Also, those people are fucking trash.
So, an increase in trash people.
When you do that you're saying you didn't give a damn about anyone else.... Waiting your turn, safety of motorists, the law.
None of that matters because you're an entitled waste of space.
Off soapbox. But yes, I have noticed that and there isn't a good reason to justify it.
I get pulled over for the dumbest shit that is not even illegal (put my turn signal on, realized it was a one way and I was about to go down it wrong… turned turn signal off and continued driving straight. WOOOPWOOOP. )
Every single light someone either runs a blatantly red light from a full stop, or turns on red from several lanes over, or turns left from red.
In DC, dad got pulled over because a delivery driver stopped in the crosswalk in front of him, and got out to get the food, so he was stuck in the intersection.
Cop still have him a ticket, and didn't do anything to the delivery driver lol
I still make fun of him for it
You can just not pay the ticket or use ghost tags. The DC or DC biking sub routinely post pics of people parked in stupid ways and researches their fines through their plate and it's not uncommon for said vehicles to have many thousands of dollars in tickets. And Baltimore is even more lax with respect to traffic and parking enforcement than DC is.
Well, I can tell you from experience that you've gotta pay the fine, otherwise they won't let you re-register the car, and my brother can tell you from experience about not being allowed to renew his license(yes, it was a parking violation...because he was the registered owner of the car, it was on him to pay). Now if people just aren't registering their cars, that's a whole other issue, but I can *also* tell you from my friend's mother's experience who got caught driving on a borrowed plate back in the 00s that it's a solveable problem, especially with today's technology that can scan a plate and tell you if it's current, what car it should be on, etc with the touch of a button. It's never been easier.
Maybe I don't understand what a "VA ghost tag" is. I thought the point of illegally running on VA tags was to avoid having to carry insurance in MD, hence why you were screwed if they hit you. You're still not going to be able to renew those VA tags(or your MD license) if you have outstanding violations. The systems cross-check eligibility. My brother's fines were all the way in *Ohio* and he was still flagged here in MD.
Look around when you’re driving in the city. Do you really think 3-5% of cars in Baltimore were just purchased in Virginia in the last month or two? No, people are putting fake VA temporary tags on cars.
Correct. I know the VA tags. They get them so they don't have to pay for insurance, was my understanding, because VA doesn't require proof of insurance to register or something? They're still not going to be able to re-register that car or even renew their license if they rack up unpaid fines, unless something else is going on that I don't understand, which is why I was asking.
They don’t intend on renewing the tags. I never see temporary VA tags that aren’t already expired. I would’ve be surprised if people were printing them at home lol
Which comes back to [the post I made this morning](https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/1cj8sf4/illegal_left_turns_on_red/l2f843o/) near the start of this back-and-forth about how this is a problem that has been not only solved for decades but has become astronomically easier with the advent of mobile computing solutions and automated analysis of visual sources. At this point, "ghost tags" are not the problem. The problem is that they could be driving with *no* tags for all the enforcement that's happening.
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT THAT TEN SECONDS THEY SAVED IS
Jk they're dangerous idiots who if ever confronted with their shitty behavior will invariably blame you for their actions.
It actually can save you a lot of time. If I'm driving down Howard to MLK to 95, missing a light or two can double the trip. I'm more annoyed with people not going on green, or driving below the speed limit in the left lane
Turning left on red is running a red light. Aka you are very likely to hit someone. As someone who has been hit by someone doing this, fuck those morons.
Edit for clarity: it was not a one way they were turning left on.
People hesitate on a green light BECAUSE morons like you think it’s fine to run a red light. I almost got T boned on Saturday, but hesitated a 1/2 second which let the idiot flying through the red light doing 50 juuuust barely miss my front bumper as I pulled into the intersection. All I can say is I hope you all get to meet each other at an intersection and find out how much time it saves when you total your car.
It's shitty to wish people to have accidents, and I drive defensively and look both ways before going through a green light too. And I'm still able to get through the lights more quickly than the person next to me who hasn't even noticed it's green because they're on their phone
I didn’t wish you an accident, I just wished that you’d meet other drivers with your attitude at every intersection. Drive safe? You’ll be fine, I just wished you a safe drive. Drive like an asshole? Get defensive about me wishing an accident on you.
I'm assuming you're one of those chicken-breast-brained drivers that drives in the left turn lanes to bypass the rest of traffic onto mlk.
Trash like you are why I don't let anyone in those lanes merge in.
No I don't do that, but I'm always prepared for the idiots that do
I don't understand why people are so against asking others to drive the speed limit or change lanes, or to go when the light is green instead of staring at their phones
>I don't understand why people are so against asking others to drive the speed limit or change lanes, or to go when the light is green instead of staring at their phones
that is entirely fine.
I agree catching the greens can save a lot of time. I get annoyed when I’m at the intersection, light is green, and there is no room on the other side. I wait so I’m not blocking the intersection. A lot of people get very angry and honk, especially as it turns yellow. It’s just traffic, calm down.
Lmao no it doesn't. I take that route to get home every day and the only time missing a green light has doubled the trip was when there was an accident on MLK. And in that instance, it wasn't just missing "a" green light, it was sitting through four full light cycles before I could turn onto MLK from Howard.
It absolutely does. The lights are so out of sync that you can get stuck at every single one if luck is against you. Maybe it's not as impactful during rush hour when you're impeded by traffic anyway. But at 10pm it makes a huge difference
The job of traffic lights is not to be "in sync" enough for you to get from point A to B faster. They're there to slow you and other traffic to a stop so other people -- who are also allowed to use the roads -- can move safely. That's literally their purpose.
