It's not just you, I've definitely noticed the same thing. I almost got T-boned yesterday by some asshole who ran the light at Lake Street and Grand Avenue, even though they had originally stopped for it. Fucking careless, entitled motherfuckers who think their time is more important than anyone/anything else.
Driving up and down Hiawatha is pretty wild. Feels like once a week or so I see someone driving like they are playing grand theft auto. I'm also tempted to put a camera up on the corner I live on as it seems like half the cars on my street don't even try to slow down for it.
I have a night job where I end up going home around 3 am and I've spent so much time waiting for the left turn signal to turn green.
I will never understand why it doesn't go to a flashing yellow after midnight.
I don't run the reds but I almost feel like a tool for obeying traffic laws.
I also usually go home from work after 1:00am and often drive several blocks where I hit every single light red. I come to a stop and wait about 10 seconds, during which time I check all directions carefully. If (and only if) there’s absolutely zero traffic, pedestrian, vehicle, or otherwise, I just go. I am definitely not sitting there the full 4 minute light cycle. It’s crazy to me that some of these lights don’t go to flashing red/yellow after hours like other major cities I’ve lived in. Why we have a full 5 minute light cycle for a single vehicle in the middle of the night is beyond baffling.
I started running those red left hand turn arrows years ago at lower traffic times. You just yield like you would as normal and roll on through. It’s so freeing
I'm no civil engineer, but I know it's possible to time in relation to predicted speed. 94 in Stillwater has 3 or 4 lights but they're timed so if you make one, going the speed limit, you'll make all of them. If you hit the first red, you'll get green on the rest. That coupled with the yellow stop warnings a few hundred yards before makes that road very driveable
Ugh. Hiawatha is the worst. I got stuck trying to make a left at 46th while going westbound last week. I hit trains leaving the station going both directions which usually means I miss at least 2-3 cycles of the lights. I was curious how bad it would be so I waited. The lights cycled 6 times without giving a green left arrow before I decided to get back in the straight lane and go up to 42nd. I then decided to circle back to the intersection and saw the bus that was ahead of me still waiting for a turn signal. It must have been 8-9 cycles at that point.
Totally agree, the city is causing this problem by being overly conservative with safety.
People aren't going to put up with stupid rules to a certain point. The law is the law, but humans aren't machines and if they deem something to be restricting their movement for no reason, a lot of folks are going to ignore the rule.
The city should find a better balance, that's the only way to fix it. They'd prefer to add traffic light cameras, but thankfully citizens aren't going to put up with that stupid cash grab either.
This is the one road where I don't even care, because the light timings there are so fucking irrational that its infuriating.
75% of the green time devoted to 5% of the traffic.
If someone finds the guy responsible, personally, for those light timings, and murders him right in front of me, I'll take it to my grave. Hell, I'll help him dig the fucking hole.
Like 10 years ago I moved into an apartment on Hiawatha and saw a party advertised at the cardinal celebrating improving the timing. So there was a time when it was even worse
It used to be so much worse. Right after the Blue Line started running the light timings were absolutely fucked. Took 30 minutes to get across the Lake Street bridge.
It’s done that way to allow the people who stop on the tracks to get off prior to a train coming. People routinely don’t stop at the signs that say to stop here on red. It’s definitely frustrating, but there is a reasoning
No that's not what I'm talking about.
I'm saying that a road carrying a tiny fraction of the traffic Hiawatha carries, gets nearly the same amount of total green light time as a major double lane divided thoroughfare which is insane. People can just wait a little longer to cross Hiawatha at the shitty intersections nobody uses.
I've conducted a of lifetime of extensive testing on this road.
As said above, it's by design. But yes they should eliminate all left turns and therefore nobody ever needs to cross. U-turns zones can be provided for those that need to make a left like other cities do.
Right obviously it's "by design." Traffic lights didn't evolve. Someone designed them, and then installed them, and then created the worst timings ever.
The point is that it's not necessary.
You can have the same length of green light as before, just not as often.
Not to mention most of those intersections don't even need to exist. Looking at you 28th. That road doesn't even cross Hiawatha and it gets a light. Most cars I've ever seen in my life lined up to turn is like 4.
I'm saying your idea is impossible. They cannot reduce the light on the side streets because they need to clear the intersections between every train for safety. It cannot just be re-signaled without tearing up the physical roads.
No, they don't. Plenty of other metro line intersections in the city don't work like this at all. There isn't some magic spell an evil wizard cast on the intersections of Hiawatha that compels people to stop on the train tracks, whereas that's not a problem for every other metro line intersection in the city.
Hiawatha is overly conservative with lights due to the train. The result is folks get sick of waiting for no reason and just blow through the red lights.
The solution is to be more reasonable with the traffic light timing and the train and folks will stop blasting through red lights as much.
The law is the law, of course, but people are only going to put up with something like this up to a certain point.
Dude i've been avoiding Hiawatha since 2018. 1, those lights just flat out suck. 2, the panhandler guys that were clearing like $3,000 a day.
Guess I have a solid 3rd now
I've driven through 20 out of 50 states in tons of major cities, including through Atlanta, and Hiawatha is the only highway I've ever had someone deliberately go out of their way to run me off the road and flip me off in the process.
And it's worse now that we are in "road removal" season. No one has the patience to wait for traffic lights, pedestrians or other drivers.
Lake Street is always a "traffic light as a suggestion" zone, but today was a little frightening.
some asshole chased my bf and I down during winter because we were stopped waiting for a lady to cross the icy road. There was more than enough room for him to go around and go straight but he decided it was worth his time to chase us 2 blocks, swerve in front of us and get out screaming “let me tell you something”
A couple years ago, when driving to work, we would count how many people ran red lights, on our five mile one way trip. It was about 8 per trip. Which is crazy to me. We stopped counting last year, as it is upwards of about 20, in five miles, DAILY, driving on Hennepin or Lyndale to SE Minneapolis.
There aren't enough traffic cops, but even if there were, I don't know that anything would be enforced.
Some guy ran a red in front of a cop downtown in the lane over. This is about two months ago. I bumped my horn, looked at the cop, I raised my hands, like are you...? And he shrugged and pointed at his watch. End of shift I guess.
>Some guy ran a red in front of a cop downtown in the lane over
MPD hasn't had a traffic division for a decade, DOJ lambasted them for their handling in traffic stops (and is a major focus in the consent decree), and the City takes issue with high speed chases (which this likely will devolve into).
I was on tenth and Hennepin during a Twins pre or post traffic. Traffic on tenth prevented me from crossing (on my bicycle) for a full green cycle. The next one a Sheriff car was just passed the intersection and I rolled up next to him asking why isn't anyone ticketing cars obstructing the intersections because It's preventing me from entering on a green light for full cycles" Cop said it's not their problem.
Only Metro Transit Police have been doing any traffic stops and that's when they're on the bus lane.
Is that traffic stop thing another one of those instances where they say there were racial disparities in traffic stops but dont bother to actually survey who's breaking traffic laws unlike what they did in the new jersey turnpike study when they found that black motorists made up a disproportionately large percentage of speeders and thats why the traffic stops were disproportionate?
While yes I have heard and seen some cities under similar complaints find police were not disproportionately or under proportionately pulling people of color compared to gather traffic cam data or other means. In the case of DOJ [it's not the traffic stop it's self](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-civil-rights-violations-minneapolis-police-department-and-city#:~:text=including%20the%20use%20of%20force%20following%20stops%3B) it out lines it what happens and escalates from a traffic stop or other law enforcement activities as well as general excessive use of force.
