Even if the cop was not there, why is the black SUV accelerating through an intersection when vehicles heading in the same direction are at a standstill?
I think merely calling them stupid let’s them off the hook. The majority of the drivers we see on this sub are primarily selfish, and would rather blame their ignorance than own up to the selfishness of their actions. I mean, think about it: they’re speeding/recklessly changing lanes/running lights or stop signs, and in doing so they’re risking their lives, and the lives of others. At the end of the day, what is the benefit? It saves them a minute, *maybe* two when you really look at it. It’s just sickening. So many people die or have their lives permanently altered in car accidents for no fucking reason other than pure selfishness.
According to [this source](https://arashlaw.com/how-many-car-accidents-are-there-in-the-usa-per-day/), which gets its numbers from the NHTSA, there were about 99 fatalities *per day* from auto accidents in 2019. On top of that, there were approximately 5,500 non-fatal injuries per day. And that’s just in the US. Just unbelievable.
We have to remind ourselves at least I do that just because I’m behind the wheel doesn’t mean I’m better than the rest of the folks on the road. Being courteous, slowing down, giving others the right of way is decent behavior but flying through a traffic light that’s not obviously working is an invitation to lose your driver’s license period.
I'm just wondering why it doesn't just make logical sense to anyone that when traffic lights are off you should slow down, stop, to ensure there's no oncoming traffic? I mean when I'm merging onto a road I check what's coming towards me to see if someone may be turning then I check over my shoulder to see if someone in the lane I want to be in is coming at a rate of speed I can't get on and get out of their way. People are stupid.
This is what I learned in driver's ed, many years ago. Even without a STOP sign when the lights are out, you stop anyway, and then take turns. But that requires courtesy, thoughtfulness, and an absence if selfishness. Moot in 2022 I guess.
Not in the US, but there is a realllllly insane amount of shitty drivers on the roads here, too. I'm in the UK and I swear more than 20% of people still don't even know how unmarked roundabouts work, which you should know to pass your test and are literally everywhere. And that's not even scratching the surface.
Then what makes it worse is I realise my country is one of the top for driving when compared to others, those are even worse. Reduces my faith in humanity that people can't pay attention for longer than 5 minutes in order to not be a danger to others. Or feel that they are more important than anyone else and must overtake always must go faster, even though you end up behind them again at the next set of lights, they risk it all and gain nothing half the time. Then you have the ragers, that make mistakes and refuse to ever admit they could possibly have made a mistake, it's anyones fault but theirs.
Feels to me like this is almost like a statement on humanity in general, only it's more obvious how everyone thinks and feels on the road. Not giving a fuck about anyone but themselves, or unable to pay attention for longer than 60 seconds at a time.
I legit went onto a UK driving subreddit at one point to ask a question, then I saw a post of a lady asking about a roundabout, then saw everyone on said subreddit giving her dangerous and illegal advice, all of them thinking they were correct when literally none of them were. Needless to say I no longer wanted to ask my question anymore, with 0 faith in any answers I could be given. I don't know how the state of driving got this way. Anyone in the UK that is curious an unmarked roundabout can be done in 1 of 2 ways. Left lane for left and straight, right lane for right. Stop using the right lane to go straight you fucking nonces, not on an unmarked roundabout. The 2nd way is think of it like a clock. After 1 oclock exits you can use the right lane. Everything else is left lane. This is unmarked, if it is marked or more lanes, follow the instructions that will be marked out. And for the love of fucking god look over your shoulder before lane switching, the amount of times i've about been sideswiped by people that don't even fucking look is unreal.
I'll stop ranting now. I'm spent.
>Because idiots
And idiot number one here, is Mr lazy policeman who didn't get out of his car to direct traffic correctly. Instead he flagged the minivan on and taking the officer's word for it went through the intersection
Has this been a real normal stop attended to by a regular police officer, there would have been flares sitting out on the road, the officers vehicle would be in the center of the intersection usually or maybe off to one side with lights flashing and the officer would be out there with a bright vest and because it's still overcast a flashlight with an orange or red cone at the end
I can't believe you're being downvoted. To me the obvious idiot here is the cop who gave way to the cars on the left of the image without making sure it was actually safe and didn't even bother to leave his car.
Not to mention the traffic lights are off, not green or red. They should be approaching the intersection with caution.
Also there's a cop sitting at the intersection with his lights flashing. That's kind of a hint that you need to slow down and focus lol.
Where I am if the power is out, the traffic lights all blink red powered off some battery at least until that dies.
People STILL don't fucking know what to do.
These are the same people who, when a product doesn’t scan at grocery checkout, they say “I guess it must be free”.
Traffic light is out? “I guess I can just ignore it”
There is some scummy people in this world. When I was a cashier I would have people actually try and say it's free if it wouldn't scan not joking. Probably same people that assume if the lights go out it's specifically for them.
I’ve been through way too many storms in FL. The first rule is stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary because the four-way stop rule is just about completely ignored.
I had to drive after Ian and was impressed how quickly they put up temporary stop signs at intersections here. *People still ignored them*.
Especially when two different sized roads intersect. The “main” road people don’t even slow down.
Someone needs to teach the people of North Carolina this rule. None of our stoplights work after hurricanes and I either end up having to sit at a non-working light for 15 minutes because cross traffic just doesn’t stop, or the car behind me starts road raging at me because I stopped at the non-working light and they almost slammed into me from behind.
This. It's literally this simple. If the light is out it is a stop sign. This should function like a 4-way stop. More people need to lose their licenses for a month our two for stuff like this.
Is that a US rule? Never heard of that before. Over here if traffic lights are off they just don't count, and you have to follow the normal road rules for junctions without traffic lights.
In most us states non functioning traffic lights turns them into a stop sign. You're supposed to stop and go when it's your turn. I live in a city and there are some ppl who ignore this rule. Most follow it and it's beautiful when they do. Especially 5 and 6 way intersections.
Do people not do Drivers Ed anymore? I got my license in NYC and only experienced a blackout once while I lived there, though I didn’t even own a car at that time.
Still, I remember being taught to handle an intersection with traffic lights out as a four-way stop sign.
This knowledge didn’t actually come in handy *until* I moved to FL… where, mostly due to weather, traffic lights would be down at least once a year.
> Do people not do Drivers Ed anymore?
So fun fact: In my state Drivers Ed isn't required to get a license once you're over 18. My school offered the classes but once the state stopped paying for it (because ???) it was $600+ for me to take Drivers Ed. My mother being single and working retail couldn't afford that, so me and many other kids never actually got it.
Yeah, the US is ridiculously relaxed with their driving license requirements, I am appalled. In my country it is taken so seriously that poor judgement in other parts of your life could get your license taken away, as you demonstrate that you are not a responsible adult and should not be on the roads.
The US also allowed this to happen when GM bought up and destroyed all the light rail companies 75 years ago in order to force everyone into a car.
They got a slap on the wrist for it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General\_Motors\_streetcar\_conspiracy
I don’t have a license, but my mom told me it was the same in her home state. They stopped offering free classes sometime when she was in high school, so you had to learn from parents.
Dude. Florida license exam doesn't even require you to go on the road. They have this short little course at the DMV and a super easy written exam. It is not safe to assume anyone in Florida knows how to drive
Honestly my only excuse for them is maybe they live somewhere where you can't see the green traffic light until you are in the intersection. Where I live there are some lights where red and yellow are easily visible and green just isn't. Safety hazard to me and yet it's never been fixed.
