House Bill 151, which would allow cars to disregard red lights at intersections during times of "extremely low traffic," is a bad idea.
My major concern is for pedestrians and cyclists.
While not true in all countries, drivers in the United States often do not "see" people on bicycles when checking for conflicting traffic. Once drivers get accustomed to disregarding the red light, this sets up an expectation to continue through the intersection if there is no other motor vehicle traffic.
Combine this with the cyclist's expectation of his/her right of way from the green light, expecting the car to respect the red light, is a perfect recipe for a bad outcome.
Similarly, a pedestrian would be crossing the road assuming protection from the traffic signals. At night especially, it would be easy for a driver to miss seeing the pedestrian while looking for other traffic.
Bill Peterson, Sandy
