Alarmed citizen, or grumpy old man?

 

I’m becoming a curmudgeon and it’s not entirely my fault.  It’s the fault of all the idiots on the roads who are using 25% - or less of their cognizance to actually operate their motor vehicle.  I do not see myself as a bad-tempered or surly person when I’m behind the wheel of my venerable 4X4 Jeep.  I see myself as a conscientious driver with a proven track record of no tickets and 46 years without running into someone.

I use my blinker and actually come to a complete stop at stop signs and red lights.  Please do not run into me in your haste to get somewhere you deem important.

My Bride is the one who has brought my current angry status to my attention and she is right.  I have become a very angry driver.  My patience has worn thin and I have a gut-feeling, it is only going to get worse.

4 car wreck at Garth and Rollingbrook in Baytown

To reopen a giant sore spot of past citizen concern, I want to reintroduce what I thought (and still do) was a good idea – the red light cameras.  Yes, yes, I understand that the money was leaving town and that folks felt like Big Brother was watching them and all of this is and was true and being a Sci-fi buff, I understand the full implications of that…however, just as I predicted, people are now blowing through red lights as if they were cautionary instead of what they are – red lights.  You are supposed to come to a complete stop.

It is happening at every instance and intersection.  I often wonder who taught these traffic offenders Drivers education?  A driver can’t blindly proceed through an intersection on a green light in the far right lane, because someone is going to come flying up and take a right on red and barely tap their brakes.  Add into it that they are eating or have an electronic device up against the side of their head and safe passage is jeopardized.

Pulling up to a red light, any red light and the electronic device distraction is in full force.  The person closest to the red light gets my 118 decibel horn blast after three long seconds of green light and this is after I restrain myself and my bride pleads with me to be patient.  Often all two or three lanes have distracted drivers and everyone behind them is caught waiting for them to go.

The other day I was on Baker Road by San Jacinto Methodist heading east and the guy in front of me comes to a complete halt in the road to look at his phone.  I eased out from around him to pass and he lays the phone down and speeds up to the red light and takes a right on red without stopping.  Arhggg!

This kind of erratic and irresponsible driving used to be a rare occurrence, but not any more.  It has become so common, it is expected and thus my dilemma.  Do I simply go with the flow or should I get on Prozac?  I think I need something stronger, like Librium, or Valium, Diazepam, Alprazolam, or Lorazepam.  Heck, if I don’t get a hold on it, I fear my bride is going to send me to anger management.

Wait a second.  What if the general population were to lay down their phones when driving or waiting for a red light and actually operate their motor vehicles and drive the way they were trained?  What if people actually took responsibility for their careless, dangerous, and distracted driving and stopped doing the things they are doing that can get them and others killed?

I sent a photo to the Baytown Sun last week of a 4 car accident on Garth road where one car stopped for a red light and the next three cars plowed into the back of their car.  In case these people have forgotten what they learned in Drivers Education, if you run into the car in front of you – you are too close.  If you are continually tapping your brakes because of the car in front of you – you are too close.

If you are looking at your cell phone while driving, you are too close to the car in front of you regardless.  If you take a right on red without stopping and kill someone, you will face Capital murder charges, or at the very least criminal negligent homicide, trust me on that one. 

I’ll make a deal with all of you good citizens that are distracted by your communications devices and inability to come to a complete stop before turning.  I’ll keep my road rage in check and try my best not to point out your irresponsible driving habits to my bride if you will do your part to obey the traffic laws and put your phone where you can’t reach it when you’re driving.

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Red light camera election ruled invalid

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Question (for Baytown's mayor Stephen DonCarlos):  Mr. Mayor, will this affect Baytown?

Answer: Bert-We don’t know yet. Our ATS suit is in State District Court, not Federal, so we don’t yet know if this ruling will set a precedent. Also-we have a slightly different fact situation for the Court  to consider. Needless to say, we are monitoring the situation. SDC.
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Vote against Prop 1 in Baytown!

Back on September 10th, 2007, I stood as the spokesman for the Baytown Concerned Citizens group and spoke to the police department, our concerned citizens, city council, and with the media and pleaded with them to address the speeding and traffic violations as a top priority.  My exact phrasing was "stop it by hook or crook".

The red light cameras are a direct result of this. Thus I am voting against Prop 1. I want to keep the red light cameras.

