The lady came into the City C l e r k ’s o f f i c e o b v i o u s l y upset, insisting that she had been a safe driver for over 20 years and there is no way she would have run a red light, even on a right turn. After calming down, a City staffer looked up her ticket on the internet and replayed the video of her incident. As she approached the intersection and the red light, she dutifully looked left and saw no cars coming. As we often do, without further thinking, she made a “California Stop”.
This is when a driver coasts around the corner on a right-on-red without coming to a full stop. The lady watched intently as the tape played and then, stape played. Unknown to her, just as she was rounding the corner, a pedestrian stepped off the corner almost directly into her path. The pedestrian quickly jumped back, but the lady never knew how close she had come to hitting the person. Shaken, she thanked the staff and asked for directions to the cashier’s office.
In the past 2 years, the Miami Gardens Red Light Camera Program has cut accidents at the camera intersection by 83%. This is a staggering number.
This means almost 200 fewer accidents. It means that there are 200 families where no one was killed or maimed, or at the very least, had to deal with all of the consequences of car insurance and repair.
No one likes to get a ticket, but it is a small price to pay for protecting yourself and your family. The law has always required a stop on red. We all know that, whether it’s a straight run-through or a right on red, RED MEANS STOP. For a right turn on red it means STOP, look to the left, to the right and back to the left. It’s a law we can LIVE with!
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