running red lights
I’ve had it with the red light problem. I see at least 5 people a day running red lights. I see zero people pulled over. Hellooooo? What’s going on? Are traffic laws optional in Tampa?
On Tuesday morning, I was driving back to my office in Tampa from a business meeting in St. Pete. All was well, the sun was out and I was listening to some sweet tunes. Innocently, I pulled up behind a mid-90’s model Chevy Trailblazer, stopped on a red at the intersection of Himes and Columbus. Eventually, the light turned green. Suspecting nothing, the Chevy began to pull through the intersection. Just as I nosed in behind the SUV, BAM! A Ford Explorer came barrelling through the red light on Columbus and smacked the tail end of the Chevy. Luckily, I managed to swerve and miss the wreck by about a foot, but my tires were shot as were my nerves.
Being a model citizen (wink, wink), I pulled my car into a vacant lot nearby and waited for the cops. Another witness and myself proceeded to tell the police about what we witnessed, corroborating the victims story. Then the offender came out screaming. “Did you see that?,” she spewed venomously. “She ran a red light, she’s crazy!” I told her that I had in fact seen her run the red light, not the other woman, but that the cops would have to decide. She proceeded to plead with the other witness, the police and some innocent bystanders.
Needless to say, this example is illustrative of the problem we are having here in Tampa. Not only is there a lack of basic traffic enforcement until after a wreck has occurred, but as Tampans, we are apparently convinced that the problem is everyone else and of no concern to us.
So if you’re reading this, Green means go, Yellow means slow down with the intention of stopping and Red means STOP, dammit, STOP!!!!
Tags: health, law enforcement, tampa, transportation
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January 12th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Unfortunately, no matter how much we complain about people running red lights the only way it will ever get corrected is when law enforcement actually starts doing their job……pulling people over who run red lights and giving them a ticket…….
January 12th, 2007 at 11:02 am
I couldn’t agree more. Even though I’m usually against traffic cameras, one or two well placed ones would be a huge deterrent. Automatic tickets will scare the bejeezus out of people.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:27 am
the lights are red for too long. people have to run them or they will spend their life in traffic.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Lights being too long is not a justification for people running red light……that’s just being impatient and foolish……
January 12th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I have grown up with the issue so I tend to do a 2 count (thousand one, thousand two) before moving on a green. Again though call your local police/sheriff district office and report the intersections you see this occurring at the most. They monitor intersections and install cameras based on accident reports but unless they happen to sit at an intersection when a red light runner occurs they won’t know there is a problem there.
January 12th, 2007 at 11:49 am
If nothing else you will get another post out of whatever response to popo gives you.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
I don’t wanna seem like a whiny bitch, but this shit is out of control for a city like this. Completely unreasonable. I guess I’ll call the fuzz.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
You wanna spend your life in traffic? Come to DC. At least the pedestrians don’t get mowed down as often and as casually as they do in Tampa.
January 12th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
It is really, really out of control. Insanely so. And it’s not just one car, it’s usually 3-5 running red lights, which means that the people on the other sides of the lights end up running when they get the right light too, and it’s just becoming an infinite regress of assholery.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
If aliens came to Tampa and drew their conclusions solely from watching our traffic patterns, they’d conclude Tampans are, in general, either retarded or assholes. And they wouldn’t be far off.
January 12th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
It must be because I am from here but I don’t have too many problems with traffic unless I am caught in an area without a lot of traffic corridors at rush hour (think State Rd 60) Of course I avoid rush hour traffic, make extensive use of back roads and, and have made conscious choices to live as close to work as possible. Now I definitely prefer Miami traffic, not because they drive better (they drive like maniacs) but because the do it so damn quickly. And because it is fun to scream curses in Spanish.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Meredith, there is NO traffic here compared to DC. I spent the better part of my life stuck on 395 and 66. People stop at red lights though, cuz they’ll get nailed otherwise.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
Welcome to Tampa, where red lights are seen as suggestions.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Stop-ish lights.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Dude, that seems pretty b*tchy stopping to finger somebody. Didn’t you have a job to go to? Idiot drivers suck, but so does meddlesome sandbagging.
January 12th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
Not as much as people ignoring issues when the issues slap them in the face.
