As you just realized you claimed I said something that I didn't,
you have my permission to run away yipping with tail
between legs.

Don't worry Jazzman, you will get plenty of future opportunities
to claim that I said something I didn't.

I just hope you pay better attention to your driving
than you do to what people say in their Usenet posts ;-)

Ted

I have a variety of tricks I use to avoid prematurely slamming the brakes on
a new yellow in an intersection.  One of the simplest tricks is when
approaching
an intersection, even when it is a green light, put your foot on the
brake petal just enough to turn on the rear brake lights but not to actually
apply
braking force to the vehicle.  Do this way in advance of the intersection.
The vehicle behind you of course thinks your braking so they wake up from
whatever they are doing, and start braking as well.  By the time they figure
out
your not actually slowing down, they have opened a USABLE separation
distance between themselves and you.  This technique is discussed
in the drivers manual and particularly in the motorcyclist manual (as
motorcycles
have a lot shorter stopping distance than cars do and have to use these
kinds of
tricks to avoid getting pasted)  If you do it at every intersection it soon
becomes habit and you do it automatically whether someone is behind you
or not, then the day that your not paying attention to behind you and you
have a tailgater on your a.s, you don't get slammed.

Another trick is to slow way down before going through the intersection.
A panic stop from 10 MPH to zero at one of the "red light gotcha" photo
controlled intersections is survivable even if the truck driver behind you
is
sleeping and tailgating.   Most people unfortunately learn some really bad
habits when dealing with intersections, and one of those is to speed up
during the approach in hopes of "making the green"  This habit is compounded
because of the fact that the stop light to the intersection in many
intersections
is visible very very far in advance.  The driver sees the green 8 blocks
away
and subconsciously feels that they have a chance of making it if they just
gass it, even though a moments rational thought would tell them that they
are going to see the light go red before they get there.

There is a lot to be learned too about modifying the decelleration curve
on an intersection approach.  Most people gradually slow down, but
sometimes speeding up during the approach, then stomping on the brakes
at the last minute to slow WAY down to the stop line then stomping on
the gas to burn rubber through the intersection is a better way to do it.
This technique is very useful on uncontrolled intersections because it
drops a tailgater off your a.s, gives you excellent last-minute
stopping decision control, and because you seem to appear from thin
air to the crosswise traffic, and particularly because you are agressive
through the intersection, other drives of crosswise traffic are startled and
will wake up and not proceed through the intersection, instead of the usual
sleeping travel though.  It is also extremely useful if the crosswalk
approaches
are covered with trees as a ped may step out into the crosswalk at the
last minute, with no warning, then you can easily keep from pasting him.

Just today in fact I scared the sh.t out of a bicyclist who was riding in
the crosswalk, doing this.  That was a good thing as riding a bicycle in a
crosswalk is illegal - the bikers are supposed to either be in the street
or off their bike walking it through.  That in fact happened to be a
tree-covered
walk so the bicycle rider couldn't even see me coming before he
rode out into the crosswalk.  Extremely stupid on his part so he needed
to be taught a lesson.  I am a nasty boy at times.

Another trick on controlled intersections is to look at the WALK/DON'T WALK
pedestrian signs as an indicator of the imminent state of the light - it's
not
always reliable but usually these will turn to DONT WALK about 10 seconds
BEFORE the yellow goes on.

And of course, if your in congestion and are waiting in a line of cars,
another
trick is to pay attention to the light as it goes from red to green to red
to green
(assuming you can see it way in advance) and pay attention to the interval.
This is another thing that is also contrary to human nature since people
hate
waiting and waiting in a line makes them impatient, then when they are at
the intersection their impatience makes them lose their heads and they will
rush the light at the last minute.

Anyway, as I said this stuff isn't rocket science.  However it takes paying
attention
to the traffic and the other cars and observing what is going on - things
that
most drivers seem to not bother with these days.  And it absolutely requires
that
you simply cannot treat an intersection like any other part of the road and
just
cruise on through it without slowing down or doing -something-!

Ted

I love it.  Jim is a proponent of situational justice.  He only takes
responsibility for his actions when he feels like it.  Fortunately most
of us have a more permanent concept of right, wrong and personal
responsibility.

Jim, I don't know your age, but it is time to take on the
responsibilities of adulthood.