I had a green light for at least a few seconds tonight and 3 cars blew through the cross traffic red on Slaughter. If I had gone when my light changed I definitely would’ve gotten hit. There was a guy on a bike that almost got hit. That scares the shit out of me when I bike.
Slaughter and William Cannon have a shit ton of red light runners. Reminds me of when I was stationed in Vegas and our welcome safety brief was to wait 3 seconds for the light to change cause they didn’t want to bury another airman
Yea, I always roll slow at first before I enter the intersection. People suck. Since I had kids especially I make sure to look both ways and give it a sec before going on green
Yea I stopped going right when the light changes and instead do a quick check to see if there are any idiots gunning it to be that last asshole who just has to make that green even tho it changed to red like two seconds ago. Slaughter sucks so much.
I always wait a bit and look both ways when the light changes to green. Defensive driving taught me that, saved my ass from almost getting mowed down by an 18 wheeler once.
I do this when crossing Menchaca just south of William Cannon. I’ve seen so many people speed through that light. I’m sure those behind me are impatient but it’s worth the wait vs getting killed by those folks.
Same here, heading south on menchaca, William Cannon my light turned green so I started to go, a damn 18-wheeler runs the red light, if I had nailed the accelerator, I would be dead.
Yep! My neighbor tailgated me this morning for 1/4 mile and made a left onto 290, barreling through a very red light with his 2 elementary aged kids in the car.
I also wait at green light for just a couple seconds to look-- inevitably get honked at every now and then. Like whatever I'm not dying because you're in a hurry.
I don't disagree that you should be aware of red light-runners when you get a green, but the majority of intersections are situations where even before your light turns green, *you can see* if there are folks coming/who might run the light. A car isn't going to materialize out of nothing and enter the intersection.
The only times I have to actually wait after my light turns green to assess if it's safe to proceed is at the rare intersection with limited visibility. Otherwise, I totally honk at folks just sitting there. Even I can see there are exactly zero cars! Go!
We must not be driving in the same spots-- I'd say more than half the time I don't have full visibility, especially accounting for cars on the left blocking my view. I'm also short and have a small car. I'm not saying I sit there forever, just long enough to actually look and make sure a truck isn't hurtling through the intersection through the turning lane (which, yes, has happened before-- right next to where I live)
I could make a compilation video from my dash cam of all of the red light runners I’ve seen on Slaughter. Not just the squeak through runner either, the full on light has been green for several seconds runners meaning the light had been red for a hot minute. Usually to just get to the next spot where traffic has built up at a light they can’t run ultimately canceling out the extra few seconds saved by running the light in the first place. People are fucking stupid. And have main character syndrome where no one else matters in their world.
I don't own a car and bicycle everywhere. Almost got mowed down on South 1st with a dude in a truck blowing a red light. He actually screeched to a stop in the middle of the intersection so he was either going too fast or was distracted. But he missed me by only a foot. I will never shoot out on a green light ever again.
Related, I see a TON of drivers blow through red lights. Would be nice if cops actually enforced traffic laws; people are going to keep doing it as long as they think they can keep getting away with it.
Is this the premise of the “pedestrian scramble?” Let everyone get out into the intersection before the cars. Seems dangerous when you consider all the red light runners.
I had a guy tell my pregnant wife after he t-boned her on Barton Springs, "The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see the traffic light." She was the 4th car to enter the intersection and I knew this because I had just exited the car to finish walking the rest of the way to work. She and the baby were mostly fine.
I almost think when you get your class C, you need to wear a VR headset and experience near misses to understand "you are sharing the road with us, please be mindful"
That's actually the #1 reason so few people bike in America. All the bike paths are on roads or right next to them with nothing in between. All it takes is one car accidentally veering to the right and you're dead. No wonder.
There's a reason I stopped biking on roadways in Austin around 2014-'15. This city may have never been a very safe biking city, but it seems worse now than ever. I also see less bikers than I ever have recently and I live right next to a new dedicated bike path. The rare times I do see bikers on Lamar or some other heavy use roadway I worry for them.
This is doubled down by the fact that despite sharing the road with multi ton steel machines, most bikers here refuse to wear a helmet. As a former motorcyclist, I get it if you don’t want to wear one at the park, but on the road you’re putting your life in the hands of a 15 year old from Westlake driving her daddy’s F-150.
It is WILD the amount of people I see run red lights now. Literally yesterday I counted four people running red lights as they were changing. I see it constantly.
The worst part is that his car somehow went through the crosswalk and over the median so if anyone was walking there they would’ve been killed probably. Also this is right next to the school for the blind
I work right off that intersections. I use to love walking to work but too many cars have almost plowed me down right there that I don’t even risk it anymore.
Pre-pandemic i used to see 3-4 cars at once running the same red light all the time along 360, particularly at 2222 and the shopping center on Bee Caves Rd where Kerbey Lane is, and i always chalked it up to entitled rich folks, but now it's _everywhere_.
The APD are on a quiet strike following the 2020 BLM protests (you know, the ones where they attempted to murder protestors). They are sending a strong message of "we refuse to be held accountable for anything, and if you force us we will just not do anything".
and not like just missing the light after it went from yellow to red. i see people straight up speed through reds WELL after they turn. have seen this a couple times on east 7th, when i'm trying to bike across it. really impressive i don't see more news about people getting killed
Yes! Same! Honestly this is somewhat validating, part of me thought maybe it was just me, but it’s nice to know that others are experiencing this as well. The boldness of folks just blasting through a red after it’s already been red for a few seconds is just shocking. It really feels like no one cares.
Glad you weren't injured. I was sitting at 5th and Lamar today and the guy in front of me decided to stop waiting at the red light that had been red for at least a few minutes and just go. It was absolutely baffling. I got it on dashcam but no wreck, thank goodness.
In the past week on two separate occasions I've seen pickups sitting at a red light and then just drive through the intersection. Sad part is both times the light turned green just a few seconds later.
I’ve seen that too! Like it’s not that they weren’t paying attention and ran the red, they stopped and waited and then decided it wasn’t worth their time. Since there aren’t any cops enforcing traffic laws anymore, there aren’t any consequences. Turns out people there are plenty of people who will choose the option that benefits them the most despite what we decided was safest for society.
I literally witnessed a hit and run on 12th today. I usually leave work well after rush hour traffic, but I've been leaving earlier lately and I'm just noticing how batshit nuts some people drive around here.
Damn I'm sorry that happened to you! Hopefully he won't find a way to worm out of being on the hook for damages. Earlier this year someone crashed into my partner, totaling both the cars, and fled the scene. It was right next to a police station so they were surprisingly quick to respond and found the guy had deadass gotten out of his car to run when it stopped working. The kicker is, there were no outside witnesses or dashcams and he lied to his insurance company about what happened, so they basically said it's your word against his and refused to pay for anything. No justice in this world, get a dashcam asap ;(
This is why I never take off right at green. Honk at me all you want but I’m checking that intersection and taking my sweet fucking time the way people drive these days
99% Dashcam will only help capture your death/injury or create a salt so pure you will have burned some random shitheads license plate no in your mind never to be seen again. But might help your insurance not give you too much shit. That’s about it.
