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Ok. Let's get this right, to avoid accidents you wait with a death grip on the wheel at a green light.

Your eyes darting from side to side holding the panorama of the crossing fixed, counting the seconds, just in case a masked, amber light/ red light runner, emboldened by your temerity tears into the intersection and suprise, suprise, you get rear ended three times.

I thought Homer Simpson was a cartoon character.

There was once a man who was visiting New York City for the first time. He jumped into a taxicab and told the driver where he was going. The guy stepped on the gas and drove down Broadway, weaving through traffic. When they came to a red light, the cabbie just stepped on the gas and drove right through the intersection. This happened four times, and by the grace of God they were not involved in an accident.

After the guy had run the fourth red light, the passenger could not refrain from speaking up.

"What kind of a cabbie are you?" the passenger asked, "Don't you know how to drive?"

"I been driving here for couple of years," said the driver with a heavy Middle Eastern accent, "My brother -- he come here ten years ago and he been driving a cab ever since. He told me that driving through red lights in New York is not a problem -- nobody ever comes on the other street."

They came to another intersection just as the light turn green, and to the passenger's surprise the cabbie stood on the brake and came to a screeching halt.

"Now what was that all about?" the passenger asked.

"Must be careful and look both ways at green light," the driver said, "in case my brother is coming on the other street."

Ok. Let's get this right, to avoid accidents you wait with a death grip on the wheel at a green light.
Your eyes darting from side to side holding the panorama of the crossing fixed, counting the seconds, just in case a masked, amber light/ red light runner, emboldened by your temerity tears into the intersection and suprise, suprise, you get rear ended three times.

I thought Homer Simpson was a cartoon character.

Ok, let's see what I said... That I have been rear ended three times while at stop lights in less than a year... First instance, I was stopped in a right turn lane, as cross traffic did not stop when the light turned red... A woman behind me was watching the light, not the car in front of her, and she hit me from behind, pushing me into the cross traffic, causing me to hit one of those "masked, amber light/red light runners on the passenger side...

Second instance, while I was stopped at a red light, a 17 year old girl slammed into me from behind. The light was still red... She didn't notice that I was stopped at a red light... Too busy talking on the telephone.

Third time, a delivery man didn't notice that the cars in front of him weren't moving, even though the light had turned green... 4 car chain reaction.

I've been driving for 26 years, and until this year, I've never been involved in an auto accident on the streets. I did some amature dirt track racing many years ago, and feel that I'm a pretty fair driver... I also used to have a WERA (motorcycle) road racing license, and I've NEVER been as nervous riding a bike as I am now! Not even the time I set the (unofficial) track record at Pocono International Raceway, by missing two shifts, and rather than riding through the road portion of the course, cutting straight through the infield, back out onto the tri-oval. I've fallen off a bike at over 100 mph, and been in a dirt tracker when it flipped three times, but driving on the streets today is far more dangerous, mostly because of people like you who don't seem to realize or care that they're dangerous to others!

Mark