Almost made the news... not in a good way

[ZeeZee]

This is really scary, and I have to put it out there.

Always drive defensively, never trust that the other drivers will do the right thing.

This happened Saturday evening.

I had my family in the car, my wife was in the passenger seat, my son was seated behind her, and my daughter behind me. I was headed WB on 16th avenue, turning into North Hill Mall across three lanes of traffic just east of the fire station. I entered the intersection to wait for the turn when the light was green. The light turned yellow and the car nearest to the median stopped, as did the car in the center lane. The light turned red, I was slightly aware of a semi in the furthest lane (right most lane for him), but the light was red, and he was a long long ways away. I initiated my turn, assuming that it was now a stale red, and the semi had enough room to stop so he would. However, instead of stopping he accelerated. All I recall at this point is that my wife said "Oh GOD!" and when I looked right the semi was accelerating towards the passenger side of my car, so I punched it. It was extremely close. The other thing I misjudged was the speed of the truck. He was going at least 80, may be closer to 90 or 100 as he passed through the intersection. My legs were shaking as I parked the car to take the family to Chili's for a meal. My son couldn't sleep that night, and the consequences of what could have happened terrify me.

I'm not sugar coating this for myself. the safety of my passengers is MY responsibility. I should never have assumed that the truck would stop. It is a wake-up call. Hopefully I have learned from this, and I need to pass it on to everyone on here. Be careful out there!

Corrected: I was WB

[rc2002]

Glad you're ok.

They really need to crack down on semi trailers. They always run red lights - especially on left turns. I've had a couple of close calls where I already have a green light to go straight and the semi-trailer opposite me is just starting to initiate his left turn.

I've had to dodge many things falling off semi-trailers before - my car was actually damaged by separated tire tread from overworn semi-trailer tires.

[911fever]

semi's are much better controlled here. Cops immediately ticket semi's in the far left lane here if they are in it, and often randomly check equipment - because 3 years ago or something 5 people died from a semi dropping stuff out of the back of its trailer.
good thing you came out safe OP.

[G-ZUS]

Similar thing happened to me at Barlow and 50 Ave SE. Except I was changing a cd and the person behind me honked at me to go, put the car into first and was releasing the clutch when i saw a semi fly right through the intersection with some old lady in a camry tail gating him

[Supa Dexta]

WTF does that mean?^.... here where? No one cares to follow your internet life closely enough to know where you live.

[GT.....O?]

From your post it sounds like you were traveling west bound, not eastbound since you had to cross three lanes of traffic.

Anyways, glad you made it out ok.

Another really bad intersection for semi's running red lights is Glenmore and Sarcee.

[ZeeZee]

Originally posted by GT.....O?
From your post it sounds like you were traveling west bound, not eastbound since you had to cross three lanes of traffic.

Anyways, glad you made it out ok.

Another really bad intersection for semi's running red lights is Glenmore and Sarcee.

You are correct, I was westbound, fixed my original post.

[2002civic]

I watched a semi swerve from 22x onto Deerfoot S from the merge into the far left lane fishtailing and almost taking out two cars in the process, these idiots need to learn how to properly drive and not feel that they are the only thing on the road.

[ercchry]

it is basically suicidal to attempt left hand turns on a yellow or red in this city... just the other day i was on the bike waiting to turn left... light turns yellow, giant f350 cruises through it... light turns red, i start to move... then a fucking cabbie come through the red, i hit the brakes hard, almost launch myself over the handle bars and the cabbie has the audacity to give me the "wtf are you doing" look... fucking cabbies and truckers...

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

I'm standing outside northhill looking at that intersection now. I've seen that happen a couple times in the past 2 years here.

[star-k]

Originally posted by ZeeZee
This is really scary, and I have to put it out there.

Always drive defensively, never trust that the other drivers will do the right thing.

This happened Saturday evening.

I had my family in the car, my wife was in the passenger seat, my son was seated behind her, and my daughter behind me. I was headed WB on 16th avenue, turning into North Hill Mall across three lanes of traffic just east of the fire station. I entered the intersection to wait for the turn when the light was green. The light turned yellow and the car nearest to the median stopped, as did the car in the center lane. The light turned red, I was slightly aware of a semi in the furthest lane (right most lane for him), but the light was red, and he was a long long ways away. I initiated my turn, assuming that it was now a stale red, and the semi had enough room to stop so he would. However, instead of stopping he accelerated. All I recall at this point is that my wife said "Oh GOD!" and when I looked right the semi was accelerating towards the passenger side of my car, so I punched it. It was extremely close. The other thing I misjudged was the speed of the truck. He was going at least 80, may be closer to 90 or 100 as he passed through the intersection. My legs were shaking as I parked the car to take the family to Chili's for a meal. My son couldn't sleep that night, and the consequences of what could have happened terrify me.

