Getting cut off in traffic kept me from having a wreck.

[tim.s]

So yesterday I was approaching a stop light that just turned yellow and a grey truck in the lane next to me cut me off so they could be first in line. No big deal, the light was about to turn red anyway.

Waiting patiently...

Light turns green and the grey truck takes off. He almost gets through to the other side when a car comes out of nowhere and clips the right rear fender of the grey truck.

Grey truck spins around in about a 270 and the car comes to a stop across my lane.

So had that been me first in line, I would have at least been the one getting clipped. At worst, I wouldn't have gotten as far across the intersection as the grey truck and I would have been t-boned.

Thankfully, no one was hurt. The car tried to stop at the last second and the truck wasted most of its energy spinning harmlessly down the street.

My coworker's wife got t-boned a couple months ago and she was in ICU for a while, so I've tried to be more careful going through stop lights. But in this case, the car that ran the red wasn't trying to "make it through", they just weren't paying attention to the traffic signals. Our light had turned green when they were probably more than a block away.

So Thursday, August 2nd, I was very glad someone cut me off in traffic.

Coincidently, they just put a red light camera at this intersection about two weeks ago. But it was installed to watch the lane I was in, not in the cross lane where the red light runner was. Would a camera in that lane have prevented the crash?

...Not a chance.

[Samuel2003]

Nice diagrams Tim!

[jay]

Originally posted by Samuel2003
Nice diagrams Tim!

Now I understand why some people say the Pilot looks a little boxy.

[Samuel2003]

Originally posted by jay
Now I understand why some people say the Pilot looks a little boxy.

lol All the vehicles look more like the shoebox Scions than Pilots...

[krygny]

Almost the exact same thing happened to me about 20 years ago. Car cuts me off to be first at the "Christmas Tree". Light turns green, he takes off, and BLAMMO!! He only got about 10' into the intersection. Low-speed fender-bender and it was pretty clear nobody was hurt, so I rolled along side him just so he could see the ear-to-ear grin on my face before I continue on my way. Today, I would roll down the window and yell HA HA! (like Nelson).

Now this is important: That incident saved my life on at least two occasions since. Since that day, without exception, I always look both ways when pulling away from a green light. Right-of-way, like cameras, don't mean $#!%.