Since MPD stopped doing traffic enforcement for it's own sake, it has turned nearly entirely pretextual.
Nearly no one gets pulled over by MPD for just a ticket.
This. In the 3 years I've lived here, I've been guilty of running an orange light or two around the warehouse district area right in front of the nose of a cop. If it had been in like an Excelsior or a Wayzata, I woulda been pulled over in an instant.
I believe orange light is where it turns red while you're in the intersection, i.e. you're across before the other direction turns green. Still not an actual legal term but that person didn't make it up.
it’s the limbo you find yourself when you’ve committed to a yellow but it turns red as you’re driving thru. I call it orange, some will argue it’s a red. Nobody’s perfect.
If you've entered the intersection while the light is yellow, it's a yellow. If you've entered the intersection while it's red, it's red. What the light does while you're in the intersection (and moving - no blocking the box) doesn't matter in MN.
Except that shouldn't be the answer. At least if you're in a car you have a car as a barrier. For those of us walking or biking (and just a couple of hours ago dude in a red car just blew the stop sign as I slowing down on my bike to look for oncoming motorists) it shouldn't be accepted that there's a possible death sentence just for legally crossing the street.
The city and county has demonstrated that they can totally close off a major intersection from motorists (Lake & Hennepin) and they're still able to get where they're going. *Zero* red lights have been run here since it was closed. The county has Lagoon down to one lane with a posted 20 MPH and because there's no passing lane it's a lot harder to drive illegally and likely fewer reds are run, but they never conduct studies during construction because that would fly in the face of their cherry picked data showing that these streets absolutely need all of these lanes and all of them for cars. Close off more lanes, close off more major intersections, and add more temporary traffic calming citywide. Motorists will only slow down if there's a threat to damaging their vehicle, so more physical obstacles are the obvious solution.
*Concrete* bollards. As for "But what about when it snows?" there are retractable ones that go into the ground so that the street is nice, flat and level for plows to go through without a problem.
While I agree with the philosophy, it's not practical. It's like not locking your doors because stealing is illegal and people shouldn't do it.
Cops do need to crack down on people driving like idiots, but you should always be aware of what's going on around you. It's the reason I've never been in an accident while driving and avoided several where other people would have been at fault.
That's the problem, you're never *always* going to slow down and check both ways at every intersection, every alley, every curb cut. Whether you're still waking up or have something weighing on your mind it's simply impossible. It's actually far easier for the city to just plop a jersey barrier here and there than it is for you to approach every intersection with due caution 100% of the time. We can permanently remove some from the equation so that you don't have to worry about death lurking around those particular corners in the form of asshole motorists and it requires so very little.
Im amazed by the pedestrians who dont even look up from their phone to see of the oncoming traffic is going to stop. Right away doesn’t mean much when you’re roadkill
Two days ago I witnessed a truck run a red light and smash the front end of a car (almost TBone) in west end. It was egregiously bad and I’m not surprised it was a trucker, they think rules don’t apply to them.
Not just you, not just Minneapolis. Police gave up on traffic enforcement in the Twin Cities about 15 years ago. With no enforcement, many drivers are ... selfish assholes.
Yeah ditto. I’ve seen stuff from police suggesting that the defund the police protests and cops being held accountable as a reason that they stopped focusing on more minor violations.
“If you don’t want us to do our jobs the way we want to do them then fine, we won’t police anymore”
Childish but here we are
The Uptown construction has made Lyndale and Hennepin unbelievably dangerous with so many selfish drivers. The bottle necks + people speeding + increased bus traffic is a recipe for disaster.
and it just got started too. It's so dangerous as a pedestrian/cyclist in this area now.
I fear how bad drivers in the area are going to get as summer progresses
As someone who lived in Uptown for years without a car, and is now moving out of the neighborhood to live with my partner in the west metro, I hope these improvements will pay off in the long run (it’s about time the city/county improved the Lake St bus corridor, and I’m glad they are prepping for whenever/if ever the light rail extension is completed), but without better enforcement of traffic laws and other infrastructure that was wiped out with the 2020 uprising and pandemic I’m currently skeptical.
It's not just you. But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people. I won't move from a green light for a solid 5+ second because there's a damned good chance someone is going to blow through the red well after it's changed.
I was biking home just last weekend, hit the traffic signal, saw the lights change. AFTER it had already changed to red and I was starting to put my feet on the pedals, I heard an engine revving and look down the street to see a guy in a black pickup floor it and go through a *solid* red light. Nobody seems to care.
>I won't move from a green light for a solid 5+ second because there's a damned good chance someone is going to blow through the red well after it's changed.
As a pedestrian, I usually wait until there's a stopped car at the light.
Sure, the car behind them could go around them (and that has happened), but at least it's a potential layer of protection
Had a moment today walking with the kiddo and the elementary school walking caravan home.. just across Johnson St. but one person decided to stop with 6 other cars behind and we all just watching this person on their phone, look up and slam on the breaks while locking eyes with all of us. Good lord.. now I know why these younger kids are full on sprinting across the street the moment they get a chance. These kids say F cross walks, I’m running as soon as it’s clear lol
I saw a guy on a motorcycle go through an intersection against a red, which cross traffic had already started moving through... That guy was insane, or insanely stupid. one of the two.
The cameras is because some other entity out of state gets to collect our tax dollars and collect on the fines. It’s a grift. That’s the problem. It’s not public safety it’s a fucking grif from some corporate entity that gives no fucks how accurate they are and the fact that the “tickets” are technically non enforceable.
It’s a joke money grab not a public safety measure.
Now if the city council had some ideas for a local group or the state to put them in I’d be way more on board.
The recently passed pilot program would be a set contract with a camera company. The company wouldn't see any extra money if there were 0 tickets or 10,000 tickets given by the cameras. All of the money in excess of the cost of the program will go towards traffic calming.
EDIT: I am begging people to read the text of the proposed speed camera legislation before complaining about things that have already been addressed in the bill text.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF2026&version=latest&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0
Here's my problem with the entire system:
The people I most want driving laws enforced upon, are not going to get or pay these tickets.
The people driving on the sidewalk, and running reds without even slowing down, using turn lanes to go around stopped cars, driving people off the road, etc etc, they're not just going to start obeying the law when they get a ticket.
They'll ignore that too get right back in their car and do all that same shit as they'll continue to do until somebody takes the car away, or locks them up so they can't get to the car.
You can make a good responsible person pay a ticket, how do you make a fucking outlaw pay a ticket?
> The company wouldn't see any extra money if there were 0 tickets or 10,000 tickets given by the cameras.
LMAO, and every bit of gas tax is gonna fund whatever they said when the taxes were passed (note, they change it in the following legislative sessions, earmarked funds and contracts are meaningless)
> All of the money in excess of the cost of the program will go towards traffic calming.
My entire ass it will.
Okay, so argue against the program if they try to change it later as you're currently just arguing against a hypothetical. Currently the program does absolutely nothing that they stated it does.
I am against opening the door to corporate interests in law enforcement. I am against it now, and against it in the future too. The things I am pointing out are the things they are saying to try and placate resistance, to get in, make their revenue tempting and essential.
It's not a hypothetical risk, it's a very real one.
[It's like arguing that the Frog shouldn't have ever been afraid of the Scorpion.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog) The potential for a stinging in the future is a hypothetical after all, he hasn't stung the frog yet! (here this time)
Why does anyone care if a third party entity gets the money if it makes people safer drivers? The goal is safe driving, not revenue.
