of a motorcycle.

That is why I always ride assuming that the oncoming traffic can be turning left in front of me at any point, that the car on my right can pull out in front of me. Failing to see me is one thing... blatantly running a red light to save a few pennies at the pump at the risk of danger to others motorists is another.

You can sit there and tell me that all you have to do is look. But your eyes can deceive you.

 

just stop

and i hope thats not you in your avatar...

then i could see when junior high was so hard