It’s a problem and has been a problem on both sides of the bay for a long long time: lack of traffic enforcement. While people are running lights in Tampa, they are driving wrecklessly in Pinellas. That’s running lights, that’s careless driving, that’s lack of law enforcement on the highways.
What are the police paid to do? Between the HCSO and the TPD in Hillsborough,along with the various city police and PCSO in Pinellas — this shouldn’t be an issue.
Or did they skip right over traffic laws and run right up to Narcotics?
January 12th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
No, they’re busy stopping me in the middle of the unloading bay of TPA (and thus holding up traffic for everyone dropping off passengers at the airport for a half hour) to ticket me for an expired tag — which I was headed to the airport to get on an airplane to go back to Ohio to renew.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
i bet the lights in DC are shorter than those in tampa.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Please note Rachel would much prefer nobody stop to help when she is involved in an accident. She would rather spend weeks arguing with her insurance company over fault.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Tim didn’t you tell that story before
Dude TIA cops just don’t care. They are fanatics about their loading zones for some reason. They had some guy arrested for blocking one a couple of years ago and as I recall and the judge got pissed at them about it and let the guy go. I will try to find the story someplace.
January 12th, 2007 at 3:56 pm
# Rachel* Says:
January 12th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Dude, that seems pretty b*tchy stopping to finger somebody. Didn’t you have a job to go to? Idiot drivers suck, but so does meddlesome sandbagging.
Welcome to Tampa, where doing the right thing is not only wrong, but meddlesome and “b*tchy”.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
Lee - Your statement is hyperbole, and you want to blame government (time the lights?) instead of individial responsibility (running them). I say Bullshit. Your second post is just whiny.
Jason - cops DO know about this - they just don’t care.
Rachel - you’re wrong on this one. I, for one, would like to see less people die. Where there is a victimless crime, I’ll mind my business. When my neighbors are getting killed, I have to speak up.
There will be more on this….
January 12th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
There’s no wrong or right about it, because there’s a corollary disconnect in the argument.
You might be glad Dave stopped because you feel like it’s the “right” thing to do - an opportunity to effect single-case justice - but there is no connection between his witness and actually doing something about a widespread problem, which is what I’m reading as the pretend-point of this post.
(Frankly, things like “model citizen, wink, wink” make the true intent seem like my sandbagging comment isn’t too far from the mark.)
Effective, wide-scale law enforcement needs to come from those tasked with it - the police.
Stopping to witness a minor accident effects no change to this issue whatsoever - it doesn’t stop people from dying in traffic accidents and it doesn’t inspire policy or law review.
“There will be more on this . . .” is the right direction. Vociferous opposition to violations and lazy law enforcement is what solves this as a city-wide problem.
Please also note, Jason, as I have told you before, the only point you make with ad hominem is that you don’t have one.
January 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
Citizen involvement is a requirement for the system to function as our officials technically work for us. A lack involvement has led to the current apathy to the laws.
“Why get involved when nothing ever changes?” While pointing the finger towards inadequate law enforcement as what has led to the status quo we could very easily slip into a chicken and egg mobius loop. One of Law Enforcement isn’t enforcing the laws, so citizens are more likely to bend or break them, leading to ever increasing apathy, leading the citizens to not hold those that work for us accountable, leading to even less enforcement.
Even small efforts such as Dave’s if applied often enough can lead to a ripple effect of change in attitude else the future looks pretty bleak.
January 12th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Oh, the Tampa cops also spend a lot of time executing beatdowns in Ybor. I saw one personally last night — it was pretty rough. About ten policemen waving guns around at some kids outside the Castle. One kid was grabbed by two cops and had his face smashed into the concrete. I’d say it was cool except, well, it was probably not so cool for the kid who lost all those teeth.
The one blonde cop had his gun pointed right in this kid’s face. It was like watching Boyz N The Hood, but live! I need to go to Ybor more often.
January 12th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
Cops aren’t going to enforce traffic too seriously unless you complain about it to them. Not here. Call them. Ask you city and county representatives to address the issue.
Rachel I have to look up Ad Hoiminem but you still have not explained how it would have helped the poor guy that got hit if Dave had just gone on to work. It says a lot that you identify with the person that ran the red light more than the victim.
