How I Drive Now ... is there No Good Place to Stand?

It's not like I just pay the money and it's over. Every time I came to an intersection for the following month after receiving the ticket, I revisited my options. Should I drive like before and risk getting another outrageous and inappropriate ticket or should I follow the law and steel my nerves in case someone acts unpredictably and offensively?

Eeny meeny miny moe.

Given the high cost of this ticket (which I don't want ever again, and is not warranted for this infraction, besides the effort and time costs ... but hey, I'm repeating myself), given the court case I saw where a defendant received a similarly hefty ticket for wheels not coming to a complete stop in a deserted part of town at 4am (See Early Court Observations), and given that I believe I almost got a jaywalking ticket in a similarly deserted area, I have tried to change my driving to fit the absolute letter of the law.

I don't want to find myself in court without witnesses. So before I start moving again after a complete stop, I make sure at least three drivers see that I have stopped.

I don't want to have to think about what I'm going to do at each intersection.

Given this particular infraction, I considered right turns at red lights and stops at stop signs.

For right turns at red lights, I decided not to do them anymore. No one is required to turn right on red, even if the coast is clearly clear. That makes that decision easy. Yes, I sit there at intersections even when I could easily turn right safely. I don't want to keep revisiting this decision.

For the intersection of my infraction, there is only one entrance to BART parking. I did consider going straight through this intersection, do a u-turn however far away that might be, drive back, and make a left into the same entrance. I decided this was dumb. I have my limits.

Handling stops at stop signs has proven more difficult. At this point, it is true that I don't always completely stop. I'd really like to always do one or the other. I'm still experimenting.

I don't want to look for cameras or care in the least where these lovely cameras are. I did that for about 20 minutes and almost caused a couple other accidents. I also saw a camera flash and then noticed that the camera was not where I would've been looking for it. So I gave up that idea. Besides, really, I don't want to drive a certain way just because there's a camera at that intersection and then drive differently everywhere else. I want to drive so that I don't hit anything or anyone, so that no one hits me, so that I don't scare anyone, so that we each can just get to where we're trying to go in a rather fair and safe fashion. Traffic laws have a lot to do with allowing all that to happen. But now their implementation goes a bit beyond. It does put me in a bind.

As I've been driving like this (not making right turns on red, sometimes stopping completely at intersections), I have been surprised at how many people actually Don't honk at me not doing a right turn on red. I had prepared to deal with at least half the drivers offering some irritation.

One friend has made it clear that he would be very mad to find himself stuck behind me doing this. But he didn't offer to pay my ticket or any future one.

And alas, some do honk. And some of those gun it, cross the solid white line into a different lane and pass me in a fit of anger. And some cross that line into a straight-only lane, overtake me on the outside while we're each turning right, then pull in front of me and slam on the brakes while they turn into Happy Donuts two stores down.

That person would be at fault if there were an accident, you say. Oh, probably it might be seen that way. But that's similar to telling the pedestrian who was crossing the street legally and who was harmed by a driver driving illegally. The pedestrian in the right still suffers the harm.

When I do come to a complete stop (and spell out the word S-T-O-P as Roadshow/San Jose Mercury recommends or count to three as another was encouraged to do by the officer writing their ticket), I have frustrating and slightly dangerous times getting back into the flow of the intersection. I have to nudge my car out slowly to claim my turn and it throws the whole rhythm of the intersection off. I really don't like doing it and feel I'm creating a hazard even though I'm totally within the law.

By following the law, one police officer suggested I was keeping myself safe. But I'm not. By following the law to the letter, others around me have become irate and have done crazy things which I then have to respond to. For each intersection I have to steel my nerves once again for the unknown that may happen this time. Granted, a driver should be prepared for unknowns all the time. It's called defensive driving. But now I'm offering new legal behavior that incenses others and causes them to express violent behavior directed at me. That's a little different. I don't drive a sport machine. I'm nowhere close to a sports quality driver. I don't want to be dealing with close calls. This isn't a fight that I feel a burning desire to fight.

One person told me that they have a friend who lives in a state where right turn on red is not legal. Also, this friend drives very carefully, stopping fully at each stop sign. When this friend visits, this local person gets nervous and coaxes their friend to drive more assertively so that others don't start yelling and honking at them. This local person told me they're afraid of what other drivers might do to them. This is in the good old suburbs of the Bay Area Peninsula.

If you think I'm crazy having these fears, at least I am one of two.

Feel free to run your own experiments and report back.

As I boiled down all my options into having no good place to stand, one officer suggested maybe I should move to a small town.

I wonder what all you residents think about that.

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