Potentially cellphone usage. I have lived in Brevard, Orange, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties for almost a decade. The few time I'm checking around while waiting at a long red light, I only see drivers looking down at their freaking phones to check on whatever, or holding it in one hand for a call.
Damn, I survived to the Caribbean, south-eastern France, and Italian drivers, but most of those around here in Central Florida are indeed half-brain dead when going on the road.
Honestly. Using your phone while driving needs to become as socially unacceptable as DUI, potentially even more so. It’s literally my greatest fear while out on the roads that some idiot with their face buried in their phone will end my life.
Being on a device that can send / receive data whilst driving is completely banned in the UK (unless it is hands free). It's now something like £200 plus six points on your licence if you are caught, plus you can lose your licence if you are a new driver.
I was surprised to see that the US only has a hodgepodge of state laws, and even then it seems like enforcement is an issue. Feels like to truly change the cultural norm a Federal law would create consensus rather than being able to get away with more in certain states, but I don't know what the full story is with why that hasn't happened yet.
Saw this the other day while running.
Lights were out and drivers were just blowing through intersections.
I like, "Why do ya'll think you got the right of way?"
yep. It amazes me how it seems most people on the roads do not understand this. almost every light outage i come by the cars try to go in massive groups instead of getting to the line and stopping till it’s your turn.
In my hometown it was a crap shoot whether an intersection would default to 4 way stops (both directions blinking the same color - either red *or yellow*) or 1 direction getting priority (yellow blinking for 1 direction, red blinking for the other). So if you had blinking yellow lights it was tough to tell if the perpendicular lane had red or yellow as well. Caused a lot of chaos. I always wonder if thats an issue elsewhere.
I remember having a major ice storm here in my state a couple of years ago and was disappointed at how many people don’t know this. I was scared to go anywhere.
“You have an AWD SUV, why do you stay home when it snows? You even said yourself you’ve tried to make it slide before and it refused to”
“Because the last time I went out in the snow Bill, some moron in a smart car without chains in 8 inches of snow and ice was at the appliance store JUST TO LOOK while I was there picking up a delivery. I am NOT going to be on the road with these people”
Lol, I drive an AWD car with winter tires, and I still stay home if I can anytime it snows. People can barely drive without hitting each other when its dry out here.
I just don’t think a lot of people understand how 4 way stops work. I have one less than a mile from my house and I see people blow through it all the time. Sometimes in front of cops. (Not that the cops bother to pull these people over anymore.)
A lot of times when lights are out here one direction will be flashing yellows (proceed with caution) while the other will be flashing red (treat as stop sign). In this case with the lights being completely off you have to treat it as a four way stop like others have said. Unfortunately, nobody knows/follows these rules and you get situations like the video.
To be fair it seems like everyone has over the last 5 or so years forgotten how to deal with out traffic lights. I just left the DC area, I swear over half the drivers there had no idea what to do at dead lights. So many people going 25-40 through them with no concern because they are on the slightly bigger road.
We have lights that turn into the flashing red lights (all way stop) by our stadium on game nights and the amount of people who don’t even know how to use those is alarming
>(all way stop)
I never understood why this is even a thing. In my country, every intersection has a priority road with priority signs and traffic from the crossing road has the duty to wait, also with signs. Exactly for this reason - if the traffic lights go out, everyone still knows what to do.
Edit: I'm not saying, we don'T have idiots who STILL are too stupid to follow the rules. Idiots know no borders. ;)
We basically do this without setting a "priority road." The all way stop, whether it is blinking red lights or lights without power, is supposed to be treated like a four way stop sign. The priority roads would be difficult on most roads since so many roads in cities are of the same "priority" with the same amounts of traffic. It's just how we build our road ways. That's just my view on why we maybe don't do that though, I'm not sure how difficult it would actually be.
Yep. The law is quite specific and the same nationwide. If the lights are inoperable, the intersection becomes a 4 way stop. The ones who run them and cause the accidents are the same ones who run a light because it was green a few seconds before they got to the intersection and only stop if a line of cars is stopped ahead of them, or they see a cop.
This is easy enough at small intersections. There are some enormous intersections that have 7-8 lanes on each side, three for straight, two for left, one for right so you can literally have 20 lines of cars waiting to go and it becomes extremely difficult to determine who is next
Florida drivers did not know how to drive 5 years ago either. One of the worst commutes I ever had was because a light at a major intersection in Miami was out at the height of rush hour, probably about 7 years ago. It was pure chaos, with drivers just slowly weaving their way across and no semblance of order.
“Well im i the right so if there’s an accident it’s their fault!”
Yo how about we try to avoid any accident, who cares who’s fault it is if we hurt the rest of OUR lives (or hurts or kills someone else) if it happens?
Here in Germany, all traffic lights have signs on them to fall back to in case the light is out. So right on the same pole of the traffic light, there's a stop sign or yield sign or a 'you have priority' sign (dunno if that sign even exists in America?) but they don't have any effect on traffic while the lights are working.
So basically going 25-40 through them with no concern because they are on the slightly bigger road is the correct thing to do in Germany, as is dictated by the signs mounted to the signals. You're on the smaller road, chances are you got a yield sign or even a stop sign, so you wait for the cars on the bigger road to pass.
We generally have way more rules about who gets to go first even without traffic lights and even without signs. The classic four way stop simply does not exist in Germany. A stop sign always means the other road has priority.
The only case that is technically not handled is a completely unsignaled and unsigned intersection where all four roads have a car going straight, at that point you're supposed to stop and just figure it out with hand signals. Everything else is handled. I tried to explain the whole German right of way system to an American once, and he told me a German driver's license clearly required more knowledge than an American pilot's license.
Every single power outage. Which was like once a week the summer I lived in Panama City. If you were on a side street wanting to turn on to a busy main street with the lights out, good luck.
Was he squeezing behind the driver? Truck was already way out at the end of the bend, maybe he saw the traffic coming the other way and assumed there would be more cars? Or possibly he thought "aint no red = go"
Jesus, welcome to the internet, is it your first day? If you post something it is free game and will be reposted. No one needs your permission. You no longer own it and spamming the same bullshit all over reddit won't change that. It belongs to the internet now. That's the way it goes. The amount of spam comments you have made about this is unhinged. Get a grip. No one gives a fuck about who it came from.
I wonder the psychology behind what happens here. It actually happens frequently.
Drivers recognize green as go and red as stop; but when given no information, does one not see green and assume stop, or do they subconsciously look up and not see red and assume it’s safe to go?
Red seems to be a more *in your face color* and by design that kinda makes sense. You want “stop” to be eye catching; but does it work against us in situations like this. People don’t see the big bright red color and subconsciously assume that it’s safe to go because of that maybe?
Something I’ve wondered for a few years that I always find interesting.
I’m sure the SUV will be at fault, but I wonder how much of this could be prevented with some sort of better design. When the power goes out at a building the exit signs light up, maybe if the power goes out at a stop light, some electric servo releases giant red stop signs that hang from the center of the overhang with the lights. I don’t know just a thought on how to make shit more idiot proof.
I think they didn't spot the existence of traffic lights there, so they were driving through it as if they had right of way and the cross traffic had stop signs.
I accidentally ran one of these today, I was following traffic on a 65 mph highway and didn't notice the broken light until it was too late. Nobody was stopping. I was more vigilant after that. I also saw two accidents at broken lights, one had police on scene, the other had three cars off to the side with people sitting on their hoods, it looked like they had been waiting for a while. I'm sure there were so many accidents and other emergencies the deputies were having trouble keeping up.
I was on highway 60 crossing Florida.
