Tripping The Light Phantasm
Posted on | August 1, 2008 at 8:19 am | 2 Comments
I finally went jogging again this morning after a break. It’s not like I’ve had any health issues or anything. I just haven’t had time in the morning lately. And I don’t like running when it’s hot. Yesterday we broke the record for the most consecutive days over 90°, and the heat shows no signs of letting up soon. It’s also been very dry with little precipitation. They say the next three days should top out in the three digits. This is one hot, dry July. But thankfully, there’s no such thing as global warming. The weird thing is that I told myself I was going to really get into shape before the reunion this weekend, yet I ended up hardly running at all the past few weeks, and I’ve been eating like a pig and actually gained 3-4 pounds over the last week. *Sigh*
Anyway, something very odd happened to me this morning while jogging. As I explained way back in this post, there’s a stoplighted intersection I go through on my run every day that is on the night cycle when I start, and on the day cycle when I circle back to it. This means that when I first encounter it on my run, it’s flashing red in my direction and flashing yellow in the other direction. Flashing red means that cars alongside me are supposed to treat the intersection as a stop sign, which they do. Flashing yellow means that the drivers going the perpendicular directions are supposed to slow down and use caution when entering the intersection, which they never do.
I can’t hit the “walk” button, because it doesn’t do anything when the lights are on the night cycle. So I have to wait for a break in traffic, between the cars who have the yellow light, before I can cross the intersection. This is usually not a big problem. Even though I’m running across six lanes of traffic, there usually is not that many cars on the road at that time of the morning.
This morning, for the first time ever, one of the drivers who had the flashing yellow light not only slowed down, but actually stopped at it and waved me through the intersection. It was a dude in a fairly new covered pickup truck. I don’t know if he was confused about what to do at the flashing yellow light, or if he was just trying to be nice, but it shocked me.
Of course the flipside is that it kind of annoyed me. I could’ve been through the intersection faster if he had just gone through it and not slowed down/stopped. There were no other cars on the road. But I do have to say I was somewhat impressed, as most of the drivers don’t even notice I’m waiting there, not even the ones who are waiting at the flashing red to make a left or right turn in front of me. Those people never let me go first.
So, here’s to you, anonymous courteous driver. Even though you probably violated a traffic law by stopping, and you caused me to lose some seconds off my run, it was still a nice and unexpected thing for you to do. I hope the rest of my day is as nice.
Latre.
Jogged Today: Yes (@ 65°F)
Songs That Came Up On The iPod While Jogging:
- “Blood And Thunder” (Poi Dog Pondering)
- “Come Back To Life” (Koufax)
- “Never Again” (Pete Shelley)
- “Go-Go Dancer” (Wedding Present)
- “Soundtrack” (B-Movie)
- “In Love With Somebody Else” (Pete Shelley)
- “Spoke Is The Joke” (The Celebrity Pilots)
The iPod really loved Pete Shelley today!
Poignant Search Term Of The Day That Led To This Blog: “zilla”.
Comments
2 Responses to “Tripping The Light Phantasm”
August 1st, 2008 @ 5:07 pm
Even though you probably violated a traffic law by stopping, and you caused me to lose some seconds off my run, it was still a nice and unexpected thing for you to do.
What traffic law would he be violating? If you, as a pedestrian, got to the intersection first, then you had the right of way. He’s supposed to stop for you. The flashing yellow light he sees is irrelevant to the situation.
If you didn’t want him to stop for you, you could simply face away from the intersection briefly. Then he’d have the right of way.
August 1st, 2008 @ 9:23 pm
I feel your pain. Yesterday, I stopped for a ped who was in the crosswalk (which, of course, I’m legally obligated to do…not that you’d guess that by most drivers’ behavior) – which confused the poop out of her. Fortunately, not literally so.