I'm not sugar coating this for myself. the safety of my passengers is MY responsibility. I should never have assumed that the truck would stop. It is a wake-up call. Hopefully I have learned from this, and I need to pass it on to everyone on here. Be careful out there!

Corrected: I was WB




Originally posted by ercchry
it is basically suicidal to attempt left hand turns on a yellow or red in this city... just the other day i was on the bike waiting to turn left... light turns yellow, giant f350 cruises through it... light turns red, i start to move... then a fucking cabbie come through the red, i hit the brakes hard, almost launch myself over the handle bars and the cabbie has the audacity to give me the "wtf are you doing" look... fucking cabbies and truckers...

I agree 100% and more.

I generally like MOST of the nice peeps that drive trucks, and Cabbie many are VERY respectable people. There also are those that are just JERKS

ie:
-Park on FOUR (4) parking spots diagonally, leftwards, rightwards all sorts of configurations like fricken TETRIS!
-Rev up to the mother of all Diesel and just pollute the air in the BS Corner of >>RAT HORTONS <<< on Friday nights
-Sometimes see the ghetto ones that have the DUAL 7" OD re re-re-reouted exhaust flared semi truck horns...

Generally people will not mind big cool 50" massive tires and lift kits, thats understandable. As long as there are some road manners and etiquette. It's where a portion of the drivers which drive like JERKS >> WITH << these things I just don't know why, it makes them look more of a extra jerk, like ++Jerk + Douche Combo.


Not only are some of these F Drivers douchebags, its even more amplified when you see this type of driving behaviour on the street, like they OWN the road.... Not so much with Cabbie drivers, although I've seen 1 out of 100 cabbie drivers douching it on traffic, because its' easy for someone to report on these jerks and A holes. then their job is on the line.

I've been in a situation on 14th ST and 10th heading North Bound. and driving along and crossing 10th Ave along 14th street, I hit a green ->> yellow light.

At the yellowlight
-Accelerated to clear intersection
and then the oncoming (left turning) SUPER FORD TRUCK immediately darted left turned HALFWAY into the intersection and STOPPED! (darted infront of my car), causing me to slam my brakes, braking nearly halfway into the intersection and nearly slamming into this guy!

At the same time immediately hearing loud and long tire screeching behind me was a lady that smashed into the rear end of my vehicle. At this point of time, the drive

The prick was an idiot to dart infront of my car and cause an accident.

If a colission happend, who would be a fault??

My lesson learned is to watch the light from a further distance and clear to proceed because 5-10 seconds before you've already looked at any intersecting vehicles coming to a halt at their RED light.

[Mar]

Why would you enter an intersection when you don't have a clear path to exit? Yes, you have the legal right to exit the intersection on a red light but that doesn't mean you should be putting yourself into that kind of danger at every light. Only use that in the rare occasion find yourself in that situation.

Besides, people in this city are morons, I watch at least 5-10 people every day running red lights. I have to be aware of every car around me and what it's doing....and if I see a minivan I have to get out and hide behind a tree until it's out of sight.

[kaput]

.

[ercchry]

Originally posted by Mar
Why would you enter an intersection when you don't have a clear path to exit? Yes, you have the legal right to exit the intersection on a red light but that doesn't mean you should be putting yourself into that kind of danger at every light. Only use that in the rare occasion find yourself in that situation.



why? have you ever tried to turn left at a light without an advanced green in this city? you can't! so what do you do? you do what you are taught to do in drive's training... pull into intersection on green, wait till traffic stops.... turn left.

if people did not do this then on some roads in this town you would NEVER be able to turn left, traffic would get even worse than it is now!

[ZeeZee]

Originally posted by ercchry


Originally posted by Mar
Why would you enter an intersection when you don't have a clear path to exit? Yes, you have the legal right to exit the intersection on a red light but that doesn't mean you should be putting yourself into that kind of danger at every light. Only use that in the rare occasion find yourself in that situation.

Besides, people in this city are morons, I watch at least 5-10 people every day running red lights. I have to be aware of every car around me and what it's doing....and if I see a minivan I have to get out and hide behind a tree until it's out of sight.

why? have you ever tried to turn left at a light without an advanced green in this city? you can't! so what do you do? you do what you are taught to do in drive's training... pull into intersection on green, wait till traffic stops.... turn left.

if people did not do this then on some roads in this town you would NEVER be able to turn left, traffic would get even worse than it is now!

Exactly what he said. You are supposed to enter the intersection on green when there is no arrow and wait for it to clear before proceeding left.

Are you one of the morons sitting at the stop line waiting for the intersection to clear while everyone behind you gets pissed off? Go back to driving school.