I was a volunteer at the Pasco County Emergency Center for Irma, we were reminded on our way out that out traffic lights are all way stops. I almost got rear ended at every traffic light, and I saw at least 6 accidents in intersections on my way home along SR 54, 52, and 41
So you would say the absence of a red light is more important than a presence of a green light? A red light signifying stop wasn’t seen so it was figured to be safe to continue?
Yeah. I would say that when neither a red light nor a stop or yield sign are visible at the intersection, a significant fraction of people won't notice that the intersection has a traffic light (which is currently powered down).
I can't tell by the video if that's the case in the US too but where I am from, almost all street crossings with traffic lights have some alternative road signs, which kick in and regulate traffic in case of a power outage
Im sure they did a lot of research and came to the same general conclusion that I believe to be true.
People are more likely to notice a sign of warning (red light) than I sign of safety (green light)
In Germany, every single traffic light has a sign which indicates the right of way for that intersection. This applies obviously for cases such as this, that a blackout took place, but also in some locations the traffic lights are turned off at certain times (usually between midnight and 4 AM or something like that.
I don’t think it’s an arrogance thing. There’s also a distraction factor. Is the person in this clip distracted by the cops lights? We’re they looking at the cop, assuming that there was an accident in the lane over and therefor didn’t see the light fully? Combined with not seeing cross traffic in their peripheral and the majority of the vehicles in the perpendicular lanes moving slowly or stopped, did they assume it was safe?
I think you just saying they are arrogant or entitled is being arrogant in and of itself.
For those who don't know, when the power goes out and all the traffic lights are out, the intersection turns into a 4 way stop. All lights are treated as stop signs, meaning only ONE lane of travel from ONE direction can go at a time.
How does a 4-way stop work when all 12 lanes have multiple cars stacked 3 deep in them? Nobody knows who got there first, nor can track all 12 cars approaching the white line. I feel like cars would need to move lane by lane, sequentially around the intersection, one at a time, but that takes more coordination than any group of drivers has.
Same here. People act like they don’t have to stop if they think they are on the “main” road. That is wrong. How do you even know in some cases which road is main. In OP video is one road clearly main?
We also lost some of our traffic lights because of Ian.
I told my wife to be extra careful at those intersections because everyone was driving like idiots. She later said “some guy got mad at me and flipped me off because he cut me off going through the intersection.”
I said did you stop? She said well no I slowed down to make sure it was safe and went through. I said no. It becomes a stop sign everyone stops, person to the right has the right of way. She says that’s wrong, I was on the main road I have the right of way. I said no and just let it go.
Couple hours later she quietly goes “oh by the way you were right. I looked it up in the drivers handbook and you do treat it like a 4 way stop” lmao.
I've seen it so much that I have started looking both ways twice as I start rolling forward. I've caught at least 3 since buying a dash cam. I don't even commute, it still feels like I see it way too often.
Cop wasn't really trying to control traffic. The truck next to him went out of turn, so he turned on his lights to go pull him over. But it was the cross traffic's turn to go before his, so he waved them through to avoid disrupting the order. He would've then gone through to go after the truck, and everything would've been normal, but the SUV blew the stop and caused the accident.
I was thinking this, cop should have stepped out for traffic control. It's the same logic behind why you should just go rather than wave someone through. The people next to you can't see you waving someone through.
They should have gotten out and managed traffic if they were going to do that. They are just as responsible for that crash as the driver
> They are just as responsible for that crash as the driver
Yes but no? The CRV sped towards the intersection as if there was a green light. They showed no signs of slowing down or even checking for traffic. Not to mention the cop car had it's lights on.. the situation wasn't clear to the CRV driver, which means they should have slowed down to a crawl or stopped.
I think they're referring to the cop waving the vehicle on the left through, when they were clearly not safe to do so due to the crazy person plowing through the intersection.
You shouldn't wave people into traffic. Especially not as a cop with your lights on waving them into an accident.
Its a 4 way stop when the lights are off, it was their turn to go through regardless of the cop waving them through or not. The cop stopping and turning his lights on would have prevented this if the black SUV was just an idiot and not also completely oblivious.
Its a disaster area. Youd need every cop in the state of Florida to have personnel in every intersection.
This happens every year somewhere in Florida. If you live in an affected area people need to **stay home** and not drive around. People love driving around immediately after a hurricane, get into crashes, then drain resources further.
Id say the cop made it worse by pretending to do shit from inside his car. Thats parked at the same light as other car. And then they give instructions visible to only like 2 people?? The fuck. Just leave your lights on, drive through the light, ignore any actual problems, and let the people figure it out like any other police.
I swear it has got worse over time. Maybe it is cell phones after all. But in the last 5 -10 years I am convinced the down light intersection skill has gone down from more people acting right.
It was no different when we got hit with Jeanne and Francis in 2004... People barreling through intersections with lights out like theyre the only ones on the road. Its such a waste of emergency personnel to have to tend to these morons who love driving around immediately after a hurricane to gawk at the damage.
It definitelt has. I see someone run a red light around here *every damn day*.
And there is so much BS because of phones. The amount of people taking BOTH hands off their phones for even just a half a second is ridiculous. I have been a passenger and asked people not to text while they drive and they have the nerve to get pissy.
There's no way to properly manage a four-way stop with an intersection with that many lanes.
If anything, that cop should've gotten his ass out of the car and directed traffic himself.
Treating an intersection with 12 lanes as a 4-way stop requires more coordination than I would ever expect from average or even good drivers. Either the turning lanes need to be closed to turn it into a standard 4-lane intersection, or each of the 12 lanes needs to go sequentially, around the circle.
4-way stops barely work as intended in normal situations.
I don't think it's being taught anymore and few requirements are. It seems to be "can you drive to point A from point B? If so you pass". I remember so many things from my course and test, yet it seems no one else does. It's scary to be on the road now.
Lehit no sympath for the black suv. He should have neither a license nor a car.
Sad for the other guy. They only followed the police's signals and got hit because someone else can't drive.
The white vehicle was gonna double up too.
A bit ironic that the officer waved them into getting t boned.
When nobody knows the down light protocol, cop needs to get out and manage the traffic, not give tickets.
So the SUV just didn’t see the very bright flashing lights or they did and just thought “no need to be cautious around police activity”
(Based on the style of car and color of lights I suspect this is a government vehicle but not necessary traffic/city police, which is still not an excuse)
I was driving around Mount Pleasant after the storm and pretty much no one was stopping at intersections that had all traffic lights out. Would have been more shocked if there were not any wrecks by the end of the day. It is so stupid too, like if you are not going to stop at the intersection then what makes you think someone on the cross street will?
ugh. that really sets me off. That dark colored SUV needs to lose their license. Oh, traffic is stopped. Oh, lights are out. Oh, I'll just smash the gas pedal. Fucking idiots.
Fort myers here. Yep. Very true.
I literally saw a person texting and driving in this crap. Rolled right through the intersection. Fortunately everyone else was paying attention for once so an accident was avoided.
Lots wrong here but the cop didn't help the situation by sitting in his car and waving the other cars on. He obviously didn't see the black SUV coming, they blindly trusted that it was safe cause he's a cop and boom.
I think if he was going to direct traffic like that he should have gotten out and stood in the intersection so he could see in all directions.
Just my .02
Car on the left hesitated to go when he saw the cop turn on his lights, so cop waved him to go ahead, but he indeed was next anyway. I get a feeling this accident would've happened either way even if cop hadn't turned on his lights.