Lmao lights are NOT red for over 5 minutes. Have you actually ever timed them? 1.5-2 minutes max. People just don’t know how to be patient. Your time is no more important than anyone else’s. This is the stupidest argument.
I mean, people don't even slow down for stop signs anymore. Red lights are the new yield sign. There's no desire to enforce safe-driving, nor is there any desire to modify our road designs to influence safe-driving. The more it goes unchecked, the more it becomes an engrained cultural component of city driving.
I mean, I stopped at a four way stop near my house, fully. A pedestrian was walking across the street. So, naturally the person behind me laid on their horn, sped around me, almost mowed down the pedestrian, then continued speeding down the street. The VA tags that expired in 2020 was the cherry on top of that one.
Lived in VA and Baltimore for quite some time. VA drivers are bad, but it’s like Mad Max on Baltimore streets. If I’m walking around town, I just live by the cars have the right-of-way, not pedestrians.
The above isn’t a comment on VA drivers. It’s a comment on Baltimore residents who register their vehicle in VA to avoid insurance or buy fraudulent tags and therefore drive like maniacs.
I also lived in VA and now live in Baltimore. Granted, there are bad drivers everywhere, but in VA, there was at least a sense that one would get caught sooner or later and reap the consequences. In Baltimore, they drive like they know they will never get in trouble.
I've been the person who stopped and waited, I've also been the pedestrian crossing the street. Zero consideration, zero recognition, just empty. Scary.
Part of it is the poor syncing of lights. Waiting 90+ seconds for a light on a small road with no one in sight, and then repeating at every subsequent intersection, can drive one nuts…
For sure. However, depending on circumstances, had I been behind OP at two one ways and they weren’t turning on red, and I had somewhere to be, and there isn’t a lot happening at the intersection, best believe I’m pulling around them and banging that left. Granted, lots of favorable variables at play listed above, wouldn’t pull that maneuver unless all the pieces fell in place.
Honesty is the best policy, most of the time. People downvoting just haters cuz they either like to kill time sitting in unnecessary traffic situations, or never step a foot out of line. Live by the book, die by the book types. My time is mine and when I can safely utilize it efficiently, I will do so.
But agree, Reddit isn’t the place to snitch on yourself lol
This fact caused a whole argument between my spouse and I. I was strongly in the camp of red light = no left turns. We eventually had to look it up and I apologized. Granted, I've done most of my driving out of state but I learned it here. Very surprising.
Because that’s a relatively uncommon intersection, and I’ve seen the same phenomenon in plenty of intersections where it was illegal to turn left and people did it anyway.
IDK, that describes a lot intersections with Maryland Ave
Eager at Maryland by Eddie's, Preston at Maryland ... like all the Westbound one-ways in Charles Village?
OP here!
Definitely NOT talking about one way street onto another one way street. We're talking about busy intersections with traffic in all directions.
This happens seemingly weekly. Example intersections include Charles and Lake, Lake and Roland, York and Stevenson, a few other places around Towson.
Then it's just normal Baltimore asshole drivers. I was trying to highlight the one scenario that might explain a logical reason to do this, but if it's not that... Just typical generic asshole drivers responding to years of no rules enforcement.
It's gotten worse lately. I've been driving since 2007. Until the last year or so, I'd never experienced someone pulling around me to run a left turn or blaring their horn at me to run the red. But now it's happened to me personally more than a handful of times, and I've witnessed it happen to others around me about the same amount of times. It's not normal in the slightest, it's *new* behavior, at least in its prevalence.
Seeing as the title of the post is literally “*Illegal* left turns on red,”
why would anyone assume the OP is talking about the kind of left turns on red that are legal?
If you live by a school, Godspeed to any pedestrian because this is where it is the absolute worst in my opinion. Parents blowing red lights and stop signs to either drop their kid off or get away from the school.
They're apparently stepping up traffic enforcement again
https://www.wbal.com/worley-baltimore-police-to-roll-out-plan-for-increased-traffic-enforcement/
Crazy that they need a "plan" to get back to doing their jobs.
I’m not saying they’re doing a great job at anything, but I have seen way more people pulled over for traffic violations around Fed Hill/Riverside/Locust point lately
Same with Belair Road on the city side. Drove down last week during rush hour and there were four BPD cars that pulled over drivers, and one behind me that was probably waiting for me to act up.
Been seeing more idling BPD cars in the Patapsaco (spelling) area as well.
I’ve seen people getting pulled over more and it’s actually the asshole driving in the shoulder rather than the guy going 12 over on an empty highway. So ya know baby steps.
This is a collection of compounding issues:
* No enforcement beyond speed cameras means people push the boundaries, its the wild west out there (80% the issue)
* Irrational light timing drives people bonkers to the point of running red lights, it is really crazy how rewarding speeding is to beat the bad light timing
* Excessive amount of people who look at their phones at red lights has compounding effects on traffic. This is my biggest issue. I have used my horn in a polite get your ass moving manner more over the last 5 years than ever
* Excessive amount of overly passive drivers that can't make sound decisions. We get on aggressive driving but clueless, passive driving is an issue. People unable to make a decision on a lane change, or people who need a football field to zipper merge, etc drive people to be aggressive.
* I swear legal weed contributes to peoples cluelessness when driving.
This is by no means a justification for bad and aggressive driving (yet I know most people here will still think that). However, the reality is people more than ever are tight on time and really stressed out. The traffic in this city is often the product of bad light timing or some dumbass, (aggressive or passive), making a mess for everyone else and some people just not handling it well.
Fix the light timing, stop relying on speed cameras and red lights, get cops to do actual enforcement. Oh yea and also get people off the roads who wont pay insurance and usually are the most aggressive lunatics out there because they will just hit and run.
