Southgate, MI Near Miss: Failure to Yield Nearly Ends in T-Bone Collision

Why, despite you having the right of way, drivers need to take a beat before entering an intersection.

Presumed Michiganer and Redditor /u/K1TSUNE9 posted up dashcam footage from Southgate showing the moment he misjudged a flashing yellow turn signal, which almost turned into a T-Bone collision.

Who do you think was at fault, here?

Here’s the video for you to decide for yourself.

[OC] Guy runs red light
byu/K1TSUNE9 inIdiotsInCars

The near miss happened at the intersection of Northline Rd. and Allen Rd. in Southgate, MI (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)

As OP’s footage shows, he’s making a left turn onto Allen Rd.

As this closeup of the light shows, OP has a flashing yellow turn arrow, which means he can make a left turn as long as he yields the right of way to oncoming traffic.

A driver in a silver Ford Edge can be seen approaching the intersection just as OP anticipates their light will turn red.

OP assumes the driver in the Edge will come to a complete stop, so he begins his turn.

“I anticipated my turn based off on their red light, just less than a second from my light turning green. The guy blows through the red. I swear I could tell he was going to slow down and looked like he was stopping, but he said f*** it and kept going,” OP commented.

As OP’s comment says, he assumed the driver would automatically stop.

A close look at the video shows that the Edge driver entered the intersection while OP’s light was still flashing yellow so, technically, as I see it, the Edge driver was in the clear.

Regardless, OP gives the Edge driver an earful of honking.

You can see the Ford Edge driver brake, as his crossover dips.

But, as the video shows and OP commented, the Edge driver keeps going.

“I also wait until they come to a complete stop in situations like this. You never know what the other guy is going to do,” /u/Careless_Zombie_5437 comments.

“OP’s light was never red, it was a flashing yellow arrow and then turned to a solid green arrow at the end.  But, yes, you should make certain they’re going to stop before turning. You never know what they’re going to do,” /u/RandomFactoid42 added.

In a perfect world, drivers would automatically stop when it turns red and everyone would take their proper turns.

However, the real world is ideal and, as this video shows, there are gray areas where assuming a driver will automatically stop when their light turns red, can lead to a collision.

As defensive drivers, it would behoove you to assume a buffer zone and to take a beat to scan the intersection for oncoming traffic before proceeding, despite you having the right of way.