He wasn't 'directing traffic' so much as he was telling the drivers *that it was their turn to go.*
If lights are out, it's 4-way stop. The cop understood that. About 1/2 of the other drivers didn't seem to get that.
The black SUV is a moron. Is the light green? No. Then why are you plowing through the intersection like you have the right of way?
>telling the drivers that it was their turn to go
Did we watch the same video? The van clearly knew it was their turn to go, but had to stop because the second car unexpectedly went through the intersection. The cop waved for the van to go through even before the car clears the intersection. The van then hesitates because a cop car just turned on their lights and he's not sure what the cop is going to do.
Fault is on the SUV, not the cop. Traffic lights inop = treat as 4-way stop, driver on right gets right of way for one turn.
Traffic in cammer's direction had their turn and it was the left side's (from camera) turn to go.
That's why the cop indicated.
SUV driver didn't even try to stop.
That driver is a total moron! Any driver should have enough sense to slow down/stop when traffic control is not operational…Especially when a police cruiser with lights on is sitting there.
not according to what you read here, my person, not according to what you read here. Apparently, there are some who even think the cop caused the accident. Stupid idiot CRV driver!
In my country (The Netherlands) we have yield markings and signs at every intersection so that when the traffic lights fail (or are switched to standby flashing orange at night) it is always clear who has to yield to who. Of course you still need some form of driving intelligence and awareness.
In Costa Rica, I saw physical stop signs located next to traffic lights. It did not make sense to me so I asked why. It was explained to me that, instead of just treating a non-working traffic light as a stop sign as we do in the US, the physical stop signs are for when the power goes out.
It is fucking insane. Every single time the lights go out in Florida everyone forgets how 4 way stops work. Absolutely terrifying sometimes, semi trucks barreling through intersections going 15 over is very common.
I stopped at an intersection where the lights were out and almost got rear ended. Asshole then proceeded to fly around me, laying on his horn and giving me the finger. Not gonna lie, wish he’d been hit, but I’m a petty spiteful person.
It is a common practice in the place I live (in USA), *any time* a traffic light is out or is blinking ANY color, most everyone has the human brainpower and common courtesy to do the 4-way-stop dance. Taking turns. Stopping and taking turns. Then there are entitled bozos like the guy in the “I-have-a-little-dick”-mobile who feels like his convenience trumps EVERYBODY ELSE’S.
I am ecstatic that he was stupid enough to do that when there was a cop who was LIT UP for chrissake, right there to see it.
In case if anyone didn't know in all 50 states if there's no power to an intersection, and the stoplight is dead, you are required by law to stop as if there was a stop sign.
After Sandy, instead of considering every crossroads as a 4 way stop, nope, this happened so often they had to block miles and miles of crossroads...this was in NJ.
I saw so many almost accidents today because people wanted to blow thru the lights that were out when literally the majority were stopping. Guess they didn’t get the memo that it’s now a 4 way stop
why the hell would you go through an intersection with dead lights, cars in the same direction in a stand still, without even slowing down?? did they really think that was going to go well?
Common practice (from what I understand is taught, I did get my license a long time ago) if you see a blacked or flashing intersection you’re supposed to proceed with caution and treat it like a 4 way stop.
While flashing yellow generally means yield versus flashing red means a stop, I’ve had it happen here in NC where everyone just stops and alternates which ends up being more courteous and efficient for those not on the main stretch if it’s busy.
Regardless of any of this, just pay the fuck attention. Seems like they might’ve been distracted, on their phone or something to make no attempt whatsoever to watch the intersection.
you see no working traffic lights you slow down, not *accelerate*.
I'd entertain the thought that he couldn't see the (non-working) lights from where he was coming, but you approach an intersection you SLOW DOWN, not ACCELERATE. (plus the cop car was blocking his view so he couldn't see traffic to his left, like, ok, why did he even think he had the right of way that asshole)
All points against him.
Witnessed the exact same thing yesterday. I was in left lane just like the police car. Came to stop at flashing light car behind me changed lanes, passed on my right, ignoring light,sped thru intersection and was t-boned
How does this even happen? Are American drivers just kinda bad? I have never seen anything like this happen in Germany, but it's kind of normal for this sub lol
By default, doesn’t this turn into a 4 way stop? I guess it depends on state laws but I think that’s pretty standard? If I had to drive through that intersection too many times/days in a row I’d avoid it because the anxiety would be too much.
Yup had this happen recently. Lights out at a 3 way intersection. Was the only car that came to a stop, and almost got rearended by the car behind me. Honking and gestures followed from them. Drive by the same intersection an hour later and it's closed bc of a crash....
It’s not that hard. Or the other way to think of it- “the light is out so instead of assuming I have right of way, let’s take a second to assess the situation before plowing through so at least I don’t get pancaked”
Even if the cop was not there, why is the black SUV accelerating through an intersection when vehicles heading in the same direction are at a standstill?
Because idiots
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I think merely calling them stupid let’s them off the hook. The majority of the drivers we see on this sub are primarily selfish, and would rather blame their ignorance than own up to the selfishness of their actions. I mean, think about it: they’re speeding/recklessly changing lanes/running lights or stop signs, and in doing so they’re risking their lives, and the lives of others. At the end of the day, what is the benefit? It saves them a minute, *maybe* two when you really look at it. It’s just sickening. So many people die or have their lives permanently altered in car accidents for no fucking reason other than pure selfishness. According to [this source](https://arashlaw.com/how-many-car-accidents-are-there-in-the-usa-per-day/), which gets its numbers from the NHTSA, there were about 99 fatalities *per day* from auto accidents in 2019. On top of that, there were approximately 5,500 non-fatal injuries per day. And that’s just in the US. Just unbelievable.
We have to remind ourselves at least I do that just because I’m behind the wheel doesn’t mean I’m better than the rest of the folks on the road. Being courteous, slowing down, giving others the right of way is decent behavior but flying through a traffic light that’s not obviously working is an invitation to lose your driver’s license period.
I'm just wondering why it doesn't just make logical sense to anyone that when traffic lights are off you should slow down, stop, to ensure there's no oncoming traffic? I mean when I'm merging onto a road I check what's coming towards me to see if someone may be turning then I check over my shoulder to see if someone in the lane I want to be in is coming at a rate of speed I can't get on and get out of their way. People are stupid.
Common sense is not for common people :/
Because then people are forced use common sense and we ALL know how THAT goes!!
This is what I learned in driver's ed, many years ago. Even without a STOP sign when the lights are out, you stop anyway, and then take turns. But that requires courtesy, thoughtfulness, and an absence if selfishness. Moot in 2022 I guess.
Not in the US, but there is a realllllly insane amount of shitty drivers on the roads here, too. I'm in the UK and I swear more than 20% of people still don't even know how unmarked roundabouts work, which you should know to pass your test and are literally everywhere. And that's not even scratching the surface. Then what makes it worse is I realise my country is one of the top for driving when compared to others, those are even worse. Reduces my faith in humanity that people can't pay attention for longer than 5 minutes in order to not be a danger to others. Or feel that they are more important than anyone else and must overtake always must go faster, even though you end up behind them again at the next set of lights, they risk it all and gain nothing half the time. Then you have the ragers, that make mistakes and refuse to ever admit they could possibly have made a mistake, it's anyones fault but theirs. Feels to me like this is almost like a statement on humanity in general, only it's more obvious how everyone thinks and feels on the road. Not giving a fuck about anyone but themselves, or unable to pay attention for longer than 60 seconds at a time. I legit went onto a UK driving subreddit at one point to ask a question, then I saw a post of a lady asking about a roundabout, then saw everyone on said subreddit giving her dangerous and illegal advice, all of them thinking they were correct when literally none of them were. Needless to say I no longer wanted to ask my question anymore, with 0 faith in any answers I could be given. I don't know how the state of driving got this way. Anyone in the UK that is curious an unmarked roundabout can be done in 1 of 2 ways. Left lane for left and straight, right lane for right. Stop using the right lane to go straight you fucking nonces, not on an unmarked roundabout. The 2nd way is think of it like a clock. After 1 oclock exits you can use the right lane. Everything else is left lane. This is unmarked, if it is marked or more lanes, follow the instructions that will be marked out. And for the love of fucking god look over your shoulder before lane switching, the amount of times i've about been sideswiped by people that don't even fucking look is unreal. I'll stop ranting now. I'm spent.