I was at the Castle last night until about 2am, what happened? I will stop in tonight I guess and see what the story was. I have never seen a police beating in Ybor in over 10 years, how many have you seen?
January 12th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
oops sorry about the bold, not sure what happened there.
January 12th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
I’ve seen one police beating in… about ten times of going to Ybor in my life. It was wild, they had to haul the suspect away in a stretcher, on an ambulance, etc. I much preferred the cop shoving his gun in the other kid’s face, though. It was a wild scene, I almost thought it was a street fight among two gangs until I realized one of the groups were actually police. It was pandemonium — around 3:30am.
The Castle needs to make sure they have Grey Goose in their Grey Goose bottles. My lady friend ordered a Grey Goose & tonic, and I watched the bartender (the asian dude) make the drink using a Grey Goose bottle, but what was in that grey goose bottle was most definitely a GIN. It wasn’t Tanqueray, it tasted more like Beefeater. Looks to me like the Castle is refilling its top shelf bottles with well liquors and somebody screwed up.
January 12th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
OK found it I think, the kid was a tattoo artist and was arrested for criminal mischief. FLORES,CHRISTOPHER and he looks hammered, but not beaten, in his mugshot. Was that the guy?
http://www.hcso.tampa.fl.us/
I did see a shooting in Ybor for the first time a few weeks back. Group of real young kids were fighting on seventh, a shot, and fifty kids fly off in every direction. Luckily nobody was hit. Who says Ybor still ain’t dangerous?
January 12th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Oh that was later, I will ask what happened tonight. That was Robert you were ordering from, I will ask if he replaced cheap vodka with cheap gin in the Grey Goose bottle.
January 13th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Totally off-topic: Hey Dave, did you see that Five Guys is coming to Tampa?
January 13th, 2007 at 2:36 am
Talked with the folsk working the door of the castle when the fight happened next to their building. It was a bunch of emo kids fighting with each other, two in particular beating the crap out of each other. I guess a couple of cops broke them up but they kept after each other, the police chopper was overhead and all of a sudden every cop in Ybor showed up because of the number of kids fighting. They remarked that they thought the cops were fine and the emo kids were out of hand. Also found the other guy that was arrested kicked the mirror off the side of a car while a cop was watching him.
January 13th, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I applaud you DCDave for stopping. I was in a car accident this week in downtown Tampa, where the at-fault driver decided that the outside left turn lane ONLY was an option and plowed into me, in the inside Left optional turn lane. HE was clearly at fault. However, we had to move our vehicles from the roadway and wait for TPD’s finest to come and investigate. WITHOUT the independent witness’ statement (who was in the car behind me) at fault driver wouldn’t have been cited, because there was no way of knowing which lane I was in and he was in when the accident occurred.
And for the record the driver of the vehicle that hit me got out at first saying how stupid was I, until I pointed up at the sign from the lane he was in that stated LEFT TURN ONLY.
By the way, if the witness wouldn’t have stayed, I couldn’t have had her statement on the police report, because a telephone number and name doesn’t cut it without the police person seeing the witness and interviewing them.
So Rachel, as meddling as you may think it was, it probably saved the victim of the red light runner on their insurance hassles, and possible litigation in the future. Let’s hope you don’t need a meddling bystander one day.
I am glad DCDave stopped and I am glad the person stopped for me.
January 13th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
Five Guys has been open for a few months. I went there — it was good food, but really expensive.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:49 pm
For the record, I’m not trying to point out my civic mindedness or what a swell guy I am. I simply see something broken that ought to be fixed. My response to the issue was not to stop and talk to the cops. I did that because I know that it makes the cops job easier and it makes the victim’s life easier with the insurance company. I’ve had the same thing happen to me. My response was to write this post and give this type of issue some exposure.
Five Guys is the BEST! I used to go all the time in Springfield, and then when I moved to Durham, NC, they brought it there too. I know the owners and they are nuts about burgers and fries. They have mystery shoppers go in each store to make sure that the cooks are shaking the perfect amount of seasoning on each batch of fries. I wouldn’t care if they cost 100 bucks, they are now the best burger and fry joint in town. THE BEST!!!! EVER!!! Now that’s hyperbole. Not far off the mark though…