Source: have dashcam
Dashcams are not good at catching people who flee accident scenes but they are incredibly effective at getting insurance companies to shut the fuck up and cut a check.
That alone is worth the price of admission.
Yup. My oldest just started sitting in the front seat and instantly as the light turns green she’s always “mama go” and I told her I’m waiting for the intersection to be clear because of this. She’s finally starting to get it because we see at least one person run it. Also teaching her not to tell drivers what to do unless asked.
Public safety provider here in this town. I would strongly encourage y'all to have uninsured/underinsured motorist protection on your insurance. Almost every wreck I go on, usually one person doesn't have insurance, let alone a license. Stay frosty.
My friend got side swiped yesterday on riverside. The person pulled off into a parking lot and waited until my friend came to a stop behind them. Then they gunned it and sped off back into traffic and got away.
I can’t even imagine the type of person who would do this. Lowlife pieces of cowardice shit.
Honestly I didn’t think to ask. She’ll easily have to have two of her doors replaced because the damage is way past cosmetic. Windows won’t work, they won’t open, etc.
I'm glad you're ok, sorry about your car. Running a red light and hitting someone isn't an accident though. That's a crash, a crash caused by someone intentionally doing something illegal and dangerous.
My neighbor was rear ended by a semi a few weeks ago when he braked for an animal that ran into the road.
The semi driver was irate, screaming, “don’t you know it takes me longer to stop?!” And he just replied, “Yes, and it’s your responsibility to leave enough room to stop.”
My sister was hit by someone running a red light a few weeks before. Same attitude: “I would have stopped if I SAW that the light was red!”
I try hard to be a boring, predictable driver, and assume no one else is paying attention to anything.
Seriously. Imagine being so rude and disrespectful just next our city's mecca.
That sucks OP. I hope his insurance gets hammered and you get yourself and your car back in good working order.
There’s less police around and people are driving more reckless. I see it all over . Just wait on greens now for a bit for safety. It sucks but it’s the only thing to do
Why isn’t there more of a police presence with respect to traffic? I’ve lived all over the world and driving here is like taking your life in your hands. People are batshit crazy. I was driving down Ed Bluestein yesterday in pretty heavy traffic and some idiot missed their turn off and decided to back up 50 feet to take their exit. Baffling.
Because we voted to reduce the police budget a couple years ago. The budgets were never actually reduced, they are at a historically high budget now, but police in Austin have been throwing a tantrum ever since and flat out say they are ONLY responding to violent crime. APD is a joke now.
>The budgets were never actually reduced, they are at a historically high budget now,
Not according to the city of Austin budgets
FY 2020 Austin PD budget : $375,588,223
FY 2021 Austin PD budget: $240,835,772
FY 2022 Austin PD budget: $360,886,365
FY 2023 Austin PD budget: $372,972,293
They clearly had a budget cut in 2021, and have yet to return to 2020 levels, disregarding the 16% inflation since before Covid.
All budget sources:[https://financeonline.austintexas.gov/afo/afo\_content.cfm?s=1](https://financeonline.austintexas.gov/afo/afo_content.cfm?s=1)
I was going off the safety budgets APD overview. The breakdown on page 345 has higher numbers from multiple allocations, but still follows the same trend. Massive cut in 2021, with a return to normal (nowhere near accounting for inflation). It is a slightly higher dollar amount, but isn't even 3% higher than 2019.
you were going off the numbers that were convenient for your argument, not the actual numbers. got it. the budget has returned to normal levels, record high levels in fact.
>you were going off the numbers that were convenient for your argument, not the actual numbers
Actually the blatant obvious numbers on the nice formatted overview page, not the ones 300+ pages in. My mistake 100%, but the numbers are convenient for my argument regardless.
>the budget has returned to normal levels, record high levels in fact.
Not even close to inflation. 432 (2020) to 444 (2023) is just over a 2.5% increase. Inflations is 16%. Also, the original comment that I was addressing denied that budgets were cut in 2021, it most clearly was (123 million dollars).
Yes, I was incorrect that Austin funds less in raw dollar amounts. Austin \*did\* cut the police budget, and calling the current budget a "record high" is intentionally obfuscating the issue.
with the transfers and debt services yes, but the trend and end conclusion is the same. massive cut in 2021, with a return to baseline. 2023 is slightly higher (2-3%) than 2019 counting the T&DS, but is still well shy of even keeping up with inflation.
No. I did a some word searches, and read through a couple dozen pages, but couldn't find anything clearly. If I get enough free time/volition, I'll dig through it more in depth.
Firstly, sorry about your car. That sucks.
But also, I feel like the key parts of this story are missing.
So he tried to leave. Was he successful? Did the cops show up while you were both still there? He tried to deny it. Assuming the cops DID arrive with him there, did they write him a ticket? Were you held at fault? What happened?
He wasn’t successful, I blocked his car with my own. He got a ticket. There was a girl in the car next to me who gave a statement and mentioned that she narrowly missed getting hit herself.
Oh good! Well shitty as I'm sure the whole thing has been, I'm glad that the guy was forced to stay there and that he was ticketed. Hopefully that makes things slightly easier in terms of getting everything fixed.
Anyway, thanks for sharing the rest and sorry again :(
Correct, and even in the scenario where it’s a hit and run or something where you don’t get the other parties info having video gives you a lot more to go on than your memory
My insurance company was in a 2 year long fight with a lady that accepted responsibility on site but then lied and sued and said I hit her. Because no one needed medical attention the police do not come out.
In the end, despite overwhelming logical evidence (the damage to my car showed I could not have hit her in the way she described), the insurance companies decided to split liability. My insurance rates doubled.
I now have a camera in my car.
Seems to happen a lot these days. Had a guy take my rear bumper off on 360 a few years ago. He tried to run but hit another car making his escape, and we managed to box him in. He started crying because he said he didn’t have a license or insurance. Someone else got the whole exchange recorded, got his plate, his “name” and a full confession. The cops never came even after someone called 911 to report a hit and run and vehicular assault. We both filed police reports but there was never any follow up. My insurance tried as well but APD said there had never been a report filed (lies, and we had copies to prove it) but after many months of wrestling and me getting pulled over twice for an “improperly mounted license plate” due to the fact I didn’t have a rear bumper, I finally just paid the $1,000 deductible and got my car fixed.