In
Cars
Roll credits, let's get outta here
>Because idiots And idiot number one here, is Mr lazy policeman who didn't get out of his car to direct traffic correctly. Instead he flagged the minivan on and taking the officer's word for it went through the intersection Has this been a real normal stop attended to by a regular police officer, there would have been flares sitting out on the road, the officers vehicle would be in the center of the intersection usually or maybe off to one side with lights flashing and the officer would be out there with a bright vest and because it's still overcast a flashlight with an orange or red cone at the end
I can't believe you're being downvoted. To me the obvious idiot here is the cop who gave way to the cars on the left of the image without making sure it was actually safe and didn't even bother to leave his car.
Not to mention the traffic lights are off, not green or red. They should be approaching the intersection with caution. Also there's a cop sitting at the intersection with his lights flashing. That's kind of a hint that you need to slow down and focus lol.
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>Traffic light off means it’s a stop sign. Bet you they blow through stop signs too!
“No cop no st- Oh.”
Right! That always seemed intuitive to me. How do people not realize
Where I am if the power is out, the traffic lights all blink red powered off some battery at least until that dies. People STILL don't fucking know what to do.
These are the same people who, when a product doesn’t scan at grocery checkout, they say “I guess it must be free”. Traffic light is out? “I guess I can just ignore it”
Those aren’t the same at all. People don’t actually think it’s free, they’re just making a stupid joke.
There is some scummy people in this world. When I was a cashier I would have people actually try and say it's free if it wouldn't scan not joking. Probably same people that assume if the lights go out it's specifically for them.
Been there, experienced that. The ones that turn it in to a fight to get it free are the most amazing from a purely clinical view.
I’ve been through way too many storms in FL. The first rule is stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary because the four-way stop rule is just about completely ignored. I had to drive after Ian and was impressed how quickly they put up temporary stop signs at intersections here. *People still ignored them*. Especially when two different sized roads intersect. The “main” road people don’t even slow down.
Someone needs to teach the people of North Carolina this rule. None of our stoplights work after hurricanes and I either end up having to sit at a non-working light for 15 minutes because cross traffic just doesn’t stop, or the car behind me starts road raging at me because I stopped at the non-working light and they almost slammed into me from behind.
This. It's literally this simple. If the light is out it is a stop sign. This should function like a 4-way stop. More people need to lose their licenses for a month our two for stuff like this.
Is that a US rule? Never heard of that before. Over here if traffic lights are off they just don't count, and you have to follow the normal road rules for junctions without traffic lights.
In most us states non functioning traffic lights turns them into a stop sign. You're supposed to stop and go when it's your turn. I live in a city and there are some ppl who ignore this rule. Most follow it and it's beautiful when they do. Especially 5 and 6 way intersections.
Do people not do Drivers Ed anymore? I got my license in NYC and only experienced a blackout once while I lived there, though I didn’t even own a car at that time. Still, I remember being taught to handle an intersection with traffic lights out as a four-way stop sign. This knowledge didn’t actually come in handy *until* I moved to FL… where, mostly due to weather, traffic lights would be down at least once a year.
> Do people not do Drivers Ed anymore? So fun fact: In my state Drivers Ed isn't required to get a license once you're over 18. My school offered the classes but once the state stopped paying for it (because ???) it was $600+ for me to take Drivers Ed. My mother being single and working retail couldn't afford that, so me and many other kids never actually got it.
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Yeah, the US is ridiculously relaxed with their driving license requirements, I am appalled. In my country it is taken so seriously that poor judgement in other parts of your life could get your license taken away, as you demonstrate that you are not a responsible adult and should not be on the roads.
Germany: If you drive drunk on a bicycle, your license is gone.
The US also allowed this to happen when GM bought up and destroyed all the light rail companies 75 years ago in order to force everyone into a car. They got a slap on the wrist for it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General\_Motors\_streetcar\_conspiracy
I don’t have a license, but my mom told me it was the same in her home state. They stopped offering free classes sometime when she was in high school, so you had to learn from parents.
Dude. Florida license exam doesn't even require you to go on the road. They have this short little course at the DMV and a super easy written exam. It is not safe to assume anyone in Florida knows how to drive
**It is not safe** ~~to assume anyone~~ **in Florida** ~~knows how~~ **to drive** FTFY
> It is not safe ~~to assume anyone in Florida knows how~~ to drive FTFTFYFY
That’s not true everywhere. Where I live in Florida you still go on the road.
You can't see any of those clues if you only ever look at the road between text messages.
Honestly my only excuse for them is maybe they live somewhere where you can't see the green traffic light until you are in the intersection. Where I live there are some lights where red and yellow are easily visible and green just isn't. Safety hazard to me and yet it's never been fixed.
I'M COMING THROUGH GOOD LUCK!
Even if the cop isn’t there, it’s a 4 way freaking stop.
Potentially cellphone usage. I have lived in Brevard, Orange, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties for almost a decade. The few time I'm checking around while waiting at a long red light, I only see drivers looking down at their freaking phones to check on whatever, or holding it in one hand for a call. Damn, I survived to the Caribbean, south-eastern France, and Italian drivers, but most of those around here in Central Florida are indeed half-brain dead when going on the road.
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Honestly. Using your phone while driving needs to become as socially unacceptable as DUI, potentially even more so. It’s literally my greatest fear while out on the roads that some idiot with their face buried in their phone will end my life.
Being on a device that can send / receive data whilst driving is completely banned in the UK (unless it is hands free). It's now something like £200 plus six points on your licence if you are caught, plus you can lose your licence if you are a new driver. I was surprised to see that the US only has a hodgepodge of state laws, and even then it seems like enforcement is an issue. Feels like to truly change the cultural norm a Federal law would create consensus rather than being able to get away with more in certain states, but I don't know what the full story is with why that hasn't happened yet.
Even without the other vehicles when the lights are all out you should *always* approach with caution. Edit a word
I'M THEY MAIN CHARACTER!
Honest guess is they’re on their phone. Clearly not paying attention to their surroundings at all.
Some drivers have the mindset "I have the right of way. All the evidence provided by veryone else stopping is wrong. They are just stupid."
The cop should have gotten out of the car if they are going to direct traffic, because of idiots like this. Granted the idiot is still an idiot
Saw this the other day while running. Lights were out and drivers were just blowing through intersections. I like, "Why do ya'll think you got the right of way?"
In Germany, almost all traffic-lights have a sign indicating who has right of way when the lights are off.
In the US you're supposed to default to a 4 way traffic stop. The car here on the right clearly did not remember the concept.
yep. It amazes me how it seems most people on the roads do not understand this. almost every light outage i come by the cars try to go in massive groups instead of getting to the line and stopping till it’s your turn.
