Amber traffic light, brake or bomb?

Just wondering how you react when you are approaching a set of traffic lights (signal US?). And your at the "critical point" when the lights change to amber (middle light), ie will I make it or not.

Do you put your foot down, slam on the brakes or don´t drive fast anyway so slowly brake.

Of course there´s bound to be different systems of traffic lights arround the world, so I´m going from a european point of view where the amber light stays for about 2 seconds before it jumps to red, and in some countries there´s a camera at the lights which will get you banned for a month if you jump the red lights.

sorry about the typo in the question, can´t change it🙁

Get me Amber Lamps.

Originally posted by Bicnarok
Just wondering how you react when you are approaching a set of traffic lights (signal US?). And your at the "critical point" when the lights change to amber (middle light), ie will I make it or not...

If I feel I can make it, I accelerate. If not, I brake.

Interestingly, years ago a friend of mine got a ticket for stopping too abruptly at a yellow light for fear of going through a red. The cop explained he could have caused an accident with the car behind him; he should've went through.

They say that you shouldn't stop if it's going to cause an accident or cause you to hurt yourself from the abrupt stop.

I am not worried about a ticket if it prevents my kids from getting hurt from dad driving like a maniac.

I was taught the "two arrow (chevron)" rule, if your two arrows away you´ll make it through.

What really annoys me are drivers who slow down when approaching a green light in case it "jumps" on them.

Usually, I slam the breaks. I've had people rear end me a lot doing that, but at least I don't get killed.

It depends on the part of town. There are parts of town where you will get hit because drivers will hit the gas as soon as the crosswalk light turns red or if the area is economically depressed relative to the rest of the city, the cops will try and find a reason to ticket you in order to fill their quota. Generally though, I hit the gas and try to plow through with the obligatory handed kiss to the roof of my car.

depends. I can make it going a certain speed at a certain distance from the light. I've never had one so close that I couldn't decide. I normally err on the side of stepping on it should it get close, but that's because I know I'm getting a 2-3 second delay before the intersection fills with cars.

I noticed an interesting approach to traffic lights when on holiday in Italy, just totally ignore them and beep and swear at anyone (me) who stops.

silly man, italian drivers are linked telepathically. they need no silly trafic rules to keep them from dying.

Originally posted by Bicnarok
I noticed an interesting approach to traffic lights when on holiday in Italy, just totally ignore them and beep and swear at anyone (me) who stops.

Originally posted by Darth Jello
Yeah, check out Israel and Egypt, the bad driving capitals of the world.

There is no single group of people on Earth that could compare to the horrors of driving in Israel and Egypt.

India maybe, seen some insane traffic situations on youtube.