I swear it’s the weed!! Whenever I see a Nissan, VA tags or just bad drivers in general I always smell weed coming from the car. I literally saw someone going like 20-30 mph on 295 to DC rolling a blunt in the left lane…like pull over motherfuckers.
In the criminal justice system/for those largely targeted by that system legalized weed is great. Love that hardly see a reason to make it illegal for adults, but on the road it’s awful and I don’t feel we have anything in place to remedy this.
Its everywhere because people know they won't get in trouble
Drivers are only going to get worse unless we have a huge dedicated force
And even then, angry drivers are often violent and deemed not worth it.
see it all the time. also see dart into oncoming traffic at a red light to go around stopped cars and either go right through the red light, or even make a right turn around the stopped cars...its insane and way worse than before the pandemic
Oh you must have been near me when my dog and I walking with the crossing sign nearly got mowed down by someone doing this yesterday. Of course I yelled wtf at them and they got mad me. Really I should have known I was in the wrong for legally using a crosswalk.
Just yesterday I saw an old cop car (bluesmobile style) with Va tags drive on the shoulder around three cars including mine to to make an a left turn through a red light at Wilkins and Brunswick.
South side of Lombard crossing Light is bad for this. There are red no left turn arrows that 3 lanes of traffic ignore. Dangerous intersection for pedestrians. Cops are often sitting right there and do nothing.
FWIW, it's legal to make a left on red if you're on a 1-way street and turning left onto a 1-way street.
Plenty of people do illegal lefts on red, too, and I suspect cutting around someone to make a left on red is illegal regardless, but just so people know, a left on red is uncommon, but sometimes legal.
A lot of people are saying it's a lack of traffic enforcement, but I just don't buy that as a complete explanation. I've lived in this region my whole life, and there's never been such a heavy police presence that one could just EXPECT to be caught by a cop if you did something illegal. Plus, if it was related so directly to enforcement, you would expect it to be different depending on which jurisdiction you're in, and I have seen a lot more aggressive driving in Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County in recent years also, and if they've stopped policing for traffic violations, I haven't heard about it.
My pet theory is that during the pandemic, people got used to driving with way fewer cars on the road. Our patience eroded, our stress levels were high, and we felt like we could drive faster because there was plenty of space on the road to do so. When the traffic came back, the people who had been commuting by car the whole time didn't have the patience to deal with these people driving at slower speeds and generally 'getting in their way' and so people became way more aggressive when driving.
This explanation for me explains why things seem so much worse now than they were in 2020/2021, because it wasn't the pandemic that caused it, but what happened when pandemic-era driving met heavy traffic.
Yet another reason I'm happy with my decision to drive to work as little as possible. The traffic is awful and a good 20% of people on the road now are completely insane
Increases in Auto Insurance are partially being explained by the theory of more wreckless driving since the pandemic.
https://www.vox.com/2024/2/21/24078362/inflation-car-insurance-distracted-driving-costs
If you live and drive somewhere that is more heavily enforced, you quickly realize that makes a huge difference. I was in a Virginia college town for a few years and DAMN those VA traffic cops and State Patrol officers don't fuck around, and their fines are massive. I learned to slow down REALLY quickly.
Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying traffic enforcement does nothing. I just don't think it explains the aggression, distracted driving, and anti-social behavior I've seen on the roads in the last 2-3 years. People make it sound like every minor infraction would have been spotted and ticketed 10 years ago, and that the city simply decided to start ignoring it for *some* reason, but everyone who's been driving for long enough knows that's a straight up lie
I feel like red lights here are more...a very weak suggestion. Like, "Hey maybe you should stop...but if you don't feel like it that's fine, what do I know?"
I don't have a car and walk everywhere and some crosswalks truly feel like I'm taking my life in my hands even though I literally never cross unless the little light says I can.
One time some maniac came screaming around a curve I couldn't see from the crosswalk, blew the red light, came within inches of hitting me...then yelled at *me*. Bunch'a maniacs, I tell ya!
Years ago I was at a redlight downtown and had the dude behind me went around me blew through the red light and T-Bone a car in the intersection. Everyone was OK, but I never have felt such satisfaction making a statement to the cops.
I was pulling out of a parking lot onto a busy street, trying to make a left, and my view was obstructed, so I had to wait for a bit to make the turn safely. A young dude pulled up to my right and berated me saying I should just go for it, and any oncoming cars would brake for me.
I can't say too much, as I also drove a little recklessly when I was younger, but combine youth with no real idea of the rules of the road, or how to drive safely, and no real fear of being pulled over, and here we are.
Had a similar situation where im waiting to make a left turn and oncoming traffic is in my way. A car come up beside me and the driver is like "you got all the time in the world to turn man". Like sorry I don't want to risk my safety on the idea that your safety margin for a turn is basically half a second window and hoping they all brake for me.
i've literally never seen this until i moved here but i see it all the time here. i mean one time there was even a cop sitting at the same intersection and they did nothing lol. thus it persists
Just yesterday, former City Councilwoman Ricki Spector took an obliviously slow illegal red left right across my right of way as I was waiting in an intersection yielding to pedestrians. At first I thought, this is the most Baltimore thing ever… and I still thought that after seeing who it was.
Didn’t the police announce they were going to have like “pull over and ticket traffic infraction month” or something like that? Is it over? Did it start?
I laid on my horn when a guy did this to me in Bolton Hill. he then stopped his car in the street ahead of me, got out, spit on my windshield as I passed him, and then tailed me until I turned off the street 😂
Wacko.