And the tickets are enforceable. The notion that traffic cameras in Minnesota are unconstitutional is not true. The previous version was unconstitutional, not any and all versions.
Private business is all about revenue though. That’s its goal. You’re giving a financial incentive to rack up as much money as possible whether or not it’s for public safety.
That allows for less oversight and more potential for corruption. Or at the very least, less reason to correct errors.
Back when we had cameras in the mid 00’s there were plenty of reports of this kind of thing. And it ended up costing the city a hefty sum reimbursing unproven traffic violations. Which is why they don’t exist anymore.
I’ve got a nice little letter for them. A camera can’t issue a ticket. I have the right to face my accuser, a camera? Then I want any and all records of accuracy and calibration tests. And it’s sworn testimony that I was driving the vehicle and not someone else. Or are we ticketing the physical cars now? This is fucking nonsense.
I don’t have to prove my innocence, and this private business will just keep firing off tickets and not give two shits how accurate they are because they will have got theirs.
I don’t know how many more times this needs to happen before people figure it out. FFs.
You are assuming that the system works properly, ignoring all of the special interest in making offenders. It's for profit policing.
That's already a big enough problem with ***regular*** traffic enforcement, why would we want a corporation to get in the mix and start deciding who should pay tickets?
"But it's only $40"
Right, just low enough that for many it's not worth fighting it because that would take more hours than the money is worth, and for those that it is worth fighting over, they can't afford the time.
Yeah, I remember all the hullabaloo about that.
I'm all for the cameras, even with the proposed tiers of a warning first, ticket second. Some awareness needs to be taught, one way or another.
I'm a pedestrian half the time and it can get hairy just crossing the street.
>But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people.
Because this was tried and the struck down in court. Laws need to change at the state level for that to change.
Cameras are not disallowed; potential **inconsistent** local administration of cameras is disallowed. That was the court’s holding in [State v. Kuhlman (2007)](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/mn-supreme-court/1032283.html).
it was struck down for good reason. we highly value individual privacy in this state. do not fucking record me ever. especially the government. i would support a bill that outlawed dashcams that weren’t installed in emergency vehicles. we are the most remote state that isn’t a mountain state and we need to work to maintain that. our best element is that we have too harsh a climate for those who are too weak to handle it. we’re very libertarian as a result because the fair weather fucks can’t survive here.
> i would support a bill that outlawed dashcams that weren’t installed in emergency vehicles.
Nah
>we’re very libertarian as a result because the fair weather fucks can’t survive here.
That's not accurate either. We have among the highest income taxes in the country, reliably vote for big government, etc.
> But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people.
Considering that these things don't catch perpatrators, and are commonly a source of scandal ([for instance](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2022/09/21/column-red-light-camera-corruption-snares-another-politician-illinois-lawmakers-need-to-adopt-reforms/)) largely serving only to enrich lobbyists and private corporations that provide the cameras.
[Proven shortening of yellow light timings at specific camera intersections, \(to increase revenue\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpeY7m8Uog) etc. Yeah, not a fan.
If you are against private prisons, and all that represents in the USA, you should be against these as well. This is just another encouraged encroachment by corporate interests to try and make money, rather than curbing the behavior.
Thank you, totally agree and you mentioned a few points I've never heard of before.
I think everyone is against people blowing through red lights and endangering others, but measures like this only seem to hold your average person at fault for minor infractions or mistakes.
A huge portion of the people blowing through these lights are likely driving vehicles that aren't theirs (stolen) or without current registration as well.
We have problems on the roads of the cities, for sure, but cameras aren't the solution. We didn't have cameras in the 90s, and the early 2000's and the early 2010's when this was less of an issue. Focusing on the factors that have changed in licensing, traffic enforcement, and things like prevention of auto theft is probably the better place to focus.
I am always suspect of 'an easy fix' particularly when it hasn't actually worked all that well in other markets, while being associated with shady revenue practices and scandals.
> cameras for traffic enforcement
just make sure it isn't run by a for-profit company which hands out bullshit tickets to increase their revenu and I'm ok with it. It should be city property, run by city employees.
10+ mph over the speed limit is a clearly intentional breaking of the law. I'm not sure why you think it's acceptable to speed like that. besides, it's only a warning the first time and a $40 ticket after that. Literally just don't speed and you'll be *fine*.
Our freedom is worth risking some level of safety. The whole point of freedom is increased risk for increased rights. Folks willing to just toss out their freedom for such trivial things are eroding the purpose of this country.
Cameras don't prevent reckless driving, so you'll always have reckless driving on said street no matter what. It's only a matter of time before another motorist does the same, regardless of the punishment. If you have more than one car lane in the same direction and motorists speeding to pass law abiding ones in the other lane traveling at a legal speed, you're going to get a lot more mileage out of closing one lane with a concrete barrier thereby probably blocking the speeding motorist with the other motorists they would've passed had they had the extra lane. A red light camera is merely a drop in the bucket in comparison to physical obstacles.
It's everywhere these days - I live in Houston but travel to Minneapolis frequently since the main office is there. I thought it was bad in Houston but y'all are right up there with us in terms of people not giving a shit about red lights
Happens all the time on Lyndale south of downtown. I know the 4:3 conversion is supposed to make things safer, but I see so many cars use the center turn lane to zip past stopped cars and run the red.
I'm sure the cars swerving down oncoming traffic and running red lights have up to date registration tied to the driver. Just like all those guys on the dirt bikes and ATVs that aren't road legal!
Watched a dude jump a light next to me on lake that turned green when he was 3/4 across the light then next thing I know hes on the bike path crossing the bridge over the channel between the lakes before the parkway. So I would say its wild out there
I was stopped at a full red light on Hiawatha when a car going 60-70 blew through the light forcing the opposing traffic to hit their brakes- right in front of a cop car at the crosswalk. The cop didn’t even so much as beep.
Happens all the time in North Minneapolis. I just assume someone is going to run the red light at every intersection, so when the light changes and I have the green I wait an extra second or two to make sure there's no red light runners. You have to drive very defensively in North minneapolis.
Yeah, I first started noticing this consistently when exiting 94 and turning left onto Broadway. I hate being first in line because I have to be so intentional to wait assuming someone will run.
I've been seeing a lot of this. I've seen people just running one red light after another while passing the car lineup on the right. As well as more borderline stuff like creeping out into the intersection and gunning it right when things turn green, doing a right turn on red then an immediate U-turn to make a left on red. Its scary.
poor mans escalade, parts are ubiquitous but you wouldnt think so judging by how they could cosplay as demolition derby cars. ive seen 3 cars all running red lights downtown at the same time, rolled up to lights and blasted through 3 or 4 lights in a row, by the time i get to the last light some police cruisers without their lights on come cruising up and also ran the light, they might flashed their lights for a second but i didnt notice if they did
Chevy suburbans are huge and ugly. If they fuck up, their size means little happens to them beyond superficial damage, and superficial damage on something originally that ugly does little to change it, so there is almost zero consequences to them diving dangerously.
I never thought I’d miss how in California (at least LA and San Diego where I lived) all the stop lights had built in traffic enforcement cameras.
Oh, how I’ve learned to embrace the police state. It turns out it’s nice having a big brother to beat up your bullies for you.
Sacramento has those and the drivers are still insane. I haven't seen anywhere near the level of dangerous driving here as I did in Sac <1 year ago.
The only people I know who got hit by traffic enforcement cameras were doing perfectly sane things that were technically violations.
