Turning on red will boost traffic safety

Scenario:  Little Susie is learning to drive. She is going west on Cedar, driving in the left turn lane approaching Fifth Avenue. The light is red. Mr. Sandpoint, driving in front of her, stops at the light, then with no traffic coming, he turns left into the far right lane, thus breaking not one but two traffic laws.

Little Susie stops;  there is still no one coming on Fifth, and Ms. Sagle, behind Susie, honks her horn. Little Susie is confused. The sign states, “no turn on red”  but Ms. Sagle is still honking her horn.

After a minute of this, little Susie decides she should turn. She turns into the first lane going in her direction, the correct way to turn a corner, but still it is an illegal turn because of the “no turn on red” sign. This is a true story; only the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

Nearly every time I go through that intersection, I see someone make an illegal turn. Often there is an officer nearby, completely ignoring the infraction. I have even seen a police car turn left on red at that corner.

Why have signs, rules and regulations at all if they are not going to be enforced? Not enforcing laws, no matter how stupid the law, teaches people that it is OK to disobey all laws, don’t you think? And don’t even get me started on bicyclists, skateboarders  and pedestrians ignoring stop signs, red lights, etc. and being ignored by law enforcement.

I am very pro-law enforcement, and do appreciate the circumstances under which the police operate, but in Sandpoint, it seems as though minor offences are ignored until a tragic accident occurs, and then we go to the extreme and put into operation a law that is completely ridiculous and 99.9 percent unnecessary.  When an accident happens in the new round-about, are we going to tear it out and put that intersection back the way it was?

How is putting up a sign making it illegal to turn on a red light going to prevent the death of another pedestrian if everyone, including the police, ignores the sign? Wouldn’t it make more sense to make the laws logical and practical, and then enforce them? Please remove the “no turn on red” sign!

ROBERT ASHBROOK

Sandpoint