The reason people are running red lights and taking rolling turns on red lights is because they are not paying attention, distracted, and careless drivers, plus they are endangering everyone, especially children (I had to throw that in, as that is always the trump card, but true none the less).

The BCC as a whole, which it appears is not exactly the same as it was 3 years ago, is still and should be a logical approach to crime, but to some, the red light cameras are viewed much the same way a stop sign was, back in the day when they first appeared.  ("What?  Who says I have to stop?").  They are not taking away our rights, but are an enforcement tool and for most of us, the $75 fine is adequate enough to make us pay attention.

BPD cannot be everywhere at once, so it falls upon us law-abiding citizens to do our part and actually drive the way it was taught in driver’s education.  Stop talking on the cell phone, eating hamburgers, and digging through our purses and pockets while we are driving...plus watch-out for all those people who don't and there won’t be a single violation on the law-abiding driver.

I DO NOT want to go back to the old system addressed in September 2007, where the chances are excellent that a cop is not going to be present when a red light/right turn violator runs through with impunity and make no mistake about it, that is exactly what will happen.

Take any weekday on the streets of Baytown and take the time to park and watch what goes on at any of our busy intersections and I promise you will see a constant flow of violations, even with the red light cameras.

The cameras are not the problem...distracted drivers are.

Red Light Cameras Get The Green Light!

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I’ve been following the debate over the red light cameras with great interest and the most recent column by The Suns new managing editor Doyle Barlow, titled Red light tickets should be up to BPD, compelled me to speak my peace.

Back a couple years ago when I stood with the Baytown Concerned Citizens at El Toro’s restaurant and asked the city to “do something about the traffic violators’ in this town”, it seemed everyone was of the same opinion – by hook or crook, stop people from violating traffic laws and in the process, catch criminals with warrants.

I’m not implying red light cameras are catching and locking up crooks, but if you do not pay the fine, you will get a warrant issued for your arrest (*see updated note below).  However, any driver with a driver’s license should have the minimum reading skills to interpret the signs and each camera has numerous signs to warn drivers there are cameras present.

Now my hat is still off to the Baytown police department for the fine job(s) they are doing, but how many officers do we have dedicated to cruising at any one time?  Not that many per capita and there is a good reason – it’s a big town with as many as 120,000 people moving around at peak hours.

It would be an impossible task to watch every busy intersection, let alone the thousands of stop signs and minor red lights, so in my opinion, the red light cameras are a plus for traffic violations.  Besides, I challenge anyone reading this to take a drive through this town and make a note every time you see a traffic violation on just one trip.  It might be a real eye-opener.

A case in point is here - yesterday, I made a trip to Food Town on North Main and pulled out of the parking lot onto Rollingbrook St.  It was about noon time and I was in the right lane and heading east towards Massey Tompkins Rd.  The left turn arrow turned green and the car to my left, which incidentally was in the middle lane, took off straight through the oncoming turning cars and kept going on east on Massey Tompkins.  I shook my head in amazement.

Directly behind it, another car took its place and just as the green left turn arrow turned yellow; it too crossed over into the intersection and took a left – from the middle lane!  Either of these demonstrations of poor judgment could have resulted in a car wreck or possible fatality and this all happened inside 20 seconds by 2 different Baytown drivers.

As to the argument that red light camera strobe lights causes more rear-end collisions, I have an observation to make about that also.  The reason the second car runs into the stopping car, is because they have every intention of flying through the light also.

We have way too many distracted people driving cars in this and every town in this country.  Loud music, cell phones, eating food, alcohol, looking out the window when they should be looking ahead and dope – yes dope all contribute to people driving without actually paying attention.

Saturday morning I drove out Garth Road to go geocaching at 6:30am and stopped at the I-10 red light to wait my turn to go.  Behind me I spied a Honda Accord with 4 young people inside.  The front passenger and the 2 back seat travelers all had their heads laid back as if very tired.  Then, to my surprise, the driver slouched down, laid his head over and closed his eyes.

I was watching all of this when one of the backseat riders noticed me watching.  He nudged his buddy and as they both looked at my reflection in the mirror, the driver fell asleep and his car came rolling up to mine.  I was right at the collision point when their yells caused him to slam on the brakes.  Needless to say, as the light turned green, I drove off as fast as the law allowed.

No, we are not in a place where we can give up the extra help red light cameras do to penalize red-light runners and right turn violators yet, if anything, we need more.

*This is inaccurate.  See comments below.