Running a red light rarely saves you enough time to justify the risk, and here’s a good example why.
Presumed Connecticut resident and Redditor /u/annonred shared dashcam footage that made me chuckle from New Haven to the /r/IdiotsInCars subreddit showing the harebrained moment a driver cut OP off over a double solid yellow line on their way to run a red light, just for them to end up at another light up ahead.
Check out OP’s dashcam footage below.
[OC] Idiot goes around me, crosses double yellow, runs red light just to get to…the next red light.
byu/annonred inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened at the intersection of Division St. and Prospect St. in New Haven, CT (exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As OP’s footage shows, he’s driving along Prospect St. when he comes to a stop before Division St.
A driver in a black Chevrolet Cruze following close behind anticipates OP’s slowing, changes lanes over a double solid yellow line to overtake OP going against traffic, and runs a red light up ahead.
That dangerous maneuver amounted to nothing as, according to OP,
“(It’s) hard to see in the video, but he got stuck behind a line of cars just up ahead at the next light,” /u/annonred confirmed.
“Every single time I see videos like this, it’s always where there’s a pedestrian,” /u/bbusiello commented.
“This is a college area, and pedestrians are all over and totally unpredictable. A pedestrian was killed a few years ago a block away. I’m super cautious driving around here,” /u/annonred replied.
You can see a pedestrian crossing in the foreground.
In Connecticut, running a red light is subject to a $150 base fine and two points on your record.
Subsequently, crossing double solid yellow lines is arguably not following traffic control measures and is, according to CT’s fine schedule, is subject to a $50 fine.
Hopefully this is a cautionary tale that it’s often not a good idea to break traffic laws to save a couple seconds that, in this case, is never a sure fire time saving strategy.