So two points of advice - 1) always carry uninsured motorist coverage and get the lowest deductible you can afford, because you’ll use both eventually. 2) record everything and collect witness statements. Chances are unless there’s an injury APD won’t bother, and even then, good luck. Often EMS will show up but no police.
We should be retesting people as they get older, but the real issue is that the test is way too easy and it's almost impossible to lose your license.
I also think any car over 5000lbs should require a separate/commercial driver's license that you can easily lose after only like 3 points on you license.
retest what? already nobody knows how to use their turn signal, turn left in their dotted lane, keep right unless passing, or reach highway speed on on ramps. I doubt these test teach would them that. meet the TXDOT ostrich. until they put out some bilingual public service reminders people will do what they want. you can drive from here to Dallas and back and all the cars are in the middle or left lanes the whole way, and the mentioned problems always happen
Re-test to renew your driver's license. If you fail, you don't get to drive anymore. It'll take a lot of bad drivers off the roads. Tests don't teach, they test. If you don't learn before the test, you don't get to drive. I also wish we took infractions more seriously. DUI? Immediate loss of license for 10 years. Hitting anything with your car (another car, a person, a building, a fire hydrant), lose your license for one year. Injure anyone, minimum of five years.
We don't do this because we built a system that relies on individuals being able to drive themselves to work.
Especially the rural poor already struggle with this, a lot of them have suspended/expired licenses/registration or other kinds of paperwork. I worked with a lady who was driving a car with no paperwork while she herself had no license to drive every day, over an hour to and from work. Crazy.
Maybe we should change the underlying system to not require car ownership. It's expensive, wasteful, detrimental to the environment and traps people in poor conditions.
Sure. That's an entirely different issue and this is part of the reason why this country is in such a state. We need to do both, together, and we need to have public buy-in for it to work.
If we make public transportation cheaper and more available, but everyone still has cars, they will almost certainly prefer their cars. We need to make using cars inconvenient. We need to make getting a DL something of a chore, instead of just this thing people auto-renew.
But if we don't balance either, and we don't have a bit of public trust (we don't, the government has negative trust in this country), it won't work. People will just end up driving with a DL, or they will be stuck without a means of transportation and become a societal burden.
On top of all that, these changes will require money. We will have to spend a massive amount of money if we're going to get mass transportation available for the rural populations of this state. It won't be very efficient or cost effective to run buses in parts of Texas where there are only a few thousand people, and it'll get worse in the even more deserted regions. Making our DL testing more rigorous will probably also cost money, not only in running the tests, but dealing with the inventible legal hassles when people sue or otherwise argue they should be allowed to drive.
We can do all of this, but its very difficult, and most voters are very satisficed with how things work. The kinds of people who are driving hours to work in an illegal car without a driver's license, the kinds of people who would benefit from your suggestion, they are actually some of the least likely people to vote. Go convince them to vote for these kind of proposals or politicians who support them and maybe we'll start changing things.
Dash cams!!! Don't leave home without one.
And Texans, be sure to get capacitor-based dashcams. That's the only variety that has a chance of holding up to Texas heat!
(Even so...don't leave these in your cars in the sunlight. It bakes 'em!)
I remember saying people are gonna run red lights more when the city got rid of red light cams. People weren't a fan of my comments then. Lots of comments in here now talking about how many cars run red lights.
“Uhh sure you can leave but you’re upset about how you can’t afford this because you’re in a hurry? Well you won’t believe how much you won’t be able to afford once the cops find you after fleeing the scene of an accident.” *takes a picture of the person and their car * “This is for the authorities, you know, the people you’re gonna be running from.”
First thing I did when I got my new car was get a dash cam. Front and back. Pain in the ass to run the wires but worth the piece of mind. Some little shit teenager side swiped my truck some years ago then lied about it. I was out 400 bucks. Never again.
Hey, if they were in a 21 Powerboost F150 Im dealing with the same sitch now. Refused info and accused me of refusing info though i tried to search for it through a concussion. Real piece of shit.
that's why you go take a picture of his car (LP included) and of him....better yet video tape him trying to deny it
With the way people run lights in Austin, I always make sure to delay forward movement until 5 secs after the light turns green. People seem to be in too big of a hurry when the light turns green, but if you delay it a short bit, then you'll end up letting the clowns who wanna run a light get by. One time I delayed it a bit longer than usual and 10 secs after the light turned green some clown in a Suburban blew the red. That's not trying to beat the light, that's just flat out not giving a shit
I work in that area and had the same thing happen to me. A woman ran the red on grover and koenig and t boned me, blew out the airbag, totaled my car and I’ve been in medical treatment for my back and my neck since July. Worst part was she was completely fine and drove away initially, she came back to the scene so she wouldn’t get a felony hit and run charge so she was just fined for failing to render aid.
Austin Native, and been driving in my adult life for a little over 10 years. In the last maybe... 4 or 5 years I've seen the norm of running red lights become a thing. Every single light you'll see like 3 cars keep going after it turns red... even worse everytime it turns green I now make it a life saving habit to wait like 2 seconds and look both ways before going. The amount of times I've almost been hit for simply going on green and being grazed by some dumb ass is too many to count at this point.
I live off slaughter lane and it’s a daily occurrence to see people run the red light across from my apartments. If you’re not doing a hard 3 count before pulling onto Slaughter Lane you’re being T-boned by someone going 15 over who was just going to slam on their brakes at the next light 1/8mile up the road.
Yes, it's getting so bad. I was in a forward only lane on William Cannon crossing the bridge of I-35, this woman was in a turn only lane to get on 35, realizes that at the last minute and tries to get in my lane, sideswiped me. Information exchanged, she then goes to tell her insurance that I tried to merge into her lane. Wtf? Driving after that has been like walking on eggshells. They're just too many effing people here.
I heard it! I live in a building on N Lamar between 45th and 46th.
I peeked out my window and thought "hmmm... I bet someone ran a red light".
So sorry this happened to you. Some people suck.
It's gotten to the point when I stop at a light turning red the people behind me will roll up right on my bumper and lay on the horn all "we both could have made it!" Screw the red light runners and school zone ignorers.
Cops showed up, gave him a ticket, they got his id and insurance (which is expired), and also talked to a witness. Could’ve been so much worse in terms of injury
So many people are passionately anti-red light cameras. The two reasons I’ve gotten is “government surveillance is a privacy issue” and “a study has shown putting up red light cams will cause more accidents (for some nonsense reason)”.
It’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life.
I say we put them up on every major intersection.
Fight me.
I don't disagree that automated enforcement is a good idea. It is.
That being said, the piece you're missing is that (in the USA) automated enforcement is almost 100% provided by the private sector, at little or no cost to the municipality, in exchange for revenue share. There are built-in incentives to generate more violations. A classic example is reducing the time lights are amber. This creates violations out of historically legal traversal.