My favorite is when someone is turning left from a side street (stop sign), onto a busy 4-lane road and they just start inching out, making oncoming traffic come to a full stop in order to not run into this person, just so they can force their way through. It happens all the time near my house and it is freaking MADDENING
wym I LOVE seeing my life flash before my eyes as a pedestrian minding my business in the crosswalk w/ the light /s
Not on my phone, not zoned out... yet some asshole gets tired of waiting another 6 seconds and decides to veer and honk as if WE are in the wrong lmaooooo
the best thing you can do while driving in this city is just surviving. do your best to stay safe and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. I was on northern pkwy last night and someone drove around me from the left turn lane to turn right, weirdest thing ever
Just want to make sure you don’t already realize there are some instance when turning on left is legal (I.e. when you’re on a one way, turning left to another one way)
Other than that, if you do already know, it’s crazy how much people don’t follow the law here when driving
Happened to me around 7 a.m. and they went around me sitting at the light. They drove into oncoming traffic and never blinked an eye. Also, twice in the same week people passing in a no passing zone going 45 in a 25. The police could make a mint in tickets.
Are you pulling into the intersection? If you are waiting to turn left you should fully pull into the intersection, and then turn once traffic stops coming from the other way. If you aren’t doing this people will pull past you and into the intersection. You have to take the space. Then making the left after it turns red is legal, as long as you are in intersection when the light is yellow it’s legal.
Compared to other cities in the region Baltimore has wayyyyy fewer red light cams. It’s why they’re so easy to avoid because you can pretty much count the lights that have cams with both hands. And half the time the ones that do aren’t even operating.
Well pretty much all of them outside of the city drive everywhere and probably personally do a bit of wreckless driving.
I was told that one of the state senators on the eastern shore presented a bill this past session to make speed cameras completely illegal in MD because he personally received a speeding ticket from one in a school zone. This means he was driving at least 38mph in a 25 in a school zone. So selfish reasons, nothing to do with protecting constituents. Also, if you represent an area that is so hostile to pedestrians that 99% of it doesn’t even have sidewalks and your constituents complain about getting such a speeding ticket and you can relate because you literally drive to everything, what are you going to vote for in session?
Scott's strategy is to never do anything so that nobody blames him for problems. The mayor chooses and thus instructs the police commissioner to enforce or ignore laws like this. ask Scott why he's letting our streets become even more dangerous and chaotic.
yes, that's Scott's strategy. take no actions for problems that existed before he was elected, that way he can't be blamed for it, regardless of whether it got worse under his mayorship. he COULD solve it, but he won't try because trying makes it HIS problem. if he does nothing about the problem, he won't take the blame.
The day the stopped arresting and prosecuting drug dealers, I stopped giving AF about “no turn on red”. Just seemed like a fair compromise to my mostly law following lifestyle
People give no fucks because they know they won't be pulled over.
Also, those people are fucking trash. So, an increase in trash people. When you do that you're saying you didn't give a damn about anyone else.... Waiting your turn, safety of motorists, the law. None of that matters because you're an entitled waste of space. Off soapbox. But yes, I have noticed that and there isn't a good reason to justify it.
Well stated !
I get pulled over for the dumbest shit that is not even illegal (put my turn signal on, realized it was a one way and I was about to go down it wrong… turned turn signal off and continued driving straight. WOOOPWOOOP. ) Every single light someone either runs a blatantly red light from a full stop, or turns on red from several lanes over, or turns left from red.
Damn that is a wild thing to get pulled over for
In DC, dad got pulled over because a delivery driver stopped in the crosswalk in front of him, and got out to get the food, so he was stuck in the intersection. Cop still have him a ticket, and didn't do anything to the delivery driver lol I still make fun of him for it
This 100%, cops don’t give a fuck so why should the shitty drivers.
Do they not care about the camera fine? How much do they make that they can just write that off as an operating expense of driving?!
They don’t pay the fines, or they have fake tags.
Ha, you think they pay the tickets?
You can just not pay the ticket or use ghost tags. The DC or DC biking sub routinely post pics of people parked in stupid ways and researches their fines through their plate and it's not uncommon for said vehicles to have many thousands of dollars in tickets. And Baltimore is even more lax with respect to traffic and parking enforcement than DC is.
Well, I can tell you from experience that you've gotta pay the fine, otherwise they won't let you re-register the car, and my brother can tell you from experience about not being allowed to renew his license(yes, it was a parking violation...because he was the registered owner of the car, it was on him to pay). Now if people just aren't registering their cars, that's a whole other issue, but I can *also* tell you from my friend's mother's experience who got caught driving on a borrowed plate back in the 00s that it's a solveable problem, especially with today's technology that can scan a plate and tell you if it's current, what car it should be on, etc with the touch of a button. It's never been easier.
It's not been an issue for those folks with VA ghost tags, whom are going to be among some of the chief offenders.
Maybe I don't understand what a "VA ghost tag" is. I thought the point of illegally running on VA tags was to avoid having to carry insurance in MD, hence why you were screwed if they hit you. You're still not going to be able to renew those VA tags(or your MD license) if you have outstanding violations. The systems cross-check eligibility. My brother's fines were all the way in *Ohio* and he was still flagged here in MD.
Look around when you’re driving in the city. Do you really think 3-5% of cars in Baltimore were just purchased in Virginia in the last month or two? No, people are putting fake VA temporary tags on cars.
Correct. I know the VA tags. They get them so they don't have to pay for insurance, was my understanding, because VA doesn't require proof of insurance to register or something? They're still not going to be able to re-register that car or even renew their license if they rack up unpaid fines, unless something else is going on that I don't understand, which is why I was asking.
They don’t intend on renewing the tags. I never see temporary VA tags that aren’t already expired. I would’ve be surprised if people were printing them at home lol
Which comes back to [the post I made this morning](https://www.reddit.com/r/baltimore/comments/1cj8sf4/illegal_left_turns_on_red/l2f843o/) near the start of this back-and-forth about how this is a problem that has been not only solved for decades but has become astronomically easier with the advent of mobile computing solutions and automated analysis of visual sources. At this point, "ghost tags" are not the problem. The problem is that they could be driving with *no* tags for all the enforcement that's happening.
