Yesterday in Phoenix

[NorDog]

Okay, the bad news first:

I was approaching an intersection yesterday at about 35 mph (limit was 40) when the light turned yellow.  Split second decision; stop or go?  I was real close to the stop line so I went.

A teenage girl without a driving permit made a left turn in front of me in a Ford Expedition AND STOPPED!!  I T-Boned the side of the Ford.

Good News?  I was in my truck and not on my bike.

The truck is certainly totaled.  No injuries all around.

What a day.

I've been all over the world, and no offense to the locals, but you have to go to South Korea to find drivers worse than those I've seen here.

[NAKID]

Phoenix drivers suck. Too many illegals driving with no license or training or insurance. Oh, also the semi truck drivers suck...

[SheMonster]

Sorry to hear it.  Rule of thumb especially if you are on the bike, never ever go through a yellow light here.  More likely than not, bad thins will happen if you do.  We lead (or at least we used to) the country in accidents at stop lights/intersections.

[PragB]

Glad you're ok... And no argument here, drivers in Arizona are some of the worst... I think it has to do with how wide open we are and how we dont have much sense of "community" here... People get in their cars and other drivers/riders aren't fellow human beings... Illegals are a small part but out in the burbs where I live I run into many different incomes, races, sexes that drive like total a$$holes or like they own the road...

[triangleforge]

It's funny though -- one bit of advice I got from a long-time Phoenix rider before moving to Prescott was "NEVER stop for yellow lights," the implication being that drivers around (including the one right behind you) here typically speed up for yellows. That said, I typically follow SheMonster's approach -- do a quick check of my mirrors and practice my hard braking on any yellow lights. And I watch for left-turners and other idiots like the your teenage driver at ANY intersection -- my first ride in my new home found me reveling in how many more riders there are around here than in Maryland and how much more aware most drivers seem to be of bikes (both true) and how nice the temperature is and ... WHOA!! WTF! THERE'S AN SUV HANGING A LEFT RIGHT INTO ME!!!! Fortunately, I was able to out-brake her in that instance.  While I won't go so far as to say the bad drivers here are worse than the bad drivers back in the DC area (where you get to mix it up with drivers from every corner of the globe), they will kill you just as dead if they catch you napping.

And is it just me, or does AZ seem to have EXTREMELY short yellow lights?  One of the first things I noticed after moving here was how fast lights go from yellow to red, pretty much anywhere I've been throughout the state.

[DCXCV]

Also not a good idea to go through a newly green light too fast - there are probably 3 to 6 more cars coming through the left hand turn signal on the crossing street that just turned red. 

[NorDog]

Yeah, the irony is that had I been on my bike, I would have instinctively slowed way down (I was already under the limit btw) at such an intersection.  But hey, I was in my big truck, I had the right of way, no worries!

Wrong.

Never too old to learns something new.  Just praying the lessons don't kill me.

[truckinduc]

was she hot though

[monsterduc]

Also not a good idea to go through a newly green light too fast - there are probably 3 to 6 more cars coming through the left hand turn signal on the crossing street that just turned red. 

I cannot believe how true this is! 

Part of the problem is the lights, at least over on the westside (Peoria, Glendale, Avondale) take way too long to cycle through, so when you stop, you are stopped for 2 minutes (I've timed it).

The other major peeve I have with lights around here is they don't have sensors - just timed cycles.  Every morning I wait to make a left turn at a particular intersection with about three cars waiting at every other left turn lane at the intersection while the East/West light is green for no traffic.   

 I can understand why red light running is so bad up here.  It doesn't make it right but I understand why they do it.

[SheMonster]

Scottsdale and Tucson have the lagging left turn light, which I think is a great idea.  I wish all the municipalities would do that.

[DCXCV]

Scottsdale and Tucson have the lagging left turn light, which I think is a great idea.  I wish all the municipalities would do that.

Really?  The lagging left is what I was refering to as being the problem.

Leading lefts work a bit better because you are facing directly across from the traffic if someone blows the light - a lot easier to see them doing that and more time to react.  With a lagging left, people who blow the light are coming across the interstection from your right or left and are screened by other vehicles.  A bit more dangerous IMHO.

I still don't understand the lack of jughandles, clover leafs and traffic circles out west having grown up on the east coast.  They work a lot better to keep traffic flowing than lights do.

[SheMonster]

This is a big wordy document studying collisions in intersections with leading vs. lagging left turns using data from accidents in Scottsdale (lagging) and Mesa (leading).

 There are pros and cons to each, but the conclusion was "COLLISION EXPERIENCE IS COMPARED AT 13 INTERSECTIONS WITH LAGGING LEFT-TURN ARROWS AND NINE INTERSECTIONS WITH LEADING LEFT-TURN ARROWS. LAGGING LEFT-TURN ARROWS HAD A STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT LOWER COLLISION RATE THAN LEADING LEFT-TURN ARROWS FOR ALL COLLISIONS, COLLISIONS INVOLVING LEFT-TURNING VEHICLES AND ONLY COLLISIONS INVOLVING LEFT-TURNING VEHICLES WITH OPPOSING THROUGH VEHICLES."    (capitolization is theirs not mine, I just copied and pasted it from the article  )

A Study of Collisions with Lead Versus Lag Left-Turn Phasing: Additional Data and Analyses
Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal,  Aug 2007 

[DCXCV]

Thanks for the article - looks like a very clear advantage to the lagging left. 

I guess the most frightening thing is that Tucson already has the safe version.