Another reason to hate a Prius

I was on my way to an appointment this afternoon and I was a little late. I was headed towards an intersection that is part of a construction zone in that traffic from the main road that is being reconstructed is being routed down the road that I'm approaching. I'm doing the speed limit of 35 in the right lane and just before I get to the intersection, the light turns yellow. It figures. Anyway, I automatically take my foot off the accelerator and on to the brake and come to a stop. Meanwhile, some young guy with some obvious impatience in some kind of red POS in the left lane and a couple of car lengths back decides he ain't a gonna stop so he hits the gas and zooms through the now red light. It wasn't until he left that I noticed a police car in the right lane on the other side of the intersection who's pointed in the opposite direction from me who had also stopped for the light. It took him a second to turn on the lights and make a big U-turn as he went after Mr Lightrunner who was stuck at the next light by then behind a bunch of other cars who were stopped for that red light. Sometimes, you just can't win :lol:

Anyway, after a couple of minutes (the light is kind of long) I drove past the two of them and wondered if I had inadvertently caused the kid to get a ticket because since I was obviously able to stop and was closer to the light than he was that he was totally busted. That if I had cruised the yellow light, the cop might not have been able to ticket the guy who cruised the red light. The way it turned out made it pretty much irrefutable. Granted, the kid got what he deserved and I did what I was supposed to but I wonder if the cop will now have a fond memory of the Prius and the kid will have a negative memory of that damn Prius who cost him a ticket. It's going to be one of my favorite stories from now on, though, that's for sure.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusguy04 @ Apr 18 2006, 08:03 PM) [snapback]241795[/snapback]</div>

two lanes for each direction plus a left turn lane. Both the cop and I were in our respective right lanes. Our little speedster was in the left lane on my side and the cop had to cross the left lane of his direction when making the U-turn.

You're right, galaxee, it was pretty funny and I don't get to see someone get what they deserve but he wasn't being a jerk to me so it didn't taste quite as sweet as it could have

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Apr 18 2006, 08:20 PM) [snapback]241808[/snapback]</div>

oh, I don't believe that I had anything to do with it. I was just wondering if the infraction would have been observed if I hadn't stopped, thereby making it so obvious that he ran it. That if another car hadn't been there, would the cop have been able to know for sure if the guy ran the light. Of course, the cop stopped for the same light so perhaps I just answered my own question. It seems that it would be difficult to tell for sure whether someone runs a light or not if you're not able to see the light actually turn red for him.