Editor,
I have to disagree with Robert Schell’s Thursday opinion piece “Millbrae red light cameras a useless cash grab.” As a motorcyclist I’ve been hit twice by people ignoring red lights. One ran the light by a mile on the El Camino Real. Another did a so-called “rolling” run on Jefferson Avenue. Pedestrians have to jump back regularly to avoid being squashed. All because some entitled person is “running late.” Red lights regulate traffic to help us avoid crashing into one another. The red light running is getting worse every day. Also got hit in my truck by a runner. Think how much later you’re going to be if you have a collision or run over some poor schmuck. Such an inconvenience! Red light runners deserve a big, hairy ticket. Because getting one might make you stop ignoring traffic laws. And save lives. Including yours.
(3) comments
The threat of tickets and fines doesn't concern the wealthy. Compulsory driving school while waiting to get your license back would be better by far.
From your LTE, Mr. Ortiz, it sounds like folks shouldn’t travel with you. Red light runners do deserve tickets and so do bicyclists and pedestrians who don’t follow the rules of the road. Because getting one might make you stop ignoring traffic laws. And save lives. Including yours.
There are no rules of the road for pedestrians. Never have been, never will be.
Pedestrian is basically the standard, ADA, default version of transportation that has carried mankind some 200,000 years. You can be a toddler, a teenager, a senior with dementia, be disabled, a homeless person, you can have mental illness, you can be high or drunk, the law cannot prevent you from being a pedestrian. You can be in a wheelchair or on a knee scooter and the law allows you to be a pedestrian. Any of these might prevent you from driving, none of these conditions prevent you from walking. There is no education for pedestrians, there is no test, there is no enforcement, they can't take your "walking" license. The only rule for pedestrians is called self-preservation. The same rule that had been true for 200,000 years: avoid large animals.
Walking is the default and the law is very clear that the person in charge to protect all these pedestrians are drivers. All laws are targeting driver's behavior. They get the training, they need to pass a test, they are required to stay sober and not get high, they are required to follow all laws. They can lose their license if they fail in any of that regard.
We can assume the number of drivers killed by pedestrians to be slim - we know the number of pedestrians killed by drivers to be very high. So this has nothing to do with pedestrians. The law, the vehicle code, the California Driver's handbook, the National Transportation Safety Board all are putting the full blame on drivers in almost any situation possible.
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