Turning Right on Red

I am making many pitches to literary agents concerning my book, The Split Second:  In Consideration of Others or Look Up from the Phone and How to Deal with Rudeness in Others and it sure is not easy but I draw on much inner faith. Sometimes that is not easy at all, but I will keep the faith somehow.

I am thinking about when my family moved to the LA area of California in 1968. I was 10 years old (I tell people that I look much younger). Even though I did not drive, the big deal while on the road was being able to make a right turn when the signal in your lane was red. Of course, the driver must come to a full stop at the light, and she/he is expected to look carefully in the direction of ongoing traffic to be able to make that right turn. She/he is also expected to make sure that no pedestrian is crossing in the crosswalk. If everything is clear, the driver can execute that right turn and go on about her/his own business. I remember in Woody Allen’s 1977 Academy Award-winning film, “Annie Hall,” Mr. Allen’s character makes a comment alluding to the fact that the right on red is the biggest deal they have in Los Angeles. Now, most states in our union have the “right on red” allowance in their traffic codes.

Today what bothers me about this traffic “allowance” is that I notice too often that some drivers (and I write “some) coast through an intersection making the right turn on red without looking or barely looking at those indicators she/he needs to take in before the turn can be made. I notice this often when the red light has come one in a given traffic lane and the driver makes a quick stop, certainly not a complete one, and then drives all too quickly making that turn. Of course, this is far from safe. Oncoming traffic from the opposing lanes could make this situation into a serious traffic accident, but the driver turns right on the red signal anyway. A good friend once told me, “There are two types of drivers: those in a hurry and those who are not in a hurry.” While this is true, “being in a hurry” is never an excuse to drive in an unsafe manner whatsoever.

I take this notion to a higher level: too many people make “right turns on red” at the wrong time. Put another way, I think those same folks, “cut in line” too much. If those folks are questioned, the reasoning behind their actions will be “I’m in a hurry” or some other excuse to justify their actions. The Split Second maintains that sometimes, we need to stop for a moment, or a split second, and think about if our actions are the right ones to go forward with our daily lives. Maybe we need to sit back for a moment when the light is red and let opposing traffic who has the right-of-way go through. The same would go for the pedestrians crossing on the sidewalk. And the same would go for being kind to others.