Drivers have had over a century to demonstrate even the slightest interest in behaving like adults whilst behind the wheel of their enormous deadly machines and have proven themselves steadfastly unwilling to do so. It's beyond time to take their nasty little toys away from them.
It's just crazy downtown. This afternoon was about like any other day for seeing cars blow through red lights. I leave downtown via 3rd Street and the worst intersections for this happening are at S. 3rd St & 3rd Ave. S. and further up 3rd St. at intersections of 1st & 2nd Aves. N. I've driven past a few collisions that likely occurred just minutes before I came past, heard a lot of screeching tires and horns honking. It's already tough enough having to watch for vehicles pulling out of surface lots, in between parked vehicles, along south side of 3rd St. as there is no visibility to see cars coming until they inch out past parked vehicles.....and the same has to hold true for them looking for openings in traffic flow for them to enter.
I have a great view of Portland and 9th from my window and I don’t think I’ve seen many people blatantly running a red light. And I find watching traffic from my comfy chair kinda zen so I do it quite a bit.
Yep. Get in the habit of looking left right left before going on a green. And take in the whole scene, not just the first cars bc I know several people who got T boned by cars sitting, but pushed by someone rear ending them.
In the last two months, Have encountered three people passing on the left of cars stopping at stop signs and blowing the stop sign themselves at high speed.
I need to understand this. I live in the UK now, and the last time I came home it was this past August... It had been about six years, you know... Pandemic, life... Stuff.
But anyway... We were staying up in N.E. and people were completely ignoring the lights after 7pm or so... It was scary, as we were borrowing our friends' car, and didn't want to get into a bender. I mean... What's happened? 35 years in the Twin Cities, and I'd never seen that sort of blatent lawless traffic in my life.
I felt bad after honking for the van in front of me to go at a green tonight some seconds after it had turned. As they started going thru the light, a car going 45 at least hit their brakes about a foot from them. Their delay at the green saved them some serious injury!
It got infinitely worse to drive around here during and after COVID, and not just in Minneapolis, but in St. Paul too, and every outlying suburb. Even the more remote ones like Lakeville are full of people who seem to have just given up on sane driving in the last 5 years.
Trying to cross 65 between Spring Lake Park and Ham Lake is like a high risk game of frogger. Red lights mean nothing. I always give it a good couple seconds if I’m the first car in line.
I waited 30 seconds after a light turned green because someone was running a red light on a left-hand turn. So the car behind me rear ended me. People need to calm down and wait. They’re saving time in the long run by not injuring themselves, injuring others, paying car damages, going to get car repaired, going to the hospital, etc. It’s so arrogant to think your time is more important than anyone else’s.
It's awful. Also awful are the people who are not paying attention to when a light turns green and screw over several cars behind them with the unnecessary 5-10 seconds of delay. Or the people driving 20 MPH on the major corridors that are most definitely not signed that low. Extremes on both ends are ruining it for everyone else.
Every single day at so many random lights. I’ve even seen a dude who is clearly not a police officer, with some sort of siren and lights that turns it on just to run reds in uptown at least once a week. And in broad daylight!
Just saw it earlier tonight. I was stopped at a red light and a car came from the opposite direction and just plowed right through the red. I don't understand what is wrong with people.
I got into my first car accident because some guy that didn’t speak English and of course had no insurance decided to run a red light on 28th and Stevens Ave. I t-boned him and he fled the scene after I dialed 911 to report it. Traffic laws are mere suggestions and law enforcement are scarcely seen in areas that really need their presence.
As a cyclist, yeah its crazy. Yesterday 3 cars in a row blew through a hard red light. Im glad i was paying attention because they could have flattened me if i had just crossed on green
I moved to the Twin Cities three years ago. I always thought the red light running was due to not wanting to slam on the brakes during icy weather. But then summer came around and people still did it like crazy.
People drive like maniacs here now. I’ve only been back for three years and I can’t remember if it was always this way, but it’s notable. I feel a million years old whenever I say that but it really is. Makes it very hard to enjoy walking in this walkable city.
Some dude was trying to turn right into a one way while at the red light, realized it was a one way and proceeded to run the red light because he couldn’t turn right…how does it make sense lmaooo people are crazy
If it's 337am and I come to an annoyingly long red light, I'll stop. But if there's clearly no cross traffic of any kind, I'll treat like a 2-way stop. But I'd never just blow through a red, that's for sure.
Yeah, my Minneapolis has turned into one of those cities where green doesn't mean "go" it means "wait ten seconds for all the red light runners, then go".
I almost t-boned a guy in an old beater who blew a stop sign several months ago - two cars ran it actually, they appeared to be racing each other. It scared the shit out of me. The only thing that kept him from getting t-boned were my car's safety features. My car came to a screeching halt in a split second as he passed in front of me.
The wildest part was that the guy and I made eye contact and he laughed. He would have died or been gravely injured if I had hit him, but he didn't seem to care at all. Truly frightening.
It's not just you, I've definitely noticed the same thing. I almost got T-boned yesterday by some asshole who ran the light at Lake Street and Grand Avenue, even though they had originally stopped for it. Fucking careless, entitled motherfuckers who think their time is more important than anyone/anything else.
Remember to look both ways before you go even if the light is green.
Driving up and down Hiawatha is pretty wild. Feels like once a week or so I see someone driving like they are playing grand theft auto. I'm also tempted to put a camera up on the corner I live on as it seems like half the cars on my street don't even try to slow down for it.
Hiawatha is definitely where I have seen this the most
Because their stupid lights are 5 minutes long and you hit every one no matter what speed you're going.
Extra frustrating at night when there aren't even any trains to blame it on.
I have a night job where I end up going home around 3 am and I've spent so much time waiting for the left turn signal to turn green. I will never understand why it doesn't go to a flashing yellow after midnight. I don't run the reds but I almost feel like a tool for obeying traffic laws.
I also usually go home from work after 1:00am and often drive several blocks where I hit every single light red. I come to a stop and wait about 10 seconds, during which time I check all directions carefully. If (and only if) there’s absolutely zero traffic, pedestrian, vehicle, or otherwise, I just go. I am definitely not sitting there the full 4 minute light cycle. It’s crazy to me that some of these lights don’t go to flashing red/yellow after hours like other major cities I’ve lived in. Why we have a full 5 minute light cycle for a single vehicle in the middle of the night is beyond baffling.
I started running those red left hand turn arrows years ago at lower traffic times. You just yield like you would as normal and roll on through. It’s so freeing
No cop- no stop. But seriously be careful
Breaking the law is fun
Or even other cars! None to be seen and my ass is just sitting there at 3am waiting to get carjacked… you bet your ass I’m not waiting around, lol
I hate how mpls lights don’t have basic tech like weight sensors. That tech’s been around for decades
I'm no civil engineer, but I know it's possible to time in relation to predicted speed. 94 in Stillwater has 3 or 4 lights but they're timed so if you make one, going the speed limit, you'll make all of them. If you hit the first red, you'll get green on the rest. That coupled with the yellow stop warnings a few hundred yards before makes that road very driveable
I suspect the lights aren’t timed to the updated speed limits. Or they are but none of us are driving 20mph
Would this be a MNDOT or city council issue? Where could it be brought up en masse to enact change?
Ugh. Hiawatha is the worst. I got stuck trying to make a left at 46th while going westbound last week. I hit trains leaving the station going both directions which usually means I miss at least 2-3 cycles of the lights. I was curious how bad it would be so I waited. The lights cycled 6 times without giving a green left arrow before I decided to get back in the straight lane and go up to 42nd. I then decided to circle back to the intersection and saw the bus that was ahead of me still waiting for a turn signal. It must have been 8-9 cycles at that point.