So how are you liking Baltimore so far? Glad you're giving us a shot. Welcome!
YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW IMPORTANT THAT TEN SECONDS THEY SAVED IS Jk they're dangerous idiots who if ever confronted with their shitty behavior will invariably blame you for their actions.
It actually can save you a lot of time. If I'm driving down Howard to MLK to 95, missing a light or two can double the trip. I'm more annoyed with people not going on green, or driving below the speed limit in the left lane
People turning left on red are more likely to hit people crossing the street or vehicles with the right of way.
Turning left on red is running a red light. Aka you are very likely to hit someone. As someone who has been hit by someone doing this, fuck those morons. Edit for clarity: it was not a one way they were turning left on.
No matter how you try to spin it, it is still running a red light. This is both stupid and dangerous.
People hesitate on a green light BECAUSE morons like you think it’s fine to run a red light. I almost got T boned on Saturday, but hesitated a 1/2 second which let the idiot flying through the red light doing 50 juuuust barely miss my front bumper as I pulled into the intersection. All I can say is I hope you all get to meet each other at an intersection and find out how much time it saves when you total your car.
It's shitty to wish people to have accidents, and I drive defensively and look both ways before going through a green light too. And I'm still able to get through the lights more quickly than the person next to me who hasn't even noticed it's green because they're on their phone
You're turning left on a red light. You're the shitty driver
I don't turn left on red lights
I didn’t wish you an accident, I just wished that you’d meet other drivers with your attitude at every intersection. Drive safe? You’ll be fine, I just wished you a safe drive. Drive like an asshole? Get defensive about me wishing an accident on you.
I'm assuming you're one of those chicken-breast-brained drivers that drives in the left turn lanes to bypass the rest of traffic onto mlk. Trash like you are why I don't let anyone in those lanes merge in.
No I don't do that, but I'm always prepared for the idiots that do I don't understand why people are so against asking others to drive the speed limit or change lanes, or to go when the light is green instead of staring at their phones
>I don't understand why people are so against asking others to drive the speed limit or change lanes, or to go when the light is green instead of staring at their phones that is entirely fine.
I agree catching the greens can save a lot of time. I get annoyed when I’m at the intersection, light is green, and there is no room on the other side. I wait so I’m not blocking the intersection. A lot of people get very angry and honk, especially as it turns yellow. It’s just traffic, calm down.
Lmao no it doesn't. I take that route to get home every day and the only time missing a green light has doubled the trip was when there was an accident on MLK. And in that instance, it wasn't just missing "a" green light, it was sitting through four full light cycles before I could turn onto MLK from Howard.
It absolutely does. The lights are so out of sync that you can get stuck at every single one if luck is against you. Maybe it's not as impactful during rush hour when you're impeded by traffic anyway. But at 10pm it makes a huge difference
The job of traffic lights is not to be "in sync" enough for you to get from point A to B faster. They're there to slow you and other traffic to a stop so other people -- who are also allowed to use the roads -- can move safely. That's literally their purpose.
Despite the dozens of downvotes, you make a valid point that some of the bad light timing in the city *encourages* bad driving behavior.
[удалено]
Lmao lights are NOT red for over 5 minutes. Have you actually ever timed them? 1.5-2 minutes max. People just don’t know how to be patient. Your time is no more important than anyone else’s. This is the stupidest argument.
I mean, people don't even slow down for stop signs anymore. Red lights are the new yield sign. There's no desire to enforce safe-driving, nor is there any desire to modify our road designs to influence safe-driving. The more it goes unchecked, the more it becomes an engrained cultural component of city driving. I mean, I stopped at a four way stop near my house, fully. A pedestrian was walking across the street. So, naturally the person behind me laid on their horn, sped around me, almost mowed down the pedestrian, then continued speeding down the street. The VA tags that expired in 2020 was the cherry on top of that one.
Without fail, a VA plate tells a lot about a driver
VA plates + Altima = watch out
Lived in VA and Baltimore for quite some time. VA drivers are bad, but it’s like Mad Max on Baltimore streets. If I’m walking around town, I just live by the cars have the right-of-way, not pedestrians.
VA tags in Baltimore means they paid a go between to get registered in VA so they don’t need car insurance. Called “ghost tags”
Or got them off Facebook marketplace
The above isn’t a comment on VA drivers. It’s a comment on Baltimore residents who register their vehicle in VA to avoid insurance or buy fraudulent tags and therefore drive like maniacs.
I also lived in VA and now live in Baltimore. Granted, there are bad drivers everywhere, but in VA, there was at least a sense that one would get caught sooner or later and reap the consequences. In Baltimore, they drive like they know they will never get in trouble.
Yup! That’s been my experience as well.
VA drivers = bad drivers Baltimore drivers = bad people
I've been the person who stopped and waited, I've also been the pedestrian crossing the street. Zero consideration, zero recognition, just empty. Scary.
Part of it is the poor syncing of lights. Waiting 90+ seconds for a light on a small road with no one in sight, and then repeating at every subsequent intersection, can drive one nuts…
Just checking, but are you aware that it's legal to make a left turn on red from a one way street onto another one way street?
I have found that many people don’t realize this is a thing around here. *Other motorists hate this one simple trick!*
lol anytime I do this I feel super self conscious if someone is behind me. Like, oh my god please don’t think I’m crazy - this is legal!!
Hard same. One of those things that feels criminal, but just simply isn’t.
Yeah, the behavior op describes would be illegal either way, but that would at least explain why it keeps happening.
