Red Lights Mean Stop. NOW.

Recently, someone very close to me totaled out her car while running a red light. I am so glad that she wasn’t seriously hurt (outside of some bruising when the airbag deployed), but when I first heard about the accident, I was like, “People run red lights?” I mean, what’s one of the FIRST things you are taught about traffic lights? Red lights mean STOP. Not slow down. Not you can still get through, but STOP.
Today, I was on the way home and I had a green light and I was making a right turn off of the main street near where I live. Some person RAN A RED LIGHT trying to make a left turn. Had I not seen him coming and hit my anti-lock brakes (thank you Lord), he would have hit me and hard because he was driving too fast, trying to beat that red light. So, I have a new saying. Red doesn’t mean stop anymore.
From now on, red lights mean “STOP, NOW!”
People need to know that traffic laws (and other laws) weren’t made for the guy around the block or next door. They were made for you and me and everybody. So we don’t have a head on collision every day, week or month. The guy who turned in front of me was running to the strip mall. THE STRIP MALL to get a sandwich/ice cream cone/pizza/mexican food or mail something off or get a hair cut or rent a movie. None of these things is worth risking my life or his life or my kids lives. None of them.
So boys and girls, remember. Stop signs mean STOP. Red lights mean STOP NOW.