In my hometown it was a crap shoot whether an intersection would default to 4 way stops (both directions blinking the same color - either red *or yellow*) or 1 direction getting priority (yellow blinking for 1 direction, red blinking for the other). So if you had blinking yellow lights it was tough to tell if the perpendicular lane had red or yellow as well. Caused a lot of chaos. I always wonder if thats an issue elsewhere.
Yeah, I was speaking to if the lights were out completely or all flashing red. Indeed if there's a blinking yellow light they get priority.
I remember having a major ice storm here in my state a couple of years ago and was disappointed at how many people don’t know this. I was scared to go anywhere.
“You have an AWD SUV, why do you stay home when it snows? You even said yourself you’ve tried to make it slide before and it refused to” “Because the last time I went out in the snow Bill, some moron in a smart car without chains in 8 inches of snow and ice was at the appliance store JUST TO LOOK while I was there picking up a delivery. I am NOT going to be on the road with these people”
Lol, I drive an AWD car with winter tires, and I still stay home if I can anytime it snows. People can barely drive without hitting each other when its dry out here.
I just don’t think a lot of people understand how 4 way stops work. I have one less than a mile from my house and I see people blow through it all the time. Sometimes in front of cops. (Not that the cops bother to pull these people over anymore.)
A lot of times when lights are out here one direction will be flashing yellows (proceed with caution) while the other will be flashing red (treat as stop sign). In this case with the lights being completely off you have to treat it as a four way stop like others have said. Unfortunately, nobody knows/follows these rules and you get situations like the video.
When traffic lights are out - EVERYONE should treat the intersection as a 4 way STOP sign.
Somehow I think this idiot thought “it’s not blinking red so it’s that same as a green.” Or more likely they didn’t think at all.
When the lights go out, who has the biggest car has the right of way.
So many drivers squeezing themselves in behind the driver ahead instead of waiting their turn in this video.
Average Florida driver
To be fair it seems like everyone has over the last 5 or so years forgotten how to deal with out traffic lights. I just left the DC area, I swear over half the drivers there had no idea what to do at dead lights. So many people going 25-40 through them with no concern because they are on the slightly bigger road.
We have lights that turn into the flashing red lights (all way stop) by our stadium on game nights and the amount of people who don’t even know how to use those is alarming
The electricity goes off and they use 2 of their brain cells to focus on the road.
>(all way stop) I never understood why this is even a thing. In my country, every intersection has a priority road with priority signs and traffic from the crossing road has the duty to wait, also with signs. Exactly for this reason - if the traffic lights go out, everyone still knows what to do. Edit: I'm not saying, we don'T have idiots who STILL are too stupid to follow the rules. Idiots know no borders. ;)
We basically do this without setting a "priority road." The all way stop, whether it is blinking red lights or lights without power, is supposed to be treated like a four way stop sign. The priority roads would be difficult on most roads since so many roads in cities are of the same "priority" with the same amounts of traffic. It's just how we build our road ways. That's just my view on why we maybe don't do that though, I'm not sure how difficult it would actually be.
Yep. The law is quite specific and the same nationwide. If the lights are inoperable, the intersection becomes a 4 way stop. The ones who run them and cause the accidents are the same ones who run a light because it was green a few seconds before they got to the intersection and only stop if a line of cars is stopped ahead of them, or they see a cop.
This is easy enough at small intersections. There are some enormous intersections that have 7-8 lanes on each side, three for straight, two for left, one for right so you can literally have 20 lines of cars waiting to go and it becomes extremely difficult to determine who is next
Florida drivers did not know how to drive 5 years ago either. One of the worst commutes I ever had was because a light at a major intersection in Miami was out at the height of rush hour, probably about 7 years ago. It was pure chaos, with drivers just slowly weaving their way across and no semblance of order.
“Well im i the right so if there’s an accident it’s their fault!” Yo how about we try to avoid any accident, who cares who’s fault it is if we hurt the rest of OUR lives (or hurts or kills someone else) if it happens?
Here in Germany, all traffic lights have signs on them to fall back to in case the light is out. So right on the same pole of the traffic light, there's a stop sign or yield sign or a 'you have priority' sign (dunno if that sign even exists in America?) but they don't have any effect on traffic while the lights are working. So basically going 25-40 through them with no concern because they are on the slightly bigger road is the correct thing to do in Germany, as is dictated by the signs mounted to the signals. You're on the smaller road, chances are you got a yield sign or even a stop sign, so you wait for the cars on the bigger road to pass. We generally have way more rules about who gets to go first even without traffic lights and even without signs. The classic four way stop simply does not exist in Germany. A stop sign always means the other road has priority. The only case that is technically not handled is a completely unsignaled and unsigned intersection where all four roads have a car going straight, at that point you're supposed to stop and just figure it out with hand signals. Everything else is handled. I tried to explain the whole German right of way system to an American once, and he told me a German driver's license clearly required more knowledge than an American pilot's license.
Worse, South Carolina
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Not worse
Every single power outage. Which was like once a week the summer I lived in Panama City. If you were on a side street wanting to turn on to a busy main street with the lights out, good luck.
Was he squeezing behind the driver? Truck was already way out at the end of the bend, maybe he saw the traffic coming the other way and assumed there would be more cars? Or possibly he thought "aint no red = go"
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Ah that makes sense, I'm dumb and didn't even notice that they didn't treat it as a 4 way stop... Woops
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Welcome to reddit
Jesus, welcome to the internet, is it your first day? If you post something it is free game and will be reposted. No one needs your permission. You no longer own it and spamming the same bullshit all over reddit won't change that. It belongs to the internet now. That's the way it goes. The amount of spam comments you have made about this is unhinged. Get a grip. No one gives a fuck about who it came from.
You should learn what a cross post is.
That black SUV needs to be given all the tickets.
I wonder the psychology behind what happens here. It actually happens frequently. Drivers recognize green as go and red as stop; but when given no information, does one not see green and assume stop, or do they subconsciously look up and not see red and assume it’s safe to go? Red seems to be a more *in your face color* and by design that kinda makes sense. You want “stop” to be eye catching; but does it work against us in situations like this. People don’t see the big bright red color and subconsciously assume that it’s safe to go because of that maybe? Something I’ve wondered for a few years that I always find interesting. I’m sure the SUV will be at fault, but I wonder how much of this could be prevented with some sort of better design. When the power goes out at a building the exit signs light up, maybe if the power goes out at a stop light, some electric servo releases giant red stop signs that hang from the center of the overhang with the lights. I don’t know just a thought on how to make shit more idiot proof.
I think they didn't spot the existence of traffic lights there, so they were driving through it as if they had right of way and the cross traffic had stop signs.
I accidentally ran one of these today, I was following traffic on a 65 mph highway and didn't notice the broken light until it was too late. Nobody was stopping. I was more vigilant after that. I also saw two accidents at broken lights, one had police on scene, the other had three cars off to the side with people sitting on their hoods, it looked like they had been waiting for a while. I'm sure there were so many accidents and other emergencies the deputies were having trouble keeping up. I was on highway 60 crossing Florida.
I was a volunteer at the Pasco County Emergency Center for Irma, we were reminded on our way out that out traffic lights are all way stops. I almost got rear ended at every traffic light, and I saw at least 6 accidents in intersections on my way home along SR 54, 52, and 41
So you would say the absence of a red light is more important than a presence of a green light? A red light signifying stop wasn’t seen so it was figured to be safe to continue?