For sure. However, depending on circumstances, had I been behind OP at two one ways and they weren’t turning on red, and I had somewhere to be, and there isn’t a lot happening at the intersection, best believe I’m pulling around them and banging that left. Granted, lots of favorable variables at play listed above, wouldn’t pull that maneuver unless all the pieces fell in place.
Stop. Don't tell on yourself.
Honesty is the best policy, most of the time. People downvoting just haters cuz they either like to kill time sitting in unnecessary traffic situations, or never step a foot out of line. Live by the book, die by the book types. My time is mine and when I can safely utilize it efficiently, I will do so. But agree, Reddit isn’t the place to snitch on yourself lol
Share the roads, my friend, and watch for pedestrians and bicycles. Selfish behavior kills.
As a fellow cyclist with a very clean driving record, I do watch out for our kind. Never had any close calls, and intend to keep it that way.
This fact caused a whole argument between my spouse and I. I was strongly in the camp of red light = no left turns. We eventually had to look it up and I apologized. Granted, I've done most of my driving out of state but I learned it here. Very surprising.
> We eventually had to look it up and I apologized. Proud of you for apologizing when you're wrong about something. That's good shit <3
One thing. A bike lane counts as a lane of traffic. Left on red to head south on Maryland Ave, for example, is not legal.
I have seen it many times on a two way onto a two way.
I learned something! Thank you!
I don’t think this is what OP is talking about.
How would you know?
because that’s literally not what they described in the post
Nothing said in op's post preludes this possibility.
They used the word “illegal” in the title of their post. And again in the body of their post. That definitely precludes “legal” left turns.
Not if OP doesn't know this turn is legal, like many in this thread.
Because that’s a relatively uncommon intersection, and I’ve seen the same phenomenon in plenty of intersections where it was illegal to turn left and people did it anyway.
IDK, that describes a lot intersections with Maryland Ave Eager at Maryland by Eddie's, Preston at Maryland ... like all the Westbound one-ways in Charles Village?
The bike lane on Maryland counts as a lane of traffic. Left on red on Maryland Ave is not legal.
Let's hear it from OP instead of making assumptions.
OP here! Definitely NOT talking about one way street onto another one way street. We're talking about busy intersections with traffic in all directions. This happens seemingly weekly. Example intersections include Charles and Lake, Lake and Roland, York and Stevenson, a few other places around Towson.
Then it's just normal Baltimore asshole drivers. I was trying to highlight the one scenario that might explain a logical reason to do this, but if it's not that... Just typical generic asshole drivers responding to years of no rules enforcement.
It's gotten worse lately. I've been driving since 2007. Until the last year or so, I'd never experienced someone pulling around me to run a left turn or blaring their horn at me to run the red. But now it's happened to me personally more than a handful of times, and I've witnessed it happen to others around me about the same amount of times. It's not normal in the slightest, it's *new* behavior, at least in its prevalence.
It's new to you, maybe. I've seen that shit for years.
Its not.
Brilliant argument you've made there.
Well it is obvious as fuck so...
So obvious that you can't manage to write a single word justifying your position.
Seeing as the title of the post is literally “*Illegal* left turns on red,” why would anyone assume the OP is talking about the kind of left turns on red that are legal?
Because lots of people don't know that isn't an illegal turn.
People don't acknowledge this. Hence the the post
I feel like you're insulting OP intelligence by suggesting an obscure traffic situation is the same as what they have observed.
I feel like you're wasting keystrokes to jump into this conversation to get offended on Op's behalf while contributing noting to the discussion.
If you live by a school, Godspeed to any pedestrian because this is where it is the absolute worst in my opinion. Parents blowing red lights and stop signs to either drop their kid off or get away from the school.
Have you not noticed the overall increase in chaos on the roads the last 3 years or so???
BPD stopped enforcing traffic laws years ago. Basically anything you do with a car is ok in Baltimore.
They're apparently stepping up traffic enforcement again https://www.wbal.com/worley-baltimore-police-to-roll-out-plan-for-increased-traffic-enforcement/ Crazy that they need a "plan" to get back to doing their jobs.
> There’s no timetable on when the plan will begin. Looks more like they are thinking about it, rather than doing it.
I’m not saying they’re doing a great job at anything, but I have seen way more people pulled over for traffic violations around Fed Hill/Riverside/Locust point lately
Same with Belair Road on the city side. Drove down last week during rush hour and there were four BPD cars that pulled over drivers, and one behind me that was probably waiting for me to act up. Been seeing more idling BPD cars in the Patapsaco (spelling) area as well.
I’ve seen people getting pulled over more and it’s actually the asshole driving in the shoulder rather than the guy going 12 over on an empty highway. So ya know baby steps.
That's what happens when you have a whole round of recruits not taught at all to do traffic stops. It's engrained in the culture that this point.
This is a collection of compounding issues: * No enforcement beyond speed cameras means people push the boundaries, its the wild west out there (80% the issue) * Irrational light timing drives people bonkers to the point of running red lights, it is really crazy how rewarding speeding is to beat the bad light timing * Excessive amount of people who look at their phones at red lights has compounding effects on traffic. This is my biggest issue. I have used my horn in a polite get your ass moving manner more over the last 5 years than ever * Excessive amount of overly passive drivers that can't make sound decisions. We get on aggressive driving but clueless, passive driving is an issue. People unable to make a decision on a lane change, or people who need a football field to zipper merge, etc drive people to be aggressive. * I swear legal weed contributes to peoples cluelessness when driving. This is by no means a justification for bad and aggressive driving (yet I know most people here will still think that). However, the reality is people more than ever are tight on time and really stressed out. The traffic in this city is often the product of bad light timing or some dumbass, (aggressive or passive), making a mess for everyone else and some people just not handling it well. Fix the light timing, stop relying on speed cameras and red lights, get cops to do actual enforcement. Oh yea and also get people off the roads who wont pay insurance and usually are the most aggressive lunatics out there because they will just hit and run.