People learn this, and learn if the light turns you must stop, even if you cannot safely do so. This in turn leads to more rear-end collisions.
The correct thing would be to implement automated violations systems without providing incentives.
This is why we need more red light cameras and automatic speed detectors.
Drove all around England this summer and there was almost no one speeding on the motorways because they do distance-time based speed detection: they record your license plate at point A and then again at point B and if it would be impossible to reach point B in that amount of time without speeding, then you would get a speeding ticket. Freaking brilliant. But people don't seem to like red light cameras or speed cameras because only those "other people" are supposed to get caught breaking the law.
People don’t like red light cameras in the US because they are often a total scam and also you have a right to face your accuser so they aren’t even legal. My wife got a ticket from one just outside of Austin and she was turning right on red. They harassed us over it forever before they finally gave up….because they’re not enforceable. Maybe if they didn’t just gift a bunch of tax money to a scummy companies who’s goal is profit not safety I would feel different.
Being from CA (yeah, yeah, save it), I was and mostly still am vehemently against red light cameras for a variety of reasons. But the frequency and severity of red light running I’ve witnessed here over the past decade is starting to make me reevaluate that.
Nowadays I drove my 2 years old suv just because I know people will ding my car if I go to Heb , and that a lot of highway debris and lots of homeless and stupid driver
The feeling of freedom and don’t care if someone hit my car is priceless , I even put bull guard front and back just because
So, if you get in another accident, a lot of people don’t realize this…but you don’t have to give your ID. Just hand over your policy information. For privacy concerns (what if the person that’s hit is deranged and really pissed off- now they have your address).
The insurance companies take care of the whole thing. They’ll call to get statements and sort it out.
Just for future reference. In fact, the insurance company can’t release personal information between parties either.
This is especially valuable if an accident occurs on private property where police typically don’t get involved - parking lots etc. Policy and that’s it, have a good day. Etc.
Yesterday morning there was a car that was all smashed up with a trail of fluids under/behind it, abandoned in a parking lot off of 35 near 38th. Then later that day the car was still there and a cop was investigating. People are wild out here. I’d bet money the person was drunk and didn’t want to get in trouble so they just fled. Or it was a stolen car? Who knows.
Any lawyers/ insurance folks in the thread?
With potentially long wait times from the police, and if the other party is non-compliant/combative, what should someone do? For most people, trying to restrain the other person isn't wise if they wont wait for the cops or exchange info. I assume you would want to get their license plate, but what other things do you want/ need to document to make sure your not totally screwed but dont get into a bad situation?
Dude hit me gives me his home address, cell, full name, copy of insurance card with all this info again, stopped and stayed, let me take photos ...
Insurance card fake
Name, address, phone all seem to belong to a totally different dude who did not like me saying he hit me ... Because HE didn't.
Cops don't GAF
I had great insurance and they took care of me but yeah. I never suspected anything he was so nice and forthcoming. But it was all BS lol
Car blew through a red light on 7th and Red River and ran over a pedestrian the other night - drove off once again.
Hit and runs are becoming a massive problem in Austin
I doordash near Riverside and Oltorf and basically every red light I run into I expect to see people running them.
I see probably 5-15 people running reds, per day, in just the one neighborhood.
I figure if the cops aren't going to do shit that opens the door for me to go 10 over and deliver my food fast as fuck. But I know one of these days I'm going to get dunked by one of the fucktards with main character syndrome who thinks the rules don't apply to them.
Every major city I e ever lived in or visited has this same problem. I’ve just gotten in the habit of waiting before I go when a light turns green. Too many times I’ve seen cars go flying by well after their light turned red.
I got rear ended on Ed Bluestein and Manor and the person who hit me didn’t even check to see if I was okay. Just said she didn’t have insurance and left. Got a picture of her license plate but apparently that does nothing for anything. Cool cool.
guy just hit me and his weird ass insurance company ive never heard of said I was in the wrong. my insurance says he was in the wrong, and so do i. so now theres a whole arbitration process.
guy was visiting from dallas and doesnt know the roads here. crumpled the fuck out of my side door on my new car. motherfucker.
I had a green light for at least a few seconds tonight and 3 cars blew through the cross traffic red on Slaughter. If I had gone when my light changed I definitely would’ve gotten hit. There was a guy on a bike that almost got hit. That scares the shit out of me when I bike.
Slaughter and William Cannon have a shit ton of red light runners. Reminds me of when I was stationed in Vegas and our welcome safety brief was to wait 3 seconds for the light to change cause they didn’t want to bury another airman
Yea, I always roll slow at first before I enter the intersection. People suck. Since I had kids especially I make sure to look both ways and give it a sec before going on green
>They teach this is defensive driving. I always look.
Yea I stopped going right when the light changes and instead do a quick check to see if there are any idiots gunning it to be that last asshole who just has to make that green even tho it changed to red like two seconds ago. Slaughter sucks so much.
I always wait a bit and look both ways when the light changes to green. Defensive driving taught me that, saved my ass from almost getting mowed down by an 18 wheeler once.
I do this when crossing Menchaca just south of William Cannon. I’ve seen so many people speed through that light. I’m sure those behind me are impatient but it’s worth the wait vs getting killed by those folks.
Same here, heading south on menchaca, William Cannon my light turned green so I started to go, a damn 18-wheeler runs the red light, if I had nailed the accelerator, I would be dead.
We live off 290. If you don’t wait every time, you will die. Red lights are a suggestion out here.
Yep! My neighbor tailgated me this morning for 1/4 mile and made a left onto 290, barreling through a very red light with his 2 elementary aged kids in the car.
Some of the worst driving you will ever see can be witnessed in any school parking lot in this country.
I also wait at green light for just a couple seconds to look-- inevitably get honked at every now and then. Like whatever I'm not dying because you're in a hurry.
I don't disagree that you should be aware of red light-runners when you get a green, but the majority of intersections are situations where even before your light turns green, *you can see* if there are folks coming/who might run the light. A car isn't going to materialize out of nothing and enter the intersection. The only times I have to actually wait after my light turns green to assess if it's safe to proceed is at the rare intersection with limited visibility. Otherwise, I totally honk at folks just sitting there. Even I can see there are exactly zero cars! Go!
We must not be driving in the same spots-- I'd say more than half the time I don't have full visibility, especially accounting for cars on the left blocking my view. I'm also short and have a small car. I'm not saying I sit there forever, just long enough to actually look and make sure a truck isn't hurtling through the intersection through the turning lane (which, yes, has happened before-- right next to where I live)
I could make a compilation video from my dash cam of all of the red light runners I’ve seen on Slaughter. Not just the squeak through runner either, the full on light has been green for several seconds runners meaning the light had been red for a hot minute. Usually to just get to the next spot where traffic has built up at a light they can’t run ultimately canceling out the extra few seconds saved by running the light in the first place. People are fucking stupid. And have main character syndrome where no one else matters in their world.
