How many of you have “pushed” a yellow light? If you truthfully have not, you've at least seen some one else do it. You've probably even seen people run lights that are already red (but, of course, you've never done that yourself.)  There are few consequences if only one vehicle is doing this and every one else is playing by the rules. But what if two, or more, drivers decide to push it?

Everyone seems in such a hurry today. People have become slaves to their schedules. Drivers have become so impatient. They HAVE to be somewhere minutes before they left to get there. (Perhaps we need more doctors driving because they have patients.)

"All of this makes intersections extremely interesting because we never know how someone is going to act."

All of this makes intersections extremely interesting because we never know how someone is going to act. The perils of riding through an intersection are many. We must be aware of the guy pushing the light from our left or right. We have to be careful that we don't push a light as someone else jumps their green light. We might even do it right, stopping as the light turns yellow, only to get run over by the vehicle behind us planning to follow us through.

Sometimes we can time the light just right as we approach it so we don't have to stop at all. Imagine a truck in the left lane waiting for the light as we move to the open right lane trying to time the light so we can keep moving when it turns green. Of course, while we are alongside the truck watching the light turn yellow then red the other way we can't see the car pushing the light from our left.

Intersections require special precautions because it seems like everyone expects the other driver to yield if they are forceful enough. After all, they are in a hurry. They also require special precautions because a crash impacts more than just us. Crashes impact the ones we love as well. They're they ones who worry and have to deal with the extra load while we heal, if we can.

There are many dangers we face when we ride and many of them are lurking at intersections. We must keep our wits about us and avoid situations that obstruct our field of view as we enter the corner. We must expect the unexpected from the other drivers as they rush to their destinations, oblivious of us are anything else except their own priorities. And we must make sure our own impatience doesn't lead us to push the envelope and take needless chances at intersections.

Intersections are interesting. It's fun to observe what people will do at them. But we must observe what they do and not get caught by it.

Ride Smart! Ride Safe!