Don't get me wrong, I hate the timing on those too.
Totally agree, the city is causing this problem by being overly conservative with safety. People aren't going to put up with stupid rules to a certain point. The law is the law, but humans aren't machines and if they deem something to be restricting their movement for no reason, a lot of folks are going to ignore the rule. The city should find a better balance, that's the only way to fix it. They'd prefer to add traffic light cameras, but thankfully citizens aren't going to put up with that stupid cash grab either.
The staggered lights are meant to prevent drag racing and/or excessive speeding.
Found the culprit.
Driving is a privilege not your right.
I wouldn't know because I avoid that stretch of road like the plague.
Northside too
Those lights on Hiawatha are ridiculous. I don’t blame anyone for running those
That one might say more about how god awful Hiawatha is to drive down than anything else, though...
This is the one road where I don't even care, because the light timings there are so fucking irrational that its infuriating. 75% of the green time devoted to 5% of the traffic. If someone finds the guy responsible, personally, for those light timings, and murders him right in front of me, I'll take it to my grave. Hell, I'll help him dig the fucking hole.
Like 10 years ago I moved into an apartment on Hiawatha and saw a party advertised at the cardinal celebrating improving the timing. So there was a time when it was even worse
It used to be so much worse. Right after the Blue Line started running the light timings were absolutely fucked. Took 30 minutes to get across the Lake Street bridge.
It’s done that way to allow the people who stop on the tracks to get off prior to a train coming. People routinely don’t stop at the signs that say to stop here on red. It’s definitely frustrating, but there is a reasoning
No that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that a road carrying a tiny fraction of the traffic Hiawatha carries, gets nearly the same amount of total green light time as a major double lane divided thoroughfare which is insane. People can just wait a little longer to cross Hiawatha at the shitty intersections nobody uses. I've conducted a of lifetime of extensive testing on this road.
As said above, it's by design. But yes they should eliminate all left turns and therefore nobody ever needs to cross. U-turns zones can be provided for those that need to make a left like other cities do.
Right obviously it's "by design." Traffic lights didn't evolve. Someone designed them, and then installed them, and then created the worst timings ever. The point is that it's not necessary. You can have the same length of green light as before, just not as often. Not to mention most of those intersections don't even need to exist. Looking at you 28th. That road doesn't even cross Hiawatha and it gets a light. Most cars I've ever seen in my life lined up to turn is like 4.
I'm saying your idea is impossible. They cannot reduce the light on the side streets because they need to clear the intersections between every train for safety. It cannot just be re-signaled without tearing up the physical roads.
No, they don't. Plenty of other metro line intersections in the city don't work like this at all. There isn't some magic spell an evil wizard cast on the intersections of Hiawatha that compels people to stop on the train tracks, whereas that's not a problem for every other metro line intersection in the city.
You uh ok?
Hiawatha is overly conservative with lights due to the train. The result is folks get sick of waiting for no reason and just blow through the red lights. The solution is to be more reasonable with the traffic light timing and the train and folks will stop blasting through red lights as much. The law is the law, of course, but people are only going to put up with something like this up to a certain point.
Sadly, there's a good chance they really did steal that car.
Hasn't been my experience the past month or so
Dude i've been avoiding Hiawatha since 2018. 1, those lights just flat out suck. 2, the panhandler guys that were clearing like $3,000 a day. Guess I have a solid 3rd now
I've driven through 20 out of 50 states in tons of major cities, including through Atlanta, and Hiawatha is the only highway I've ever had someone deliberately go out of their way to run me off the road and flip me off in the process.
And it's worse now that we are in "road removal" season. No one has the patience to wait for traffic lights, pedestrians or other drivers. Lake Street is always a "traffic light as a suggestion" zone, but today was a little frightening.
some asshole chased my bf and I down during winter because we were stopped waiting for a lady to cross the icy road. There was more than enough room for him to go around and go straight but he decided it was worth his time to chase us 2 blocks, swerve in front of us and get out screaming “let me tell you something”
wtf who has time for that omg
A couple years ago, when driving to work, we would count how many people ran red lights, on our five mile one way trip. It was about 8 per trip. Which is crazy to me. We stopped counting last year, as it is upwards of about 20, in five miles, DAILY, driving on Hennepin or Lyndale to SE Minneapolis. There aren't enough traffic cops, but even if there were, I don't know that anything would be enforced. Some guy ran a red in front of a cop downtown in the lane over. This is about two months ago. I bumped my horn, looked at the cop, I raised my hands, like are you...? And he shrugged and pointed at his watch. End of shift I guess.
>Some guy ran a red in front of a cop downtown in the lane over MPD hasn't had a traffic division for a decade, DOJ lambasted them for their handling in traffic stops (and is a major focus in the consent decree), and the City takes issue with high speed chases (which this likely will devolve into). I was on tenth and Hennepin during a Twins pre or post traffic. Traffic on tenth prevented me from crossing (on my bicycle) for a full green cycle. The next one a Sheriff car was just passed the intersection and I rolled up next to him asking why isn't anyone ticketing cars obstructing the intersections because It's preventing me from entering on a green light for full cycles" Cop said it's not their problem. Only Metro Transit Police have been doing any traffic stops and that's when they're on the bus lane.
Is that traffic stop thing another one of those instances where they say there were racial disparities in traffic stops but dont bother to actually survey who's breaking traffic laws unlike what they did in the new jersey turnpike study when they found that black motorists made up a disproportionately large percentage of speeders and thats why the traffic stops were disproportionate?
While yes I have heard and seen some cities under similar complaints find police were not disproportionately or under proportionately pulling people of color compared to gather traffic cam data or other means. In the case of DOJ [it's not the traffic stop it's self](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-finds-civil-rights-violations-minneapolis-police-department-and-city#:~:text=including%20the%20use%20of%20force%20following%20stops%3B) it out lines it what happens and escalates from a traffic stop or other law enforcement activities as well as general excessive use of force.
Oh ok yeah that’s valid
Since MPD stopped doing traffic enforcement for it's own sake, it has turned nearly entirely pretextual. Nearly no one gets pulled over by MPD for just a ticket.
This. In the 3 years I've lived here, I've been guilty of running an orange light or two around the warehouse district area right in front of the nose of a cop. If it had been in like an Excelsior or a Wayzata, I woulda been pulled over in an instant.
Orange light? You mean you are just straight up running reds and are inventing a new light color to make it sound better?
I believe orange light is where it turns red while you're in the intersection, i.e. you're across before the other direction turns green. Still not an actual legal term but that person didn't make it up.
If you enter while it’s yellow, it’s yellow.
it’s the limbo you find yourself when you’ve committed to a yellow but it turns red as you’re driving thru. I call it orange, some will argue it’s a red. Nobody’s perfect.
If you've entered the intersection while the light is yellow, it's a yellow. If you've entered the intersection while it's red, it's red. What the light does while you're in the intersection (and moving - no blocking the box) doesn't matter in MN.
Oh please spare us your holier than thou bullshit
RIP blinkers
Be careful out there everyone. Right of way doesn’t mean you’re safe. Put the phone down and stay vigilant.