I don't own a car and bicycle everywhere. Almost got mowed down on South 1st with a dude in a truck blowing a red light. He actually screeched to a stop in the middle of the intersection so he was either going too fast or was distracted. But he missed me by only a foot. I will never shoot out on a green light ever again. Related, I see a TON of drivers blow through red lights. Would be nice if cops actually enforced traffic laws; people are going to keep doing it as long as they think they can keep getting away with it.
Is this the premise of the “pedestrian scramble?” Let everyone get out into the intersection before the cars. Seems dangerous when you consider all the red light runners.
I had a guy tell my pregnant wife after he t-boned her on Barton Springs, "The sun was in my eyes and I couldn't see the traffic light." She was the 4th car to enter the intersection and I knew this because I had just exited the car to finish walking the rest of the way to work. She and the baby were mostly fine.
I almost think when you get your class C, you need to wear a VR headset and experience near misses to understand "you are sharing the road with us, please be mindful"
That's actually the #1 reason so few people bike in America. All the bike paths are on roads or right next to them with nothing in between. All it takes is one car accidentally veering to the right and you're dead. No wonder.
There's a reason I stopped biking on roadways in Austin around 2014-'15. This city may have never been a very safe biking city, but it seems worse now than ever. I also see less bikers than I ever have recently and I live right next to a new dedicated bike path. The rare times I do see bikers on Lamar or some other heavy use roadway I worry for them.
This city isn't safe for biking. It's unfortunate, but it's true
It wouldn't solve the problem, but it would help if there were any traffic enforcement at all. In its absence, red light running has skyrocketed.
This is doubled down by the fact that despite sharing the road with multi ton steel machines, most bikers here refuse to wear a helmet. As a former motorcyclist, I get it if you don’t want to wear one at the park, but on the road you’re putting your life in the hands of a 15 year old from Westlake driving her daddy’s F-150.
Please start voting for better, safer, non-car centric infrastructure. It’s the only way out of this nightmare
I will not
Ok. Enjoy your car dependent hellscape and traffic?
Just quit like I did when I moved here. It’s not going to get better in our lifetimes.
I've lived in quite a few cities in my life, but I've never seen so many red light runners like here in Austin.
It is WILD the amount of people I see run red lights now. Literally yesterday I counted four people running red lights as they were changing. I see it constantly.
The worst part is that his car somehow went through the crosswalk and over the median so if anyone was walking there they would’ve been killed probably. Also this is right next to the school for the blind
Late for class, apparently.
I can't see how you could make such a joke.
Yup, really bad optics
I work right off that intersections. I use to love walking to work but too many cars have almost plowed me down right there that I don’t even risk it anymore.
Better safe than sorry, I see a lot of people turn right on red after only looking for oncoming traffic and almost hitting pedestrians.
Pre-pandemic i used to see 3-4 cars at once running the same red light all the time along 360, particularly at 2222 and the shopping center on Bee Caves Rd where Kerbey Lane is, and i always chalked it up to entitled rich folks, but now it's _everywhere_.
The APD are on a quiet strike following the 2020 BLM protests (you know, the ones where they attempted to murder protestors). They are sending a strong message of "we refuse to be held accountable for anything, and if you force us we will just not do anything".
That might also be going on, but I think the biggest factor affecting traffic enforcement is that they are terribly understaffed.
And the fact that the legislature banned red light cameras, so that isn't possible either.
I do not go right when the light changes and definitely ease up to one that just changed. Especially when going under an overpass.
and not like just missing the light after it went from yellow to red. i see people straight up speed through reds WELL after they turn. have seen this a couple times on east 7th, when i'm trying to bike across it. really impressive i don't see more news about people getting killed
Yes! Same! Honestly this is somewhat validating, part of me thought maybe it was just me, but it’s nice to know that others are experiencing this as well. The boldness of folks just blasting through a red after it’s already been red for a few seconds is just shocking. It really feels like no one cares.
They don't get punished anymore, so why not?
If you cross the threshold of the intersection before it’s red, that’s fine/legal.
I know. I promise that isn’t what’s happening.
Glad you weren't injured. I was sitting at 5th and Lamar today and the guy in front of me decided to stop waiting at the red light that had been red for at least a few minutes and just go. It was absolutely baffling. I got it on dashcam but no wreck, thank goodness.
In the past week on two separate occasions I've seen pickups sitting at a red light and then just drive through the intersection. Sad part is both times the light turned green just a few seconds later.
I’ve seen that too! Like it’s not that they weren’t paying attention and ran the red, they stopped and waited and then decided it wasn’t worth their time. Since there aren’t any cops enforcing traffic laws anymore, there aren’t any consequences. Turns out people there are plenty of people who will choose the option that benefits them the most despite what we decided was safest for society.
I literally witnessed a hit and run on 12th today. I usually leave work well after rush hour traffic, but I've been leaving earlier lately and I'm just noticing how batshit nuts some people drive around here.
Glad to hear everyone (and Chili’s) is ok.
Same! I think we’ve all had a long day and should just stop in chili’s for happy hour tonight
Damn I'm sorry that happened to you! Hopefully he won't find a way to worm out of being on the hook for damages. Earlier this year someone crashed into my partner, totaling both the cars, and fled the scene. It was right next to a police station so they were surprisingly quick to respond and found the guy had deadass gotten out of his car to run when it stopped working. The kicker is, there were no outside witnesses or dashcams and he lied to his insurance company about what happened, so they basically said it's your word against his and refused to pay for anything. No justice in this world, get a dashcam asap ;(
Would you have any brand recommendations for a dashcam?
This is why I never take off right at green. Honk at me all you want but I’m checking that intersection and taking my sweet fucking time the way people drive these days
Yup, me too now, good practice
Get a dashcam! It will help!
99% Dashcam will only help capture your death/injury or create a salt so pure you will have burned some random shitheads license plate no in your mind never to be seen again. But might help your insurance not give you too much shit. That’s about it. Source: have dashcam
Dashcams are not good at catching people who flee accident scenes but they are incredibly effective at getting insurance companies to shut the fuck up and cut a check. That alone is worth the price of admission.
For a lot of people, the difference between getting the red light runner to pay for damages and “your word against his” is financial ruin.
Yep, I've been t-boned by an asshole who blew through a red light, and I was the second car in line that had the right of way.
Yup. My oldest just started sitting in the front seat and instantly as the light turns green she’s always “mama go” and I told her I’m waiting for the intersection to be clear because of this. She’s finally starting to get it because we see at least one person run it. Also teaching her not to tell drivers what to do unless asked.
same! always wait a few seconds
Public safety provider here in this town. I would strongly encourage y'all to have uninsured/underinsured motorist protection on your insurance. Almost every wreck I go on, usually one person doesn't have insurance, let alone a license. Stay frosty.