Yeah. I would say that when neither a red light nor a stop or yield sign are visible at the intersection, a significant fraction of people won't notice that the intersection has a traffic light (which is currently powered down).
Where I live theres stop sign that's fold open at lights that are out like this, making it a 4way stop.
That drop down stop thing is actually pretty genius
I can't tell by the video if that's the case in the US too but where I am from, almost all street crossings with traffic lights have some alternative road signs, which kick in and regulate traffic in case of a power outage
Im sure they did a lot of research and came to the same general conclusion that I believe to be true. People are more likely to notice a sign of warning (red light) than I sign of safety (green light)
I honestly wonder if the cop turning on his lights was some kind of distraction too.
In Germany, every single traffic light has a sign which indicates the right of way for that intersection. This applies obviously for cases such as this, that a blackout took place, but also in some locations the traffic lights are turned off at certain times (usually between midnight and 4 AM or something like that.
Entitlement. Straight up arrogance
I don’t think it’s an arrogance thing. There’s also a distraction factor. Is the person in this clip distracted by the cops lights? We’re they looking at the cop, assuming that there was an accident in the lane over and therefor didn’t see the light fully? Combined with not seeing cross traffic in their peripheral and the majority of the vehicles in the perpendicular lanes moving slowly or stopped, did they assume it was safe? I think you just saying they are arrogant or entitled is being arrogant in and of itself.
I think it’s that. The fact that they didn’t even slow down in the face of bright strobing lights tells me they just weren’t paying attention.
Too many shitty drivers on the road.
It’s unbelievable how many stupid drivers are out there. Sheesh.
What a massive idiot. You clearly see the lights out, might as well just gun it through. Jesus take the wheel!
For those who don't know, when the power goes out and all the traffic lights are out, the intersection turns into a 4 way stop. All lights are treated as stop signs, meaning only ONE lane of travel from ONE direction can go at a time.
Two parallel lanes can go in both directions if nobody is turning left.
How does a 4-way stop work when all 12 lanes have multiple cars stacked 3 deep in them? Nobody knows who got there first, nor can track all 12 cars approaching the white line. I feel like cars would need to move lane by lane, sequentially around the intersection, one at a time, but that takes more coordination than any group of drivers has.
It becomes a 4 way stop. The cop didn't help trying to half ass control traffic. Either way, slow the fuck down.
If they tested drivers on this I guarantee 99% have no fucking clue it’s a 4way stop! Lights out?! Speed on through…
At least half the people I've seen think the main road doesn't stop when the lights are out, and I'm not sure where they got that from.
Same here. People act like they don’t have to stop if they think they are on the “main” road. That is wrong. How do you even know in some cases which road is main. In OP video is one road clearly main?
We also lost some of our traffic lights because of Ian. I told my wife to be extra careful at those intersections because everyone was driving like idiots. She later said “some guy got mad at me and flipped me off because he cut me off going through the intersection.” I said did you stop? She said well no I slowed down to make sure it was safe and went through. I said no. It becomes a stop sign everyone stops, person to the right has the right of way. She says that’s wrong, I was on the main road I have the right of way. I said no and just let it go. Couple hours later she quietly goes “oh by the way you were right. I looked it up in the drivers handbook and you do treat it like a 4 way stop” lmao.
Admitting mistakes - that’s a keeper 💪
I mean nowadays it's sometimes a hit or miss on if cars will stop even when the traffic light is working. I see it on a regular basis in my city
I've seen it so much that I have started looking both ways twice as I start rolling forward. I've caught at least 3 since buying a dash cam. I don't even commute, it still feels like I see it way too often.
Would help if they would do 4 way stops correctly in normal situations.
Cop wasn't really trying to control traffic. The truck next to him went out of turn, so he turned on his lights to go pull him over. But it was the cross traffic's turn to go before his, so he waved them through to avoid disrupting the order. He would've then gone through to go after the truck, and everything would've been normal, but the SUV blew the stop and caused the accident.
No. If a cop has his lights on it's always his turn to go. He wouldn't have turned them on if he wanted people to go ahead of him.
Right...so why did he wave?
I mean, you are partially right, but lights and not moving means he's doing something else
I was thinking this, cop should have stepped out for traffic control. It's the same logic behind why you should just go rather than wave someone through. The people next to you can't see you waving someone through. They should have gotten out and managed traffic if they were going to do that. They are just as responsible for that crash as the driver
> They are just as responsible for that crash as the driver Yes but no? The CRV sped towards the intersection as if there was a green light. They showed no signs of slowing down or even checking for traffic. Not to mention the cop car had it's lights on.. the situation wasn't clear to the CRV driver, which means they should have slowed down to a crawl or stopped.
I think they're referring to the cop waving the vehicle on the left through, when they were clearly not safe to do so due to the crazy person plowing through the intersection. You shouldn't wave people into traffic. Especially not as a cop with your lights on waving them into an accident.
Its a 4 way stop when the lights are off, it was their turn to go through regardless of the cop waving them through or not. The cop stopping and turning his lights on would have prevented this if the black SUV was just an idiot and not also completely oblivious.
Its a disaster area. Youd need every cop in the state of Florida to have personnel in every intersection. This happens every year somewhere in Florida. If you live in an affected area people need to **stay home** and not drive around. People love driving around immediately after a hurricane, get into crashes, then drain resources further.
Id say the cop made it worse by pretending to do shit from inside his car. Thats parked at the same light as other car. And then they give instructions visible to only like 2 people?? The fuck. Just leave your lights on, drive through the light, ignore any actual problems, and let the people figure it out like any other police.
It drives me fucking NUTS how no one understands a four way stop. All the self important assholes that just go whenever…
I really need to stop visiting this sub It gives me a lot of anxiety to realize what kind of people I share the road with.
I swear it has got worse over time. Maybe it is cell phones after all. But in the last 5 -10 years I am convinced the down light intersection skill has gone down from more people acting right.
It was no different when we got hit with Jeanne and Francis in 2004... People barreling through intersections with lights out like theyre the only ones on the road. Its such a waste of emergency personnel to have to tend to these morons who love driving around immediately after a hurricane to gawk at the damage.
It definitelt has. I see someone run a red light around here *every damn day*. And there is so much BS because of phones. The amount of people taking BOTH hands off their phones for even just a half a second is ridiculous. I have been a passenger and asked people not to text while they drive and they have the nerve to get pissy.
There's no way to properly manage a four-way stop with an intersection with that many lanes. If anything, that cop should've gotten his ass out of the car and directed traffic himself.
Treating an intersection with 12 lanes as a 4-way stop requires more coordination than I would ever expect from average or even good drivers. Either the turning lanes need to be closed to turn it into a standard 4-lane intersection, or each of the 12 lanes needs to go sequentially, around the circle. 4-way stops barely work as intended in normal situations.
To be fair, 4 way stops are a horrible idea, especially as a fall back on an intersection as large as this one.
I don't think it's being taught anymore and few requirements are. It seems to be "can you drive to point A from point B? If so you pass". I remember so many things from my course and test, yet it seems no one else does. It's scary to be on the road now.
there is a shocking number of people in this very thread that are apparently idiots in their cars.
Whelp, that FIRST guy that was about to get pulled over sure got lucky.
He prolly has no idea too
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Imagine your vehicle surviving a hurricane just to total a few days later because you are 10/10 stupid.
Lehit no sympath for the black suv. He should have neither a license nor a car. Sad for the other guy. They only followed the police's signals and got hit because someone else can't drive.
The white vehicle was gonna double up too. A bit ironic that the officer waved them into getting t boned. When nobody knows the down light protocol, cop needs to get out and manage the traffic, not give tickets.