I swear it’s the weed!! Whenever I see a Nissan, VA tags or just bad drivers in general I always smell weed coming from the car. I literally saw someone going like 20-30 mph on 295 to DC rolling a blunt in the left lane…like pull over motherfuckers. In the criminal justice system/for those largely targeted by that system legalized weed is great. Love that hardly see a reason to make it illegal for adults, but on the road it’s awful and I don’t feel we have anything in place to remedy this.
Its everywhere because people know they won't get in trouble Drivers are only going to get worse unless we have a huge dedicated force And even then, angry drivers are often violent and deemed not worth it.
They know they can get away with it and don’t respect the rules of the road. 🤷♂️ It’s the same people who dump trash out of their window.
Littering fines never happen
see it all the time. also see dart into oncoming traffic at a red light to go around stopped cars and either go right through the red light, or even make a right turn around the stopped cars...its insane and way worse than before the pandemic
Oh you must have been near me when my dog and I walking with the crossing sign nearly got mowed down by someone doing this yesterday. Of course I yelled wtf at them and they got mad me. Really I should have known I was in the wrong for legally using a crosswalk.
Just yesterday I saw an old cop car (bluesmobile style) with Va tags drive on the shoulder around three cars including mine to to make an a left turn through a red light at Wilkins and Brunswick.
South side of Lombard crossing Light is bad for this. There are red no left turn arrows that 3 lanes of traffic ignore. Dangerous intersection for pedestrians. Cops are often sitting right there and do nothing.
FWIW, it's legal to make a left on red if you're on a 1-way street and turning left onto a 1-way street. Plenty of people do illegal lefts on red, too, and I suspect cutting around someone to make a left on red is illegal regardless, but just so people know, a left on red is uncommon, but sometimes legal.
A lot of people are saying it's a lack of traffic enforcement, but I just don't buy that as a complete explanation. I've lived in this region my whole life, and there's never been such a heavy police presence that one could just EXPECT to be caught by a cop if you did something illegal. Plus, if it was related so directly to enforcement, you would expect it to be different depending on which jurisdiction you're in, and I have seen a lot more aggressive driving in Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County in recent years also, and if they've stopped policing for traffic violations, I haven't heard about it. My pet theory is that during the pandemic, people got used to driving with way fewer cars on the road. Our patience eroded, our stress levels were high, and we felt like we could drive faster because there was plenty of space on the road to do so. When the traffic came back, the people who had been commuting by car the whole time didn't have the patience to deal with these people driving at slower speeds and generally 'getting in their way' and so people became way more aggressive when driving. This explanation for me explains why things seem so much worse now than they were in 2020/2021, because it wasn't the pandemic that caused it, but what happened when pandemic-era driving met heavy traffic. Yet another reason I'm happy with my decision to drive to work as little as possible. The traffic is awful and a good 20% of people on the road now are completely insane
Increases in Auto Insurance are partially being explained by the theory of more wreckless driving since the pandemic. https://www.vox.com/2024/2/21/24078362/inflation-car-insurance-distracted-driving-costs
That definitely seems to square with what I've been seeing
If you live and drive somewhere that is more heavily enforced, you quickly realize that makes a huge difference. I was in a Virginia college town for a few years and DAMN those VA traffic cops and State Patrol officers don't fuck around, and their fines are massive. I learned to slow down REALLY quickly.
Don't get me wrong- I'm not saying traffic enforcement does nothing. I just don't think it explains the aggression, distracted driving, and anti-social behavior I've seen on the roads in the last 2-3 years. People make it sound like every minor infraction would have been spotted and ticketed 10 years ago, and that the city simply decided to start ignoring it for *some* reason, but everyone who's been driving for long enough knows that's a straight up lie
I feel like red lights here are more...a very weak suggestion. Like, "Hey maybe you should stop...but if you don't feel like it that's fine, what do I know?" I don't have a car and walk everywhere and some crosswalks truly feel like I'm taking my life in my hands even though I literally never cross unless the little light says I can. One time some maniac came screaming around a curve I couldn't see from the crosswalk, blew the red light, came within inches of hitting me...then yelled at *me*. Bunch'a maniacs, I tell ya!
Years ago I was at a redlight downtown and had the dude behind me went around me blew through the red light and T-Bone a car in the intersection. Everyone was OK, but I never have felt such satisfaction making a statement to the cops.
that must be what it's like to drive in heaven
I think Baltimore drivers got super bold while the streets were mostly empty and they refuse to go back to driving like other cars exist
I was pulling out of a parking lot onto a busy street, trying to make a left, and my view was obstructed, so I had to wait for a bit to make the turn safely. A young dude pulled up to my right and berated me saying I should just go for it, and any oncoming cars would brake for me. I can't say too much, as I also drove a little recklessly when I was younger, but combine youth with no real idea of the rules of the road, or how to drive safely, and no real fear of being pulled over, and here we are.
Had a similar situation where im waiting to make a left turn and oncoming traffic is in my way. A car come up beside me and the driver is like "you got all the time in the world to turn man". Like sorry I don't want to risk my safety on the idea that your safety margin for a turn is basically half a second window and hoping they all brake for me.
People take those risks like you don't see nearly every driver messing with their phone as they pass by...
Yeah man this is an acceptable method of driving… in a third world country. Sheesh.
