Caution

Do you remember once upon a time when the yellow light meant “caution?” What does it mean today? Based on what I see on a daily bases it means “speed up,” “go faster,” and “catch the light.” What do you see? I have actually taken my video camera and recorded footage of folks performing these very acts. Upon viewing the footage you can hear the engine rev as the vehicle accelerates to “catch the light.” Sometimes in doing this the driver “catches” more than the light. They catch another vehicle or a bicyclist or even a pedestrian. I believe that the word “caution” should be redefined when it comes to traffic safety. In fact, what is the current definition for the word “caution” as it relates to traffic safety? Does anybody have an Arizona Drivers License Manual? Under the heading “Roadway and Vehicle Knowledge” on page 25 of my old book under the sub-heading titled “Signal Lights” it says “Yellow – yellow means brake! This signal means CAUTION. A steady yellow light is a warning that the light is about to turn red. If you have not entered the intersection, you should come to a safe stop. If you are already in the intersection you should continue moving and clear it safely. Speeding up to “beat the light” is illegal and could cause an accident.”

Well, in that definition it does say that “yellow means brake.” But come on how many Arizona drivers brake on yellow? None! Not even the so-called “good drivers!” If it’s illegal why is it that we NEVER see motorists getting pulled over and getting tickets? Instead of braking, many drivers SPEED UP this means go faster, perhaps faster than the posted speed limit, if they were not already over the speed limit. And you know when you are traveling at higher rates of speed it takes longer to stop and that's when so-called accidents occur. In the city of Phoenix 27% of crashes occur at traffic signals according to the city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department. Since the definition of yellow has changed from this to that I think the yellow light should be eliminated all together. This way there is no fudging, no wiggle room or loop holes. If we use the pedestrian count-down (10, 9 ,8...) the vehicle can see the counter and when it hits 1 and you run the light... you did it! This way the case will be very clear either you did it (ran the red light) or you didn’t. Red means stop and green means go! And caution means...what?