Originally Posted by
baj32161
Really? I recently read s news story where a cyclist blew a red light in, I believe it was Hawaii, and killed an elderly woman.
I didn't even have to read a news story to know that it's happened somewhere sometime to someone. I don't avoid being outside in a storm because lightening has killed people.
In the suburbs, no one walks anywhere, so there's no pedestrians to hit in the first place. (Gratuitous over-generalization, but in the hundreds of stop signs blown, I've encountered very few, and hit none.)
Not all stop signs gone through are "bad judgement." The ones that end badly are. It's all an exercise of GOOD judgement and avoiding making wrong judgement. Observe your surroundings; if there's still a question if it would be safe for you to cross, don't. Simple.
Secondly, while it may be your life, this kind of cavalier attitude seems to completely ignore the fact that this "bad judgement" can ruin the day, or the life of someone who may hit you because you saw fit to exercise such "bad judgement." If you think getting hit because you ran a stop sign only affects you, you are sadly mistaken.
I don't think all the injuries I could sustain and the emotional trauma that would come with, or my death, compares to a broken windshield, a fright, and feelings of guilt.
An friend of mine had a motorcyclist t-bone his SUV while he was crossing during a green light. The guy on the motorcycle died instantly. It did affect my friends life, strongly for a year or so, slightly for the rest of his life. The motorcyclist had it a little bit worse, he was dead.
You don't tell kids not to play basketball in the street because "someone might hit you, and it'll ruin their day."