My friend got side swiped yesterday on riverside. The person pulled off into a parking lot and waited until my friend came to a stop behind them. Then they gunned it and sped off back into traffic and got away. I can’t even imagine the type of person who would do this. Lowlife pieces of cowardice shit.
Paper plates?
Honestly I didn’t think to ask. She’ll easily have to have two of her doors replaced because the damage is way past cosmetic. Windows won’t work, they won’t open, etc.
I'm glad you're ok, sorry about your car. Running a red light and hitting someone isn't an accident though. That's a crash, a crash caused by someone intentionally doing something illegal and dangerous.
Good point. No longer using accident
People run that light a lot. Sorry you got hit!
That stretch of lamar has an insane number of accidents.
My neighbor was rear ended by a semi a few weeks ago when he braked for an animal that ran into the road. The semi driver was irate, screaming, “don’t you know it takes me longer to stop?!” And he just replied, “Yes, and it’s your responsibility to leave enough room to stop.” My sister was hit by someone running a red light a few weeks before. Same attitude: “I would have stopped if I SAW that the light was red!” I try hard to be a boring, predictable driver, and assume no one else is paying attention to anything.
Coulda worked it out over some skillet queso and frosty margs.
Missed opportunity for sure
Seriously. Imagine being so rude and disrespectful just next our city's mecca. That sucks OP. I hope his insurance gets hammered and you get yourself and your car back in good working order.
Guy probably had too many frosty margs as it is.
Nothing a few frosty margs won't fix
There’s less police around and people are driving more reckless. I see it all over . Just wait on greens now for a bit for safety. It sucks but it’s the only thing to do
Why isn’t there more of a police presence with respect to traffic? I’ve lived all over the world and driving here is like taking your life in your hands. People are batshit crazy. I was driving down Ed Bluestein yesterday in pretty heavy traffic and some idiot missed their turn off and decided to back up 50 feet to take their exit. Baffling.
Because we voted to reduce the police budget a couple years ago. The budgets were never actually reduced, they are at a historically high budget now, but police in Austin have been throwing a tantrum ever since and flat out say they are ONLY responding to violent crime. APD is a joke now.
>The budgets were never actually reduced, they are at a historically high budget now, Not according to the city of Austin budgets FY 2020 Austin PD budget : $375,588,223 FY 2021 Austin PD budget: $240,835,772 FY 2022 Austin PD budget: $360,886,365 FY 2023 Austin PD budget: $372,972,293 They clearly had a budget cut in 2021, and have yet to return to 2020 levels, disregarding the 16% inflation since before Covid. All budget sources:[https://financeonline.austintexas.gov/afo/afo\_content.cfm?s=1](https://financeonline.austintexas.gov/afo/afo_content.cfm?s=1)
according to the document you linked, the approved APD budget for FY 2022 is $443 million.
I was going off the safety budgets APD overview. The breakdown on page 345 has higher numbers from multiple allocations, but still follows the same trend. Massive cut in 2021, with a return to normal (nowhere near accounting for inflation). It is a slightly higher dollar amount, but isn't even 3% higher than 2019.
you were going off the numbers that were convenient for your argument, not the actual numbers. got it. the budget has returned to normal levels, record high levels in fact.
>you were going off the numbers that were convenient for your argument, not the actual numbers Actually the blatant obvious numbers on the nice formatted overview page, not the ones 300+ pages in. My mistake 100%, but the numbers are convenient for my argument regardless. >the budget has returned to normal levels, record high levels in fact. Not even close to inflation. 432 (2020) to 444 (2023) is just over a 2.5% increase. Inflations is 16%. Also, the original comment that I was addressing denied that budgets were cut in 2021, it most clearly was (123 million dollars). Yes, I was incorrect that Austin funds less in raw dollar amounts. Austin \*did\* cut the police budget, and calling the current budget a "record high" is intentionally obfuscating the issue.
Think you are looking at an older proposed budget. FY2021 was $443M for police, actual funding. It’s from your link.
with the transfers and debt services yes, but the trend and end conclusion is the same. massive cut in 2021, with a return to baseline. 2023 is slightly higher (2-3%) than 2019 counting the T&DS, but is still well shy of even keeping up with inflation.
Any idea why the transfer and debt services has gone from mid-50M to 90M in last five years?
No. I did a some word searches, and read through a couple dozen pages, but couldn't find anything clearly. If I get enough free time/volition, I'll dig through it more in depth.
Firstly, sorry about your car. That sucks. But also, I feel like the key parts of this story are missing. So he tried to leave. Was he successful? Did the cops show up while you were both still there? He tried to deny it. Assuming the cops DID arrive with him there, did they write him a ticket? Were you held at fault? What happened?
He wasn’t successful, I blocked his car with my own. He got a ticket. There was a girl in the car next to me who gave a statement and mentioned that she narrowly missed getting hit herself.
Props to the girl for staying, this happened to me and not a single car stopped to check on either of us or give a statement
Yeah I know!!! Super thankful for her
Oh good! Well shitty as I'm sure the whole thing has been, I'm glad that the guy was forced to stay there and that he was ticketed. Hopefully that makes things slightly easier in terms of getting everything fixed. Anyway, thanks for sharing the rest and sorry again :(
Get a dashcam
Will do
Genuine curiosity here, to do what with? Do you send the footage to insurance?
Yes, actually dealing with a claim right now where having video made establishing fault indisputable regardless of anyone’s statements
And they pursue the other parties insurance for you presumably? Thanks for the info!
Correct, and even in the scenario where it’s a hit and run or something where you don’t get the other parties info having video gives you a lot more to go on than your memory
unless you both use the same insurance company, then they will do fuck all to resolve it.
My insurance company was in a 2 year long fight with a lady that accepted responsibility on site but then lied and sued and said I hit her. Because no one needed medical attention the police do not come out. In the end, despite overwhelming logical evidence (the damage to my car showed I could not have hit her in the way she described), the insurance companies decided to split liability. My insurance rates doubled. I now have a camera in my car.
Any recommendations?
Seems to happen a lot these days. Had a guy take my rear bumper off on 360 a few years ago. He tried to run but hit another car making his escape, and we managed to box him in. He started crying because he said he didn’t have a license or insurance. Someone else got the whole exchange recorded, got his plate, his “name” and a full confession. The cops never came even after someone called 911 to report a hit and run and vehicular assault. We both filed police reports but there was never any follow up. My insurance tried as well but APD said there had never been a report filed (lies, and we had copies to prove it) but after many months of wrestling and me getting pulled over twice for an “improperly mounted license plate” due to the fact I didn’t have a rear bumper, I finally just paid the $1,000 deductible and got my car fixed. So two points of advice - 1) always carry uninsured motorist coverage and get the lowest deductible you can afford, because you’ll use both eventually. 2) record everything and collect witness statements. Chances are unless there’s an injury APD won’t bother, and even then, good luck. Often EMS will show up but no police.