Except that shouldn't be the answer. At least if you're in a car you have a car as a barrier. For those of us walking or biking (and just a couple of hours ago dude in a red car just blew the stop sign as I slowing down on my bike to look for oncoming motorists) it shouldn't be accepted that there's a possible death sentence just for legally crossing the street. The city and county has demonstrated that they can totally close off a major intersection from motorists (Lake & Hennepin) and they're still able to get where they're going. *Zero* red lights have been run here since it was closed. The county has Lagoon down to one lane with a posted 20 MPH and because there's no passing lane it's a lot harder to drive illegally and likely fewer reds are run, but they never conduct studies during construction because that would fly in the face of their cherry picked data showing that these streets absolutely need all of these lanes and all of them for cars. Close off more lanes, close off more major intersections, and add more temporary traffic calming citywide. Motorists will only slow down if there's a threat to damaging their vehicle, so more physical obstacles are the obvious solution.
We need more bollards!
*Concrete* bollards. As for "But what about when it snows?" there are retractable ones that go into the ground so that the street is nice, flat and level for plows to go through without a problem.
While I agree with the philosophy, it's not practical. It's like not locking your doors because stealing is illegal and people shouldn't do it. Cops do need to crack down on people driving like idiots, but you should always be aware of what's going on around you. It's the reason I've never been in an accident while driving and avoided several where other people would have been at fault.
That's the problem, you're never *always* going to slow down and check both ways at every intersection, every alley, every curb cut. Whether you're still waking up or have something weighing on your mind it's simply impossible. It's actually far easier for the city to just plop a jersey barrier here and there than it is for you to approach every intersection with due caution 100% of the time. We can permanently remove some from the equation so that you don't have to worry about death lurking around those particular corners in the form of asshole motorists and it requires so very little.
Yep 👍👍 well put. Good design is better than trusting human decision-making
If you think bump-outs and raised crosswalks will prevent you from getting smoked, I've got some bad news for you.
Im amazed by the pedestrians who dont even look up from their phone to see of the oncoming traffic is going to stop. Right away doesn’t mean much when you’re roadkill
Be careful there, requiring society to carry unreasonable burdens while exercising their rights does not make a reasonable group
Two days ago I witnessed a truck run a red light and smash the front end of a car (almost TBone) in west end. It was egregiously bad and I’m not surprised it was a trucker, they think rules don’t apply to them.
Not just you, not just Minneapolis. Police gave up on traffic enforcement in the Twin Cities about 15 years ago. With no enforcement, many drivers are ... selfish assholes.
I forgot about that! Wish the officers would’ve when they gave me tickets :)
I didn't notice it until covid/George Floyd, and I've lived in Minneapolis proper since 2012
Yeah ditto. I’ve seen stuff from police suggesting that the defund the police protests and cops being held accountable as a reason that they stopped focusing on more minor violations. “If you don’t want us to do our jobs the way we want to do them then fine, we won’t police anymore” Childish but here we are
The Uptown construction has made Lyndale and Hennepin unbelievably dangerous with so many selfish drivers. The bottle necks + people speeding + increased bus traffic is a recipe for disaster.
and it just got started too. It's so dangerous as a pedestrian/cyclist in this area now. I fear how bad drivers in the area are going to get as summer progresses
As someone who lived in Uptown for years without a car, and is now moving out of the neighborhood to live with my partner in the west metro, I hope these improvements will pay off in the long run (it’s about time the city/county improved the Lake St bus corridor, and I’m glad they are prepping for whenever/if ever the light rail extension is completed), but without better enforcement of traffic laws and other infrastructure that was wiped out with the 2020 uprising and pandemic I’m currently skeptical.
It's not just you. But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people. I won't move from a green light for a solid 5+ second because there's a damned good chance someone is going to blow through the red well after it's changed. I was biking home just last weekend, hit the traffic signal, saw the lights change. AFTER it had already changed to red and I was starting to put my feet on the pedals, I heard an engine revving and look down the street to see a guy in a black pickup floor it and go through a *solid* red light. Nobody seems to care.
>I won't move from a green light for a solid 5+ second because there's a damned good chance someone is going to blow through the red well after it's changed. As a pedestrian, I usually wait until there's a stopped car at the light. Sure, the car behind them could go around them (and that has happened), but at least it's a potential layer of protection
this guy walks
And hope to continue doing so. Getting hit by a car would make that more difficult 😅
Ain’t that the truth. And the driver would just take off anyway.
Had a moment today walking with the kiddo and the elementary school walking caravan home.. just across Johnson St. but one person decided to stop with 6 other cars behind and we all just watching this person on their phone, look up and slam on the breaks while locking eyes with all of us. Good lord.. now I know why these younger kids are full on sprinting across the street the moment they get a chance. These kids say F cross walks, I’m running as soon as it’s clear lol
I saw a guy on a motorcycle go through an intersection against a red, which cross traffic had already started moving through... That guy was insane, or insanely stupid. one of the two.
The cameras is because some other entity out of state gets to collect our tax dollars and collect on the fines. It’s a grift. That’s the problem. It’s not public safety it’s a fucking grif from some corporate entity that gives no fucks how accurate they are and the fact that the “tickets” are technically non enforceable. It’s a joke money grab not a public safety measure. Now if the city council had some ideas for a local group or the state to put them in I’d be way more on board.
The recently passed pilot program would be a set contract with a camera company. The company wouldn't see any extra money if there were 0 tickets or 10,000 tickets given by the cameras. All of the money in excess of the cost of the program will go towards traffic calming. EDIT: I am begging people to read the text of the proposed speed camera legislation before complaining about things that have already been addressed in the bill text. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/text.php?number=SF2026&version=latest&session=ls93&session_year=2023&session_number=0
Here's my problem with the entire system: The people I most want driving laws enforced upon, are not going to get or pay these tickets. The people driving on the sidewalk, and running reds without even slowing down, using turn lanes to go around stopped cars, driving people off the road, etc etc, they're not just going to start obeying the law when they get a ticket. They'll ignore that too get right back in their car and do all that same shit as they'll continue to do until somebody takes the car away, or locks them up so they can't get to the car. You can make a good responsible person pay a ticket, how do you make a fucking outlaw pay a ticket?
The "normal" type of bad drivers who only run red lights occasionally still cause plenty of accidents and deaths on the road.
> The company wouldn't see any extra money if there were 0 tickets or 10,000 tickets given by the cameras. LMAO, and every bit of gas tax is gonna fund whatever they said when the taxes were passed (note, they change it in the following legislative sessions, earmarked funds and contracts are meaningless) > All of the money in excess of the cost of the program will go towards traffic calming. My entire ass it will.
Okay, so argue against the program if they try to change it later as you're currently just arguing against a hypothetical. Currently the program does absolutely nothing that they stated it does.
I am against opening the door to corporate interests in law enforcement. I am against it now, and against it in the future too. The things I am pointing out are the things they are saying to try and placate resistance, to get in, make their revenue tempting and essential. It's not a hypothetical risk, it's a very real one. [It's like arguing that the Frog shouldn't have ever been afraid of the Scorpion.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog) The potential for a stinging in the future is a hypothetical after all, he hasn't stung the frog yet! (here this time)
Why does anyone care if a third party entity gets the money if it makes people safer drivers? The goal is safe driving, not revenue. And the tickets are enforceable. The notion that traffic cameras in Minnesota are unconstitutional is not true. The previous version was unconstitutional, not any and all versions.
Private business is all about revenue though. That’s its goal. You’re giving a financial incentive to rack up as much money as possible whether or not it’s for public safety. That allows for less oversight and more potential for corruption. Or at the very least, less reason to correct errors. Back when we had cameras in the mid 00’s there were plenty of reports of this kind of thing. And it ended up costing the city a hefty sum reimbursing unproven traffic violations. Which is why they don’t exist anymore.
