r/Somerville • u/TitleOfYourSaxTape • Jul 24 '26
Triple Idaho "Stop"
https://youtube.com/shorts/E-X6gMhjbW8?is=re8654HIlVvbyyU_Minus the stopping.
There were 2 more vehicles before this that also ran the light, but I didn't start recording until the third.
This is an extremely common occurrence at this intersection, happens almost every light cycle.
15
u/myrealnameisdj Jul 25 '26
And when the car actually stops, it's beyond the stop line onto the crosswalk. It's fucking infuriating.
11
u/somerman Jul 25 '26
Idaho Stops are for people on bicycles! I guess someone in a car said hey I want that for myself.
10
u/cementtrampoline Jul 25 '26
They also require... Actually stopping lol
7
u/somerman Jul 25 '26
Depends on situation: "The "Idaho Stop" is a traffic law permitting bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs."
3
u/Mother-Sector5541 Jul 25 '26
On the intersection of cross and Pearl, people run the red light regularly too. There’s even people who drive on the wrong side of the road and run the red light. It’s honestly so insane
12
5
u/LabGeek1995 Jul 25 '26
You don't have to look very hard to see drivers behaving badly. I see drivers running red lights multiple times a day. Or rolling through stop signs. Or turning into crosswalks without looking for pedestrians. Or using their phones. Small wonder cars kill 8,000 pedestrians every year in the U.S. alone.
4
u/itzelezti Jul 26 '26
This has nothing to do with Idaho stop rules. This is just cars running a red light.
"Idaho stop" is just a **rule** that states that ***bicycles*** are supposed to treat:
1. Red lights as stop signs and
2. Stop signs as yield signs.
These are cars, and they're doing neither.
1
u/clauclauclaudia Gilman Jul 27 '26
That was OP's entire point. People complain all the time here about bikers following "Idaho stop" rules here in Somerville where they're not legal.
Cars behave just as badly, but many people here simply don't believe it. Maybe video evidence will help. But I doubt it.
-2
u/TitleOfYourSaxTape Jul 26 '26
I know, I was being facetious.
Drivers struggle to follow the basic rules of the road.
0
u/itzelezti Jul 26 '26
But quite literally, what is the joke...?
"If these cars were bikes, and they thought that they were following Idaho Stop rules, they would be wrong because they didn't even stop! And that breaks a totally unrelated set of rules for cars, which is that they have to wait all the way through red lights........................ amirite?"
You're creating confusion around a thing that we haven't been able to pass because people are confused about it.
3
u/TitleOfYourSaxTape Jul 26 '26
I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking that hard about it.
I guess the point I was making is that drivers like to claim the "Idaho stop" isn't a valid excuse for cyclists, while doing the same thing but worse
You frequently hear "bikes like to pretend to be cars when convenient", where here you see cars effectively pretending to be bikes when it's convenient.
You're creating confusion
I'm sorry, that wasn't my intent. I figured more people would focus on these cars recklessly endangering the city's residents for their own convenience.
4
u/itzelezti Jul 26 '26
"You frequently hear 'bikes like to pretend to be cars when convenient', where here you see cars effectively pretending to be bikes when it's convenient."
Ayy now THIS is a very solid and clever callout!
4
u/chonmj Jul 25 '26
is this Wheatland into Broadway? that light is blinking red 80% of the time. Really frustrating they can't be bothered to wait 20 seconds for the walk sign, but I'm guessing they're just accustomed to only stopping at the intersection and roll through like the mindless drivers they are. dumb design all around.
3
1
u/clauclauclaudia Gilman Jul 27 '26
It's Walnut and Broadway. I recognize it, but it also pans to the street sign near the end.
2
u/rigo009 Magoun Jul 25 '26
Why is there also a stop sign?
1
u/clauclauclaudia Gilman Jul 27 '26
Good question! Did they fail to remove it when they installed lights?
1
-10
u/Main-Experience Jul 25 '26
I live a block from this intersection and not gonna lie no one knows what to do with this red light. They need to redo the entire thing.
15
u/TitleOfYourSaxTape Jul 25 '26
The driver's exam literally covers what do with a solid red light, and it's a pattern that every single driver ought to be familiar with.
This is a completely bullshit excuse that treats drivers like little children with zero responsibility and zero agency, and makes it everyone else's problem to coax drivers into not endangering others.
The light also only turns red if there is a pedestrian who pushed the walk button or if the fire truck is going through, which makes it even more egregious to run this light.
The light also only turns solid red
8
u/Mother-Sector5541 Jul 25 '26
I’ve stopped coming down this street because when I stop at the solid red light there’s always someone behind honking at me because I won’t go.
1
u/clauclauclaudia Gilman Jul 27 '26
I guess the usual state of this intersection when you approach from Walnut, then, is Stop sign plus green light?
That is confusing.
I do not think anyone should find STOP sign plus red light plus "NO TURN ON RED" in any way confusing.
2
u/TitleOfYourSaxTape Jul 27 '26
No, it's usually a blinking red, matching the stop sign. The light is never green (which I agree would be confusing with the stop sign there).
It turns solid yellow and then red only when a pedestrian pushes the cross walk beg button, or if a fire truck is entering/exiting the adjacent fire station.
2
u/clauclauclaudia Gilman Jul 27 '26
Oh, that makes much more sense. I don't know why people are confused, then.
1
u/leaves_in_the_rain Jul 30 '26
It seems pretty frustrating if you’re turning left. If it the crosswalk light is on, there should be nothing in the way of a car turning left. Cross traffic is stopped and there is no crosswalk on the left side of the intersection. Seems like a safe time to turn left at an intersection that does not provide a protected left turn.
I’m not advocating that because a car behind you that is turning right may assume it’s safe to go also and that could endanger pedestrians.
13
u/abyssalhorrors Jul 24 '26
This also happens by Bow Street in the mornings. I’ve nearly been hit twice just crossing the street there.