Musings: Stale green light means slow down
A stale green light, drivers learn in classes, means it has been green for an unknown amount of time. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
So many people drive distracted. I see drivers holding their cellphones, which is illegal, and many have a screen on their dashboards providing access to their phones hands-free. And I also see drivers vaping or smoking marijuana.
I have taken defensive driving classes many times to save on my insurance premium as well as to be a safer driver. One thing of note that we learn about in these classes is that a stale green light means it has been green for an unknown amount of time so drivers should slow down or at least take their foot off the gas pedal. And, in turn, prepare for a possible red light to appear.
I imagine that some people might laugh at these actions when seeing a stale green light, but it beats slamming on your brakes and possibly getting rear-ended by the driver behind. That person may have been distracted, high, following too closely to your vehicle — or betting you just might try to speed up to beat the light.
— Karl Wilhelm, West Babylon
WE ENCOURAGE YOU TO JOIN OUR DAILY CONVERSATION. Just go to newsday.com/submitaletter and follow the prompts. Or email your opinion to letters@newsday.com. Submissions should be no more than 200 words. Please provide your full name, hometown, phone number and any relevant expertise or affiliation. Include the headline and date of the article you are responding to. Letters become the property of Newsday and are edited for all media. Due to volume, readers are limited to one letter in print every 45 days. Published letters reflect the ratio received on each topic.