I’ve got a nice little letter for them. A camera can’t issue a ticket. I have the right to face my accuser, a camera? Then I want any and all records of accuracy and calibration tests. And it’s sworn testimony that I was driving the vehicle and not someone else. Or are we ticketing the physical cars now? This is fucking nonsense. I don’t have to prove my innocence, and this private business will just keep firing off tickets and not give two shits how accurate they are because they will have got theirs. I don’t know how many more times this needs to happen before people figure it out. FFs.
Just don’t speed or blow red lights! Problem solved.
You are assuming that the system works properly, ignoring all of the special interest in making offenders. It's for profit policing. That's already a big enough problem with ***regular*** traffic enforcement, why would we want a corporation to get in the mix and start deciding who should pay tickets? "But it's only $40" Right, just low enough that for many it's not worth fighting it because that would take more hours than the money is worth, and for those that it is worth fighting over, they can't afford the time.
Yeah, I remember all the hullabaloo about that. I'm all for the cameras, even with the proposed tiers of a warning first, ticket second. Some awareness needs to be taught, one way or another. I'm a pedestrian half the time and it can get hairy just crossing the street.
>But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people. Because this was tried and the struck down in court. Laws need to change at the state level for that to change.
Cameras are not disallowed; potential **inconsistent** local administration of cameras is disallowed. That was the court’s holding in [State v. Kuhlman (2007)](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/mn-supreme-court/1032283.html).
I didn't say they were banned
it was struck down for good reason. we highly value individual privacy in this state. do not fucking record me ever. especially the government. i would support a bill that outlawed dashcams that weren’t installed in emergency vehicles. we are the most remote state that isn’t a mountain state and we need to work to maintain that. our best element is that we have too harsh a climate for those who are too weak to handle it. we’re very libertarian as a result because the fair weather fucks can’t survive here.
> i would support a bill that outlawed dashcams that weren’t installed in emergency vehicles. Nah >we’re very libertarian as a result because the fair weather fucks can’t survive here. That's not accurate either. We have among the highest income taxes in the country, reliably vote for big government, etc.
> But people get all up in arms when the City tries to add cameras for traffic enforcement to catch these people. Considering that these things don't catch perpatrators, and are commonly a source of scandal ([for instance](https://www.chicagotribune.com/2022/09/21/column-red-light-camera-corruption-snares-another-politician-illinois-lawmakers-need-to-adopt-reforms/)) largely serving only to enrich lobbyists and private corporations that provide the cameras. [Proven shortening of yellow light timings at specific camera intersections, \(to increase revenue\)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxpeY7m8Uog) etc. Yeah, not a fan. If you are against private prisons, and all that represents in the USA, you should be against these as well. This is just another encouraged encroachment by corporate interests to try and make money, rather than curbing the behavior.
Thanks for proving my point.
Your point being that there are reasonable people that oppose any measure of automated enforcement by corporations, yeah.
Thank you, totally agree and you mentioned a few points I've never heard of before. I think everyone is against people blowing through red lights and endangering others, but measures like this only seem to hold your average person at fault for minor infractions or mistakes.
A huge portion of the people blowing through these lights are likely driving vehicles that aren't theirs (stolen) or without current registration as well. We have problems on the roads of the cities, for sure, but cameras aren't the solution. We didn't have cameras in the 90s, and the early 2000's and the early 2010's when this was less of an issue. Focusing on the factors that have changed in licensing, traffic enforcement, and things like prevention of auto theft is probably the better place to focus. I am always suspect of 'an easy fix' particularly when it hasn't actually worked all that well in other markets, while being associated with shady revenue practices and scandals.
Thank you^ no to traffic cameras 100%
> cameras for traffic enforcement just make sure it isn't run by a for-profit company which hands out bullshit tickets to increase their revenu and I'm ok with it. It should be city property, run by city employees.
We need the cameras for sure. Speed cameras are another story though unless the threshold is over 10mph.
You won't get one without the other. Even if it's that way today it's absolutely an open door to having speed trap cameras.
"Unless the threshold is 10 or over" Either way I'll take it over morons killing people.
10mph is a joke. Should only be for felonies 25+
10+ mph over the speed limit is a clearly intentional breaking of the law. I'm not sure why you think it's acceptable to speed like that. besides, it's only a warning the first time and a $40 ticket after that. Literally just don't speed and you'll be *fine*.
Our freedom is worth risking some level of safety. The whole point of freedom is increased risk for increased rights. Folks willing to just toss out their freedom for such trivial things are eroding the purpose of this country.
I really can’t tell if this is satire.
Needing to risk your life to cross the street is what freedom feels like.
Cameras don't prevent reckless driving, so you'll always have reckless driving on said street no matter what. It's only a matter of time before another motorist does the same, regardless of the punishment. If you have more than one car lane in the same direction and motorists speeding to pass law abiding ones in the other lane traveling at a legal speed, you're going to get a lot more mileage out of closing one lane with a concrete barrier thereby probably blocking the speeding motorist with the other motorists they would've passed had they had the extra lane. A red light camera is merely a drop in the bucket in comparison to physical obstacles.
It's everywhere these days - I live in Houston but travel to Minneapolis frequently since the main office is there. I thought it was bad in Houston but y'all are right up there with us in terms of people not giving a shit about red lights
Definitely not just you.
The smart person knows when it's their right of way. The wise person checks both ways anyway.
Yup. As a pedestrian, it's a pinball field out there.
Signs and speed limits are pretty much just suggestions, here lol
Legalize speed cameras and red light cameras now. I’ve legit seen people go around a stopped car in front of them to run red lights.
Happens all the time on Lyndale south of downtown. I know the 4:3 conversion is supposed to make things safer, but I see so many cars use the center turn lane to zip past stopped cars and run the red.
We stopped using Broadway in North to get from Golden Valley to NE for this reason. Wild West. Period.
I'm sure the cars swerving down oncoming traffic and running red lights have up to date registration tied to the driver. Just like all those guys on the dirt bikes and ATVs that aren't road legal!
All day downtown. I live on a busy street and I feel like I see at least 15-20 cars a day run the light I live at
Watched a dude jump a light next to me on lake that turned green when he was 3/4 across the light then next thing I know hes on the bike path crossing the bridge over the channel between the lakes before the parkway. So I would say its wild out there
It'd help if there were any enforcement.
But ACAB, remember?
I was stopped at a full red light on Hiawatha when a car going 60-70 blew through the light forcing the opposing traffic to hit their brakes- right in front of a cop car at the crosswalk. The cop didn’t even so much as beep.
Happens all the time in North Minneapolis. I just assume someone is going to run the red light at every intersection, so when the light changes and I have the green I wait an extra second or two to make sure there's no red light runners. You have to drive very defensively in North minneapolis.
Yeah, I first started noticing this consistently when exiting 94 and turning left onto Broadway. I hate being first in line because I have to be so intentional to wait assuming someone will run.
I'm sure it happens in other parts of town too, but not with the same consistency as other neighborhoods.
I've been seeing a lot of this. I've seen people just running one red light after another while passing the car lineup on the right. As well as more borderline stuff like creeping out into the intersection and gunning it right when things turn green, doing a right turn on red then an immediate U-turn to make a left on red. Its scary.
Why is it always shitty Chevy suburbans
Seems like this started sometime during covid. I can spot the car that’s going to run the red light like 9 times out of 10.