From the handbook:

If you must stop in the intersection prior to completing a left turn, stay to the right of the centre line and keep your front wheels pointed straight ahead. This will prevent you from being pushed into oncoming traffic if you are hit from the rear. Remain behind the crosswalk if there is only room for one vehicle ahead of you in the intersection.
Nowhere does it say you wait for the intersection to clear before entering.

My mistake was assuming the truck would stop at the red because he had more than enough room to do so, and that he wouldn't be going 80+, and that he wouldn't punch it.

[Mar]

Originally posted by ercchry
why? have you ever tried to turn left at a light without an advanced green in this city? you can't! so what do you do? you do what you are taught to do in drive's training... pull into intersection on green, wait till traffic stops.... turn left.

if people did not do this then on some roads in this town you would NEVER be able to turn left, traffic would get even worse than it is now!
Why not wait at the stop line and if the light does a full cycle or two without you going, call he city and let them know? They'll fix it for everyone and problem solved.


Originally posted by ZeeZee
Are you one of the morons sitting at the stop line waiting for the intersection to clear while everyone behind you gets pissed off? Go back to driving school.
Ya, I guess I'm one of the morons that drives safely so I don't have to post my near death experiences on the internet.


Originally posted by ZeeZee
From the handbook:

Nowhere does it say you wait for the intersection to clear before entering.
Some people take driver's training in other provinces and other countries, they're not all the same. I was taught not to enter the intersection until you see a break in traffic. Also, did you notice the part in that handbook quote that said, "If you must enter the intersection..." So is it imperative that you enter the intersection on every single green light all the time? Or is that a choice you made?

[89s1]

Originally posted by Mar

Why not wait at the stop line and if the light does a full cycle or two without you going, call he city and let them know? They'll fix it for everyone and problem solved.


Ya, I guess I'm one of the morons that drives safely so I don't have to post my near death experiences on the internet.


Some people take driver's training in other provinces and other countries, they're not all the same. I was taught not to enter the intersection until you see a break in traffic. Also, did you notice the part in that handbook quote that said, &quot;If you must enter the intersection...&quot; So is it imperative that you enter the intersection on every single green light all the time? Or is that a choice you made?

Some of us live in the real world Mar.

Also, go back to drivers ed, you are the kind of driver that this world needs less of.

[speedog]

Originally posted by ZeeZee
My mistake was assuming the truck would stop at the red because he had more than enough room to do so, and that he wouldn't be going 80+, and that he wouldn't punch it. Just asking some beyonders who might happen to have experience driving semis - realistically, how much faster could a semi get going by "punching it" if it was already doing a supposed 80kph? What are the (if I can term it correctly) "roll-on" times for a semi to get from 80 to 90-100 kph? Estimations of loaded and empty times would also be appreciated because this might also have a bearing here although it's been my experience that semi's take a bit of time to gain speed, empty or loaded.

[ZeeZee]

The semi was flying in a 60 zone, looked like between 80-100, with no attempt to stop, and it was obvious he was accelerating rather than trying to slow down. I'm not saying he accelerated like a Porsche, but he was accelerating, we could hear the engine revving up, not gearing down.

He ran a very stale red.

[ZeeZee]

Originally posted by kaput
I've noticed a sudden increase in the number of people who will sit in a left turn lane behind 1 or 2 cars and then suddenly pull out and decide to go straight through right when someone coming from the opposite direction starts a left turn. What a clusterfuck that is.

And then they usually proceed to honk and give the finger... I've seen this a lot too. It's something I actually watch for now.



Originally posted by Mar

Why not wait at the stop line and if the light does a full cycle or two without you going, call he city and let them know? They'll fix it for everyone and problem solved.


Ya, I guess I'm one of the morons that drives safely so I don't have to post my near death experiences on the internet.


Some people take driver's training in other provinces and other countries, they're not all the same. I was taught not to enter the intersection until you see a break in traffic. Also, did you notice the part in that handbook quote that said, &quot;If you must enter the intersection...&quot; So is it imperative that you enter the intersection on every single green light all the time? Or is that a choice you made?

Drivers like you cause a lot of accidents, I don't care what third world country you learned how to drive in, learn how to drive here. Ever seen a police car make a left?

[Kloubek]

Sorry Mar, but I really don't think you have a clue in this case. The OP did everything right - he went into the intersection straight, and waited for his opportunity to go. Other cars stopped, and the semi decided not to, even though he was clearly in the wrong. (Assuming the story is exactly as it was told)

Zeezee: Yeah, maybe you could have waited for the semi. But then that puts you ni the middle of an intersection on an EXTREMELY stale red light. Sometimes, you need to assume others will do the right thing or you end up pissing a lot of people off and potentially causing more issues when other cars don't expect you to be where you are so late after you light changed.

It's one of those situations that you could *potentially* do either action, and neither is entirely wrong nor entirely right. At the end of the day, you guys were not hit - so let's all just be thankful for that.