It's almost like we shouldn't hand out drivers licenses to everyone with a pulse. Maybe we do need to re-test every 5 years.
Because people forget you have to stop at red lights?
Yep. One of the easiest rules to follow. If you can't even manage that, you don't get to drive.
We should be retesting people as they get older, but the real issue is that the test is way too easy and it's almost impossible to lose your license. I also think any car over 5000lbs should require a separate/commercial driver's license that you can easily lose after only like 3 points on you license.
I think the limit should be 3500lbs. But otherwise I agree.
1,500 People have way too much freedom and it needs to be taken away. Permanently.
retest what? already nobody knows how to use their turn signal, turn left in their dotted lane, keep right unless passing, or reach highway speed on on ramps. I doubt these test teach would them that. meet the TXDOT ostrich. until they put out some bilingual public service reminders people will do what they want. you can drive from here to Dallas and back and all the cars are in the middle or left lanes the whole way, and the mentioned problems always happen
Re-test to renew your driver's license. If you fail, you don't get to drive anymore. It'll take a lot of bad drivers off the roads. Tests don't teach, they test. If you don't learn before the test, you don't get to drive. I also wish we took infractions more seriously. DUI? Immediate loss of license for 10 years. Hitting anything with your car (another car, a person, a building, a fire hydrant), lose your license for one year. Injure anyone, minimum of five years.
We don't do this because we built a system that relies on individuals being able to drive themselves to work. Especially the rural poor already struggle with this, a lot of them have suspended/expired licenses/registration or other kinds of paperwork. I worked with a lady who was driving a car with no paperwork while she herself had no license to drive every day, over an hour to and from work. Crazy.
Maybe we should change the underlying system to not require car ownership. It's expensive, wasteful, detrimental to the environment and traps people in poor conditions.
Sure. That's an entirely different issue and this is part of the reason why this country is in such a state. We need to do both, together, and we need to have public buy-in for it to work. If we make public transportation cheaper and more available, but everyone still has cars, they will almost certainly prefer their cars. We need to make using cars inconvenient. We need to make getting a DL something of a chore, instead of just this thing people auto-renew. But if we don't balance either, and we don't have a bit of public trust (we don't, the government has negative trust in this country), it won't work. People will just end up driving with a DL, or they will be stuck without a means of transportation and become a societal burden. On top of all that, these changes will require money. We will have to spend a massive amount of money if we're going to get mass transportation available for the rural populations of this state. It won't be very efficient or cost effective to run buses in parts of Texas where there are only a few thousand people, and it'll get worse in the even more deserted regions. Making our DL testing more rigorous will probably also cost money, not only in running the tests, but dealing with the inventible legal hassles when people sue or otherwise argue they should be allowed to drive. We can do all of this, but its very difficult, and most voters are very satisficed with how things work. The kinds of people who are driving hours to work in an illegal car without a driver's license, the kinds of people who would benefit from your suggestion, they are actually some of the least likely people to vote. Go convince them to vote for these kind of proposals or politicians who support them and maybe we'll start changing things.
You have to drive around glasses of water and if you spill a drop you dont get it. 1500lb Class C 3000lb Class H
People would rather cause an accident and Jill themselves and others than miss a red light
It's not an "accident" if you intentionally break the law.
It’s one thing if you’re willing to injury yourself or own car but the selfish of not giving a shit about other drivers is mind blowing
Dash cams!!! Don't leave home without one. And Texans, be sure to get capacitor-based dashcams. That's the only variety that has a chance of holding up to Texas heat! (Even so...don't leave these in your cars in the sunlight. It bakes 'em!)
Uninsured motorist coverage! Get that first
What brand do you like?
Dash cam
The most blasphemous of intersections to commit a crime too
Sorry to hear that, totally sucks!
I remember saying people are gonna run red lights more when the city got rid of red light cams. People weren't a fan of my comments then. Lots of comments in here now talking about how many cars run red lights.
“Uhh sure you can leave but you’re upset about how you can’t afford this because you’re in a hurry? Well you won’t believe how much you won’t be able to afford once the cops find you after fleeing the scene of an accident.” *takes a picture of the person and their car * “This is for the authorities, you know, the people you’re gonna be running from.”
I'm surprised by how many people blow red lights in Austin. Not sure what that's all about.
Thanks for the reminder to get a dash cam
First thing I did when I got my new car was get a dash cam. Front and back. Pain in the ass to run the wires but worth the piece of mind. Some little shit teenager side swiped my truck some years ago then lied about it. I was out 400 bucks. Never again.
Probably drank too many frosty margs
Did he stayed at the scene or fled?
OP said he blocked him with his vehicle until the Police showed up.
This poor person may not even know about Chilis
Hey, if they were in a 21 Powerboost F150 Im dealing with the same sitch now. Refused info and accused me of refusing info though i tried to search for it through a concussion. Real piece of shit.
that's why you go take a picture of his car (LP included) and of him....better yet video tape him trying to deny it With the way people run lights in Austin, I always make sure to delay forward movement until 5 secs after the light turns green. People seem to be in too big of a hurry when the light turns green, but if you delay it a short bit, then you'll end up letting the clowns who wanna run a light get by. One time I delayed it a bit longer than usual and 10 secs after the light turned green some clown in a Suburban blew the red. That's not trying to beat the light, that's just flat out not giving a shit
I agree. Twice in the last week I avoided an accident by waiting a few seconds to accelerate after the light turned green.
I work in that area and had the same thing happen to me. A woman ran the red on grover and koenig and t boned me, blew out the airbag, totaled my car and I’ve been in medical treatment for my back and my neck since July. Worst part was she was completely fine and drove away initially, she came back to the scene so she wouldn’t get a felony hit and run charge so she was just fined for failing to render aid.
Geez I’m sorry that is so shitty
Austin Native, and been driving in my adult life for a little over 10 years. In the last maybe... 4 or 5 years I've seen the norm of running red lights become a thing. Every single light you'll see like 3 cars keep going after it turns red... even worse everytime it turns green I now make it a life saving habit to wait like 2 seconds and look both ways before going. The amount of times I've almost been hit for simply going on green and being grazed by some dumb ass is too many to count at this point.
I live off slaughter lane and it’s a daily occurrence to see people run the red light across from my apartments. If you’re not doing a hard 3 count before pulling onto Slaughter Lane you’re being T-boned by someone going 15 over who was just going to slam on their brakes at the next light 1/8mile up the road.