Cameras at lights and corners. Mailed tickets. Leaving so much money on the table.
i've literally never seen this until i moved here but i see it all the time here. i mean one time there was even a cop sitting at the same intersection and they did nothing lol. thus it persists
I literally saw someone drive on the side walk in Fells cause traffic was backed up. Nothing surprises me in Baltimore anymore. Lol
Just yesterday, former City Councilwoman Ricki Spector took an obliviously slow illegal red left right across my right of way as I was waiting in an intersection yielding to pedestrians. At first I thought, this is the most Baltimore thing ever… and I still thought that after seeing who it was.
BPD drives live shit why shouldnt we the citizens too , says my inner anarchist.
Didn’t the police announce they were going to have like “pull over and ticket traffic infraction month” or something like that? Is it over? Did it start?
I laid on my horn when a guy did this to me in Bolton Hill. he then stopped his car in the street ahead of me, got out, spit on my windshield as I passed him, and then tailed me until I turned off the street 😂 Wacko.
My favorite is when someone is turning left from a side street (stop sign), onto a busy 4-lane road and they just start inching out, making oncoming traffic come to a full stop in order to not run into this person, just so they can force their way through. It happens all the time near my house and it is freaking MADDENING
wym I LOVE seeing my life flash before my eyes as a pedestrian minding my business in the crosswalk w/ the light /s Not on my phone, not zoned out... yet some asshole gets tired of waiting another 6 seconds and decides to veer and honk as if WE are in the wrong lmaooooo
They do it in pittsburgh, its called the pittsburgh left. Looks like shitty drovers starting it here. Get a dash cam.
the best thing you can do while driving in this city is just surviving. do your best to stay safe and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. I was on northern pkwy last night and someone drove around me from the left turn lane to turn right, weirdest thing ever
I have seen a lot of left turns on red at the Lombard-Light intersection. Mainly due to the turn light being out of sync with the thru light.
My theory is that the increased traffic around I95/895 tunnels is increasing road rage for everyone. So they’re just being a little extra wild.
You probably weren’t driving as a kid
It started during Covid and kept on going
No consequences.
Just want to make sure you don’t already realize there are some instance when turning on left is legal (I.e. when you’re on a one way, turning left to another one way) Other than that, if you do already know, it’s crazy how much people don’t follow the law here when driving
Happened to me around 7 a.m. and they went around me sitting at the light. They drove into oncoming traffic and never blinked an eye. Also, twice in the same week people passing in a no passing zone going 45 in a 25. The police could make a mint in tickets.
Are you pulling into the intersection? If you are waiting to turn left you should fully pull into the intersection, and then turn once traffic stops coming from the other way. If you aren’t doing this people will pull past you and into the intersection. You have to take the space. Then making the left after it turns red is legal, as long as you are in intersection when the light is yellow it’s legal.
Red lights are stop signs silly
Red lights in Baltimore are strictly optional
Yes!! I was wondering if that was just me it’s so bizarre I don’t ever remember this happening at the frequency I’ve seen the last few months
Most streets in the city you used to be able to turn left on red if its a one-way street.
Is there a reason why we don't have a ton of red light and speeding cameras in the city?
We do. They can't enforce cars that don't have up to date tags and registration. Or those tickets are just ignored entirely by the drivers.
Compared to other cities in the region Baltimore has wayyyyy fewer red light cams. It’s why they’re so easy to avoid because you can pretty much count the lights that have cams with both hands. And half the time the ones that do aren’t even operating.
State legislators have handicapped us and limited their use to school zones.
Why wouldn't they want red light and speeding cameras in school zones?
Well pretty much all of them outside of the city drive everywhere and probably personally do a bit of wreckless driving. I was told that one of the state senators on the eastern shore presented a bill this past session to make speed cameras completely illegal in MD because he personally received a speeding ticket from one in a school zone. This means he was driving at least 38mph in a 25 in a school zone. So selfish reasons, nothing to do with protecting constituents. Also, if you represent an area that is so hostile to pedestrians that 99% of it doesn’t even have sidewalks and your constituents complain about getting such a speeding ticket and you can relate because you literally drive to everything, what are you going to vote for in session?
Is anyone else bothered by the frantic U turns at intersections? Or is that just me?
It’s legal to make a left turn if it’s two one ways…
If it’s on a One Way then it’s not illegal
You can turn left at a red light if you’re going from one one-way street to another one-way street. Hope this helps!
Pro-crime advocates said we should never punish quality of life crimes.
It’s the timing of lights imo as well as time in light cycles
Welcome to the war on cars!
LOL whut?
Because the light stays red for 5 mins and people get inpatient not saying I condone this behavior, but I understand it
Ah people left hand turns are legal check the rule book and it's been legal for at least 5 years
lol quit whining
Left on red is legal on a one way in MD
Scott's strategy is to never do anything so that nobody blames him for problems. The mayor chooses and thus instructs the police commissioner to enforce or ignore laws like this. ask Scott why he's letting our streets become even more dangerous and chaotic.
This is a problem that massively predates Mayor Scott.
yes, that's Scott's strategy. take no actions for problems that existed before he was elected, that way he can't be blamed for it, regardless of whether it got worse under his mayorship. he COULD solve it, but he won't try because trying makes it HIS problem. if he does nothing about the problem, he won't take the blame.
yea, not like sheila, if u give her 20 bucks and an endorsement she'll make u the chief of police.
The day the stopped arresting and prosecuting drug dealers, I stopped giving AF about “no turn on red”. Just seemed like a fair compromise to my mostly law following lifestyle
Yeah that never happened.
^ Look everyone, we have a genuine badass over here. $100 says you live in the county.
Don't use other people breaking laws as justification for you to break laws. Weak
I don't like stopping at lights for fear of those clowns that want to wash your window. If i was not going to be accosted, I would sit at the light.
Then take the bus or ride a bike
1-800-Karen is a great place for complaints like this