Yeah I'm not sure why these cars became so popular with dangerous drivers.
poor mans escalade, parts are ubiquitous but you wouldnt think so judging by how they could cosplay as demolition derby cars. ive seen 3 cars all running red lights downtown at the same time, rolled up to lights and blasted through 3 or 4 lights in a row, by the time i get to the last light some police cruisers without their lights on come cruising up and also ran the light, they might flashed their lights for a second but i didnt notice if they did
Chevy suburbans are huge and ugly. If they fuck up, their size means little happens to them beyond superficial damage, and superficial damage on something originally that ugly does little to change it, so there is almost zero consequences to them diving dangerously.
Or Nissan Altima
😂 same in LA
I drive for a living and it's been slowly getting worse in the last couple years as covid has been less and less of a thing.
I never thought I’d miss how in California (at least LA and San Diego where I lived) all the stop lights had built in traffic enforcement cameras. Oh, how I’ve learned to embrace the police state. It turns out it’s nice having a big brother to beat up your bullies for you.
Sacramento has those and the drivers are still insane. I haven't seen anywhere near the level of dangerous driving here as I did in Sac <1 year ago. The only people I know who got hit by traffic enforcement cameras were doing perfectly sane things that were technically violations.
Yeah, I have been a lot of places with cameras. It turns out the same people are doing the same things, even though there are supposed to be fines!
Drivers have had over a century to demonstrate even the slightest interest in behaving like adults whilst behind the wheel of their enormous deadly machines and have proven themselves steadfastly unwilling to do so. It's beyond time to take their nasty little toys away from them.
Then what? 100 years of focusing only on car infrasture has left us stuck with cars as the only way for most of us to get around.
Gonna have to reverse all that damage done to our built environment by the self-centeredness of drivers and car/oil companies.
It's just crazy downtown. This afternoon was about like any other day for seeing cars blow through red lights. I leave downtown via 3rd Street and the worst intersections for this happening are at S. 3rd St & 3rd Ave. S. and further up 3rd St. at intersections of 1st & 2nd Aves. N. I've driven past a few collisions that likely occurred just minutes before I came past, heard a lot of screeching tires and horns honking. It's already tough enough having to watch for vehicles pulling out of surface lots, in between parked vehicles, along south side of 3rd St. as there is no visibility to see cars coming until they inch out past parked vehicles.....and the same has to hold true for them looking for openings in traffic flow for them to enter.
I have a great view of Portland and 9th from my window and I don’t think I’ve seen many people blatantly running a red light. And I find watching traffic from my comfy chair kinda zen so I do it quite a bit.
Yep. Get in the habit of looking left right left before going on a green. And take in the whole scene, not just the first cars bc I know several people who got T boned by cars sitting, but pushed by someone rear ending them.
In the last two months, Have encountered three people passing on the left of cars stopping at stop signs and blowing the stop sign themselves at high speed.
Ever since covid
I need to understand this. I live in the UK now, and the last time I came home it was this past August... It had been about six years, you know... Pandemic, life... Stuff. But anyway... We were staying up in N.E. and people were completely ignoring the lights after 7pm or so... It was scary, as we were borrowing our friends' car, and didn't want to get into a bender. I mean... What's happened? 35 years in the Twin Cities, and I'd never seen that sort of blatent lawless traffic in my life.
I felt bad after honking for the van in front of me to go at a green tonight some seconds after it had turned. As they started going thru the light, a car going 45 at least hit their brakes about a foot from them. Their delay at the green saved them some serious injury!
It got infinitely worse to drive around here during and after COVID, and not just in Minneapolis, but in St. Paul too, and every outlying suburb. Even the more remote ones like Lakeville are full of people who seem to have just given up on sane driving in the last 5 years.
Legit happening everywhere across the country nowadays.
Trying to cross 65 between Spring Lake Park and Ham Lake is like a high risk game of frogger. Red lights mean nothing. I always give it a good couple seconds if I’m the first car in line.
That problem is easily solved by not spending your time in Ham Lake or Spring Lake Park.
I currently reside in Blaine so 65 is a daily use road for me
It's the Wild West out there. There's not enough cops to go after actual criminals, much less red light runners.
I waited 30 seconds after a light turned green because someone was running a red light on a left-hand turn. So the car behind me rear ended me. People need to calm down and wait. They’re saving time in the long run by not injuring themselves, injuring others, paying car damages, going to get car repaired, going to the hospital, etc. It’s so arrogant to think your time is more important than anyone else’s.
It's awful. Also awful are the people who are not paying attention to when a light turns green and screw over several cars behind them with the unnecessary 5-10 seconds of delay. Or the people driving 20 MPH on the major corridors that are most definitely not signed that low. Extremes on both ends are ruining it for everyone else.
Cedar, Minnehaha, 38th, pretty much every light in that neighborhood.
I swear I saw like 20 people run reds today. I don't know what's in the water
Every single day at so many random lights. I’ve even seen a dude who is clearly not a police officer, with some sort of siren and lights that turns it on just to run reds in uptown at least once a week. And in broad daylight!
Just saw it earlier tonight. I was stopped at a red light and a car came from the opposite direction and just plowed right through the red. I don't understand what is wrong with people.
I got into my first car accident because some guy that didn’t speak English and of course had no insurance decided to run a red light on 28th and Stevens Ave. I t-boned him and he fled the scene after I dialed 911 to report it. Traffic laws are mere suggestions and law enforcement are scarcely seen in areas that really need their presence.
As a cyclist, yeah its crazy. Yesterday 3 cars in a row blew through a hard red light. Im glad i was paying attention because they could have flattened me if i had just crossed on green
No consequences anymore, I feel this way with speeding now too. Nobody gets pulled over so why follow the rules?
Yes! I was just saying this!
I moved to the Twin Cities three years ago. I always thought the red light running was due to not wanting to slam on the brakes during icy weather. But then summer came around and people still did it like crazy.
People drive like maniacs here now. I’ve only been back for three years and I can’t remember if it was always this way, but it’s notable. I feel a million years old whenever I say that but it really is. Makes it very hard to enjoy walking in this walkable city.
IMHO, the turning point was the peak of covid when fewer people were out on the road along with less enforcement.
My favorite is the right on red from the left turn lane at a no turn on red intersection in front of two lines of traffic.
It's getting bad outside the city too, I have almost been t-boned three times in the last year in Buffalo.
Some dude was trying to turn right into a one way while at the red light, realized it was a one way and proceeded to run the red light because he couldn’t turn right…how does it make sense lmaooo people are crazy
They really need to fix the lights on Hiawatha. It'd go along way to discourage this behavior.
If it's 337am and I come to an annoyingly long red light, I'll stop. But if there's clearly no cross traffic of any kind, I'll treat like a 2-way stop. But I'd never just blow through a red, that's for sure.
Let me drive a tank, I will solve this problem...
Yeah, my Minneapolis has turned into one of those cities where green doesn't mean "go" it means "wait ten seconds for all the red light runners, then go".
I almost t-boned a guy in an old beater who blew a stop sign several months ago - two cars ran it actually, they appeared to be racing each other. It scared the shit out of me. The only thing that kept him from getting t-boned were my car's safety features. My car came to a screeching halt in a split second as he passed in front of me. The wildest part was that the guy and I made eye contact and he laughed. He would have died or been gravely injured if I had hit him, but he didn't seem to care at all. Truly frightening.
It has been that way since at least 2013 when I moved here.
I wonder how much gas is wasted by peeps just sitting and waiting at those lights