I have been driving since I was sixteen and I am now 44. So if you do the math that has been 28 years. During those 28 years, I have not been a perfect driver and I've had my share of accidents and mishaps involving my vehicles. I have one particular beef with other drivers on the road and I have even made a few notes about it that are now in a box somewhere in my basement. I have often thought of seeking out a federal grant to do a study for the Department of Transportation or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on one simple topic...Women don't make right turns at red lights!!! and I have the empirical evidence to prove it. In my youth and early twenties I became very frustrated at many a stop light in many a state. I began to make a connection to the observations of the actions of others that would frustrate me when I was behind the wheel of my vehicle. I don't know what it is but when I get into my car, I usually always have a destination. That may seem like a funny and it is...but apparently, there are some people that get into their vehicles and have nowhere to go and are in no particular hurry to get there. They are also ignorant of the vehicular laws that govern their state, as well. Case after case, year after year, I have observed cars in front of me at stop lights. The light is red and the car in front of me has their blinker on indicating their intention to make a right turn. The car is also usually in a right-hand turn lane making it abundantly clear that they are indeed intending to make a right turn but for whatever reason they wait till they have green light to make the turn, even though there is not another soul in their driving lane coming or going or the opposing lanes they are perpendicular or parallel to with exception of themselves… In the states that I regularly operate my vehicle (Missouri & Kansas) it is legal to make a right turn on a red light after making a complete stop, of course, and following the regular looking both ways, etc. etc… I have been at a stoplight at 2 a.m. in a residential area when all other good families are in bed fast asleep…It is quiet and when the car comes to a stop all you hear is the blink of the turn indicator and even the chirp of the crickets or frogs in the midst, as well. There I sit…waiting for the car ahead of me to make the right turn and I wait and wait but the car ahead of me lingers until the light actually turns green before they move forward and make the turn. Throughout the late 80’s and early 90’s I began to make observations of this phenomena and would become so frustrated that I would put my own car in park, get out and approach the car ahead of me stopped @ the red light. I would usually rap on their window scarring them a bit…explain the legality of red lights and right turns in this state and ask them (sometimes impolitely) to kindly move their car because I had somewhere to go even if they did not. To be more precise my exact words usually were… “It IS legal in this STATE to make a RIGHT turn on a RED light, so get your ASS on around the corner because I have somewhere to go even if you don’t and you are holding up my progress” I know you may be thinking this guy is some kind of crazy and I am pulling your leg…but its true. I hope even a few of my friends or family will read this and vouch for me in the comments section because a few of them have been in the car with me when this would occur… I am sure to their own horror and fear. I stopped doing this when so many people were being shot by road rage and the like. It was during these times that I made note of the FACT that more 
often than not it was a WOMAN behind the wheel and not a Man. I came to my senses and began to make more quiet observations. Like I said, I would like to do a federally mandated study on this topic. They give grants for other stupid ideas and this one may actually be of some benefit. I think it goes beyond the idea that Women are more cautious than Men are. There is a reason for a Woman’s stupidity behind the wheel and I’d like to explore the reason’s why. I would like to do the study to examine this phenomenon more closely and maybe relieve a long held frustration of mine. Although I am still tempted to get out of my car…these days I yell out the window or honk my horn. I have had the special occasion to safely follow a car or be followed to a parking lot and it is then that I give them a lesson in Red-Light and Right-Turn Etiquette for their particular State of the Union. I have been known to give them a copy of the Missouri or Kansas Drivers’ Guide and tell them about the Missouri Legislature’s Revised Statutes Chapter 300 Model Traffic Ordinance Section 300.155 or the Kansas Legislature Statute 8-1508 Chapter 8.—Automobiles and Other Vehicles Article 15.—Uniform Act Regulating Traffic; Rules Of The Road and if I could have issued them a citizen citation for their offense, you can bet your ass I would have! In the meantime, I will explore further this idea of a grant or commissioning a study but please, if you are a woman, remember the next time you get behind the wheel there is a reason for it. Also, since you seem to be extra cautious by nature, remember this blog and when you come to RED light, it is OK to look both ways, all ways for that matter, but don't just sit there and wait for the light to turn GREEN when there is no traffic! It might be me or someone like me that is in their car for the same reasons you are and that is to get somewhere. I am never in my car wasting valuable time and not to mention energy in idle waiting for the light to change. I am proactive behind the wheel. Like I said, remember this blog and let the light change in your head instead of on the street...now get your A around that corner because I am behind you! If anyone has any ideas please send me your comments….