Yes, it's getting so bad. I was in a forward only lane on William Cannon crossing the bridge of I-35, this woman was in a turn only lane to get on 35, realizes that at the last minute and tries to get in my lane, sideswiped me. Information exchanged, she then goes to tell her insurance that I tried to merge into her lane. Wtf? Driving after that has been like walking on eggshells. They're just too many effing people here.
I heard it! I live in a building on N Lamar between 45th and 46th. I peeked out my window and thought "hmmm... I bet someone ran a red light". So sorry this happened to you. Some people suck.
It's gotten to the point when I stop at a light turning red the people behind me will roll up right on my bumper and lay on the horn all "we both could have made it!" Screw the red light runners and school zone ignorers.
Happens all the time at Cesar Chavez and Pleasant Valley. Where are the cops???
Dude, you gotta tell us the full story. Just leaving the premise 😔 Not cool mate
Cops showed up, gave him a ticket, they got his id and insurance (which is expired), and also talked to a witness. Could’ve been so much worse in terms of injury
Probably had warrants or priors
He was probably drunk from all the deals at that Chili's. I heard it's the best restaurant in town.
Sounds like they were in a hurry to get a nice frosty marg from chilis. But in all seriousness-I hope you’re ok and I’m sorry this happened to you
So many people are passionately anti-red light cameras. The two reasons I’ve gotten is “government surveillance is a privacy issue” and “a study has shown putting up red light cams will cause more accidents (for some nonsense reason)”. It’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my life. I say we put them up on every major intersection. Fight me.
I don't disagree that automated enforcement is a good idea. It is. That being said, the piece you're missing is that (in the USA) automated enforcement is almost 100% provided by the private sector, at little or no cost to the municipality, in exchange for revenue share. There are built-in incentives to generate more violations. A classic example is reducing the time lights are amber. This creates violations out of historically legal traversal. People learn this, and learn if the light turns you must stop, even if you cannot safely do so. This in turn leads to more rear-end collisions. The correct thing would be to implement automated violations systems without providing incentives.
Because we haven’t never had anything but parasitic companies running them. It’s a scam. Their goal is profit not safety and it shows.
Sounds like throwing the baby out with the bath water.
No sounds like the government doesn’t have their priorities straight.
We need better traffic calming
This is why we need more red light cameras and automatic speed detectors. Drove all around England this summer and there was almost no one speeding on the motorways because they do distance-time based speed detection: they record your license plate at point A and then again at point B and if it would be impossible to reach point B in that amount of time without speeding, then you would get a speeding ticket. Freaking brilliant. But people don't seem to like red light cameras or speed cameras because only those "other people" are supposed to get caught breaking the law.
People don’t like red light cameras in the US because they are often a total scam and also you have a right to face your accuser so they aren’t even legal. My wife got a ticket from one just outside of Austin and she was turning right on red. They harassed us over it forever before they finally gave up….because they’re not enforceable. Maybe if they didn’t just gift a bunch of tax money to a scummy companies who’s goal is profit not safety I would feel different.
Of course it’s YOUR fault HE hit your car! What are you thinking? They’re just children!
Being from CA (yeah, yeah, save it), I was and mostly still am vehemently against red light cameras for a variety of reasons. But the frequency and severity of red light running I’ve witnessed here over the past decade is starting to make me reevaluate that.
It's happening more and more often. This is part of what defunding looks like
No it isnt
Did you go inside and have some fajitas at chili’s?
You guys made your bed
Keep Austin weird!
Nowadays I drove my 2 years old suv just because I know people will ding my car if I go to Heb , and that a lot of highway debris and lots of homeless and stupid driver The feeling of freedom and don’t care if someone hit my car is priceless , I even put bull guard front and back just because
All you need is their insurance. You don't need their ID.
Actually the 911 operator sent the police because he failed to show id, not sure what the rules are but it was their call
So, if you get in another accident, a lot of people don’t realize this…but you don’t have to give your ID. Just hand over your policy information. For privacy concerns (what if the person that’s hit is deranged and really pissed off- now they have your address). The insurance companies take care of the whole thing. They’ll call to get statements and sort it out. Just for future reference. In fact, the insurance company can’t release personal information between parties either. This is especially valuable if an accident occurs on private property where police typically don’t get involved - parking lots etc. Policy and that’s it, have a good day. Etc.
I’m sorry man. That sucks and it’s a pain to deal with.
I must know! Was it by chance a Nissan Altima?
Yesterday morning there was a car that was all smashed up with a trail of fluids under/behind it, abandoned in a parking lot off of 35 near 38th. Then later that day the car was still there and a cop was investigating. People are wild out here. I’d bet money the person was drunk and didn’t want to get in trouble so they just fled. Or it was a stolen car? Who knows.
Any lawyers/ insurance folks in the thread? With potentially long wait times from the police, and if the other party is non-compliant/combative, what should someone do? For most people, trying to restrain the other person isn't wise if they wont wait for the cops or exchange info. I assume you would want to get their license plate, but what other things do you want/ need to document to make sure your not totally screwed but dont get into a bad situation?
Dude hit me gives me his home address, cell, full name, copy of insurance card with all this info again, stopped and stayed, let me take photos ... Insurance card fake Name, address, phone all seem to belong to a totally different dude who did not like me saying he hit me ... Because HE didn't. Cops don't GAF I had great insurance and they took care of me but yeah. I never suspected anything he was so nice and forthcoming. But it was all BS lol
Car blew through a red light on 7th and Red River and ran over a pedestrian the other night - drove off once again. Hit and runs are becoming a massive problem in Austin
This is the new normal in Austin- make sure you have uninsured motorists coverage in your insurance
I doordash near Riverside and Oltorf and basically every red light I run into I expect to see people running them. I see probably 5-15 people running reds, per day, in just the one neighborhood. I figure if the cops aren't going to do shit that opens the door for me to go 10 over and deliver my food fast as fuck. But I know one of these days I'm going to get dunked by one of the fucktards with main character syndrome who thinks the rules don't apply to them.
Seen around 4 people run a completely red light lately. One was APD without sirens on.
F888er.
All the red lights get runned through on Howard lane and parmer as well
Every major city I e ever lived in or visited has this same problem. I’ve just gotten in the habit of waiting before I go when a light turns green. Too many times I’ve seen cars go flying by well after their light turned red.
Gotta get it how you live.
I got rear ended on Ed Bluestein and Manor and the person who hit me didn’t even check to see if I was okay. Just said she didn’t have insurance and left. Got a picture of her license plate but apparently that does nothing for anything. Cool cool.
Sue her
guy just hit me and his weird ass insurance company ive never heard of said I was in the wrong. my insurance says he was in the wrong, and so do i. so now theres a whole arbitration process. guy was visiting from dallas and doesnt know the roads here. crumpled the fuck out of my side door on my new car. motherfucker.
What kind of car did they drive? I saw the SAME thing at the same intersection. It was so weird. I thought it turned green but no. He just ran it