Friday 8:37 AM. Boston, Mass
Locale: Intersection of Nashua St. and Monsignor O'Brien, a four way intersection of two lane roads.
Perpetrator: Silver SUV

From Wikipedia (because it's a totally reliable source to cite):
"Right turn on red has been practiced in the western United States for more than 50 years, with the eastern states adopting the law in the 1970s to save fuel (see 1973 oil crisis and 1979 energy crisis)."

I love the right turn on red. I think it is a wonderful rule that saves many people a lot of time. There's nothing more frustrating than staring at the "No Right on Red" sign and seeing no traffic coming from the other direction. You just feel the seconds of your life wasting away as you are forbidden by law from going where you want to go, despite the fact that it endangers no one.

In nearly every city in the whole country, this is allowed, because most people know how to make smart decisions. One city however, has the exact opposite ruling. In the big apple, you are forbidden to go right on red, unless the sign specifies that you can. After today, I can understand why this is the rule.

So I'm attempting to cross this 4 way intersection because I have a light that is green. You know, the ones you can...go on. Now, the road that I'm heading towards is a two lane road which quickly merges into one lane. This leads to an almost immediate backup. Like I said, my light is green, and I thought i could make it. What I didn't anticipate was this woman in the SUV turning right on her red light, and forcing her way in, leaving me stuck in the intersection. I'd like to quote now from the Massachusetts.gov Rules of the Road: Chapter 4:

"You can make a right turn on a red light only after you've come to a complete stop and yield to pedestrians or other vehicles in your path."

Apparently this lady never got her copy.

As I'm sitting there, blocking traffic because this woman thought it was ok to stop me from crossing the intersection by going right on red, the light changes. I'm getting death glares from the drivers, and one biker who was about 5 feet from my car. I'm just thinking to myself: "You know, I would have made it through, if this woman didn't go right on red to cut me off." She's the one who deserved to get the death stare. Well, she didn't. She did however earn my blog entry for the day.