https://www.reddit.com/r/Eugene/comments/1igu72w/why_yall_running_red_lights/
created by skeebs23 on 03/02/2025 at 17:14 UTC
110 upvotes, 44 top-level comments (showing 25)
Have others noticed this increase lately? Feels like I’m seeing so many more people blowing through late yellows and reds… y’all gonna end up hurting someone.
Comment by ajb901 at 03/02/2025 at 17:33 UTC
204 upvotes, 6 direct replies
Societal decay resulting from the ongoing collapse of the social contract.
Comment by Diaggen at 03/02/2025 at 17:26 UTC
40 upvotes, 2 direct replies
I see a whole bunch of people run red lights. Every time I'm out driving I see at least one. I always wait a moment or two now when the light turns green before I go. The only exception is intersections with good visibility that go four way red for a couple of seconds before changing.
Comment by pogostix59 at 03/02/2025 at 17:31 UTC
29 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It’s insane! I learned a few years ago in this town to never be the first car to enter the intersection. Hesitate a few seconds and look both ways NO MATTER WHAT! Honk at me all you want. I’m not taking chances.
Comment by eight26am at 03/02/2025 at 17:40 UTC
30 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I can't explain how much this has changed here over the last 20 years. People used to honk if you went through on yellow here. And if you know about Oregonians and honking you know how serious an offense this was considered 😂
Comment by Alley-IX at 03/02/2025 at 17:19 UTC
14 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Idk why but yesterday one of my regular customers came in abnormally grateful for life saying his teenage son was t-boned by someone running a red the previous night. totalled the car and the poor teenager just got their license two weeks before that. It definitely seems to becoming a real problem
Comment by Veri_similitude4EVR at 03/02/2025 at 18:04 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Also burned out headlights. I see at least 1 every time I drive. Not the same safety issue but in the same lines of pay attention.
Comment by Denderian at 03/02/2025 at 17:46 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Lots of hit and runs lately as well
Comment by Positive-Listen-1660 at 03/02/2025 at 17:57 UTC
14 upvotes, 1 direct replies
People on their phones and/or under the influence.
It’s disgraceful.
Comment by Mekisteus at 03/02/2025 at 18:08 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Well, it's not like we can run *green* lights, now can we?
Comment by future_is_vegan at 03/02/2025 at 18:16 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Inflated sense of self worth.
Comment by SeatNo5137 at 03/02/2025 at 18:20 UTC
6 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I swear Chambers and 6th is the devil. I see people fly through the intersection after the light towards 7th is green every single time I drive.
Comment by LabyrinthJunkLady at 03/02/2025 at 19:20 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think this is gonna be a pretty unpopular response but I think it stems from two things. People moving here with their bad driving habits from other states (running yellows and reds is super common in CA for example) and delivery drivers.
I did doordash for a couple months and I was shocked at how quickly it changed my driving habits for the worse as well as how many other drivers I started to recognize as being out there racing around for the same reason. And I want to be real clear about this, it's not their fault. The way you do and don't get paid for these gig apps incentivises distracted, fast driving. Unless you've done this work, it's hard to make clear all the tiny ways you're driven 🙃 to make these split second bad calls in hope of a decent wage and because the apps are designed to make it feel like you're playing a game.
And it's not that it's just these two groups, but they raise the temperature for everyone out on the road. When other people see it happening, it normalizes it. Maybe you don't do it everytime, but maybe you do it just a little more often than you did before. It gets easier to rationalize if you're in a hurry.
Comment by elementalbee at 03/02/2025 at 18:16 UTC
12 upvotes, 2 direct replies
And why is it always giant loud trucks who clearly feel like they shouldn’t have to follow rules…
Comment by LaVidaYokel at 03/02/2025 at 17:50 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
People have been pushing yellows and running reds for at least the last 25 years that I have lived here. I think it seems worse because there are just a lot more cars on our roads now. Maybe its ticked up a bit, in which case my guess is its “monkey-see, monkey-do” since one can see it happening every day, several times a day yet never see any enforcement or consequences.
Comment by EOmtngirl at 03/02/2025 at 18:46 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Omg, YES. I’ve totally noticed this, too. I thought it was just me… Thank you for the Monday validation!
Comment by Disfigurehead at 03/02/2025 at 19:14 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I have also seen a substantial increase in people running red lights. Tbh I’ve seen more terrible driving the last year than the previous 9 years before that. People are garbage at driving nowadays and were before but somehow it’s gotten worse so people have to assume drivers around them are literally the worst drivers imaginable… and frankly my imagination hasn’t been sufficient in this regard. I’ve been consistently stunned by the “maneuvers” I’ve seen people pull.
Comment by Van-garde at 03/02/2025 at 19:14 UTC*
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
It’s now common knowledge that there aren’t enough police to regulate traffic.
Would say the next step in the chain is to acknowledge that lights are inadequate infrastructure for the automobile, in the same way that paint is inadequate infrastructure for biking.
Livestock management solutions come to mind. Tight corners, narrow pathways, single-file travel, etc. Has to physically and psychologically inspire behavior change, as relying on people to do the right thing is quickly becoming an antiquated system.
Comment by Oplopanax_horridus at 03/02/2025 at 19:42 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I was just saying the same thing the other day. I was driving around, saw 2 cars clearly run red lights within about 3 minutes of each other. As I was pondering the fact that I have never seen as many red light runners anywhere else I have lived and/or driven, another person ran a red light in front of me. I’m telling you, the city would be absolutely flush with cash if they installed red light cameras everywhere and mailed out tickets.
Comment by cosmoboy at 03/02/2025 at 18:44 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I always wait a beat when turning on to 99 from 105. Someone always runs the red and it's oftentimes giant trucks.
Comment by [deleted] at 03/02/2025 at 17:25 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
[deleted]
Comment by gowiththeflo71 at 03/02/2025 at 18:23 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
this is how people drive in CA, WA, ID, and TX...and FL
Comment by jawid72 at 03/02/2025 at 18:17 UTC
4 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Californication
Comment by CITRU5MI5TRE55 at 03/02/2025 at 18:27 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Because they’re the main character, of course!
Comment by DevilsChurn at 03/02/2025 at 19:37 UTC
2 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I expect to harvest a lot of downvotes for those who consider my attitude to constitute interstate xenophobia, but I'm reminded of where I first saw this kind of behaviour.
Like a lot of Oregonians who graduated college into the Reagan-Bush Recession, I was forced to leave the state to find work. My first job out of school was in LA.
It didn't take long - and a couple of near-misses - to learn to count to three on a green light before entering an intersection, because there would invariably be someone running the red in the cross street, usually at high speed.
After about eight months down there, my folks were going to the Bay Area for a conference over a three-day weekend, and offered to fly me up there to visit with them and have a bit of a break.
On my first evening there, we left the hotel where we were staying to go to dinner. In the tradition of old-school San Francisco cab drivers, the guy driving us down Van Ness in heavy early evening traffic was timing all the green lights practically to the millisecond. I thought I was going to have a heart attack every time we entered an intersection, as in LA we would have invariably been T-boned had our cab driver done that down there.
The experience inspired me to started job hunting, and within a few months I moved up to the Bay Area.
Considering how many people on this sub routinely refer to "the 5" or "the 126" (something that is exclusive to Southern California), I can only trace the routine red light running to that influence as well.
Comment by salmonburger185 at 03/02/2025 at 19:13 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Why you manifesting the negative?