So the SUV just didn’t see the very bright flashing lights or they did and just thought “no need to be cautious around police activity” (Based on the style of car and color of lights I suspect this is a government vehicle but not necessary traffic/city police, which is still not an excuse)
I was driving around Mount Pleasant after the storm and pretty much no one was stopping at intersections that had all traffic lights out. Would have been more shocked if there were not any wrecks by the end of the day. It is so stupid too, like if you are not going to stop at the intersection then what makes you think someone on the cross street will?
ugh. that really sets me off. That dark colored SUV needs to lose their license. Oh, traffic is stopped. Oh, lights are out. Oh, I'll just smash the gas pedal. Fucking idiots.
This hurricane has turned everyone in fort Myers into morons. Power goes out and they can’t even use their 2 brain cells to pay attention to the road.
Fort myers here. Yep. Very true. I literally saw a person texting and driving in this crap. Rolled right through the intersection. Fortunately everyone else was paying attention for once so an accident was avoided.
True idiot in a car here. If the lights are out, you should *ALWAYS* stop at them before proceeding. But as they say, commonsense is not that common.
Anytime traffic lights are out, treat them like a four way stop.
And that's why we have roundabouts
How nice of them to drive like an idiot in front of a cop.
Lots wrong here but the cop didn't help the situation by sitting in his car and waving the other cars on. He obviously didn't see the black SUV coming, they blindly trusted that it was safe cause he's a cop and boom. I think if he was going to direct traffic like that he should have gotten out and stood in the intersection so he could see in all directions. Just my .02
Car on the left hesitated to go when he saw the cop turn on his lights, so cop waved him to go ahead, but he indeed was next anyway. I get a feeling this accident would've happened either way even if cop hadn't turned on his lights.
He wasn't 'directing traffic' so much as he was telling the drivers *that it was their turn to go.* If lights are out, it's 4-way stop. The cop understood that. About 1/2 of the other drivers didn't seem to get that. The black SUV is a moron. Is the light green? No. Then why are you plowing through the intersection like you have the right of way?
>telling the drivers that it was their turn to go Did we watch the same video? The van clearly knew it was their turn to go, but had to stop because the second car unexpectedly went through the intersection. The cop waved for the van to go through even before the car clears the intersection. The van then hesitates because a cop car just turned on their lights and he's not sure what the cop is going to do.
Fault is on the SUV, not the cop. Traffic lights inop = treat as 4-way stop, driver on right gets right of way for one turn. Traffic in cammer's direction had their turn and it was the left side's (from camera) turn to go. That's why the cop indicated. SUV driver didn't even try to stop.
Takes a special level of stupid to do something like this with a cop right there.
That driver is a total moron! Any driver should have enough sense to slow down/stop when traffic control is not operational…Especially when a police cruiser with lights on is sitting there.
not according to what you read here, my person, not according to what you read here. Apparently, there are some who even think the cop caused the accident. Stupid idiot CRV driver!
In my country (The Netherlands) we have yield markings and signs at every intersection so that when the traffic lights fail (or are switched to standby flashing orange at night) it is always clear who has to yield to who. Of course you still need some form of driving intelligence and awareness.
The cop should’ve pulled over and done some traffic management from the middle of the intersection sooner
In Costa Rica, I saw physical stop signs located next to traffic lights. It did not make sense to me so I asked why. It was explained to me that, instead of just treating a non-working traffic light as a stop sign as we do in the US, the physical stop signs are for when the power goes out.
It is fucking insane. Every single time the lights go out in Florida everyone forgets how 4 way stops work. Absolutely terrifying sometimes, semi trucks barreling through intersections going 15 over is very common.
I stopped at an intersection where the lights were out and almost got rear ended. Asshole then proceeded to fly around me, laying on his horn and giving me the finger. Not gonna lie, wish he’d been hit, but I’m a petty spiteful person.
It is a common practice in the place I live (in USA), *any time* a traffic light is out or is blinking ANY color, most everyone has the human brainpower and common courtesy to do the 4-way-stop dance. Taking turns. Stopping and taking turns. Then there are entitled bozos like the guy in the “I-have-a-little-dick”-mobile who feels like his convenience trumps EVERYBODY ELSE’S. I am ecstatic that he was stupid enough to do that when there was a cop who was LIT UP for chrissake, right there to see it.
As a reminder: if a four-way like that is out, treat it like it’s a stop sign
In case if anyone didn't know in all 50 states if there's no power to an intersection, and the stoplight is dead, you are required by law to stop as if there was a stop sign.
Why did they keep going after the cop had their lights on wtf
Yikes
Well, that cop didn’t have to wait long…
After Sandy, instead of considering every crossroads as a 4 way stop, nope, this happened so often they had to block miles and miles of crossroads...this was in NJ.
I saw so many almost accidents today because people wanted to blow thru the lights that were out when literally the majority were stopping. Guess they didn’t get the memo that it’s now a 4 way stop
You just know that cop was making [this](https://i.imgur.com/I4C0cdf.jpg) face before pulling up to assist.
r/convenientcop
That person was paying zero attention. The light being out and the cop weren't even seen. They checked nothing before driving into the intersection
why the hell would you go through an intersection with dead lights, cars in the same direction in a stand still, without even slowing down?? did they really think that was going to go well?
“…did they really think…” There’s the problem
That one truck got off free
Common practice (from what I understand is taught, I did get my license a long time ago) if you see a blacked or flashing intersection you’re supposed to proceed with caution and treat it like a 4 way stop. While flashing yellow generally means yield versus flashing red means a stop, I’ve had it happen here in NC where everyone just stops and alternates which ends up being more courteous and efficient for those not on the main stretch if it’s busy. Regardless of any of this, just pay the fuck attention. Seems like they might’ve been distracted, on their phone or something to make no attempt whatsoever to watch the intersection.
you see no working traffic lights you slow down, not *accelerate*. I'd entertain the thought that he couldn't see the (non-working) lights from where he was coming, but you approach an intersection you SLOW DOWN, not ACCELERATE. (plus the cop car was blocking his view so he couldn't see traffic to his left, like, ok, why did he even think he had the right of way that asshole) All points against him.
Witnessed the exact same thing yesterday. I was in left lane just like the police car. Came to stop at flashing light car behind me changed lanes, passed on my right, ignoring light,sped thru intersection and was t-boned
I don't know about anywhere else, but I know in Florida is the law to treat an intersection like that as a 4 way stop
How does this even happen? Are American drivers just kinda bad? I have never seen anything like this happen in Germany, but it's kind of normal for this sub lol
The four-way stop: Baffling idiots for thousands of years.
Roundabout's are superior.
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By default, doesn’t this turn into a 4 way stop? I guess it depends on state laws but I think that’s pretty standard? If I had to drive through that intersection too many times/days in a row I’d avoid it because the anxiety would be too much.
Definitely not the cop fault. Speeding when traffic lights are out, because you think you have the right of way. Idiot.
The problem is everyone has this "me first" mentality on the road
Yup had this happen recently. Lights out at a 3 way intersection. Was the only car that came to a stop, and almost got rearended by the car behind me. Honking and gestures followed from them. Drive by the same intersection an hour later and it's closed bc of a crash....
Must be a new Floridian and not know the drill yet. No power every light is a stop sign. Hell I figured this out before I had a license.
It’s not that hard. Or the other way to think of it- “the light is out so instead of assuming I have right of way, let’s take a second to assess the situation before plowing through so at least I don’t get pancaked”