Red Light, Green Light

A little refresher course for you:

GREEN means GO. 

STOP on RED. 

YELLOW means slow to a stop. 

(Well, or speed up. But I won't go there.)

Simple, right? I mean small children understand this concept. (Remember the childhood favorite "Red Light, Green Light"!?!). Perhaps even trained monkeys could grasp this concept. 

Now here's where it might get a little bit confusing for you, so listen closely:

*STOP and look both ways at a BLINKING RED light. 

*YIELD at a BLINKING YELLOW light, and ensure that the aforementioned rule is properly followed by your fellow drivers. If you want to get technical about this, when a blinking yellow traffic light is encountered "the motorist may go ahead with care if the road is clear."

Wondering why I felt it necessary to remind you of these rules that you have undoubtedly known for years? It has come to my attention that many people in the Galveston area have forgotten some of the most elementary rules of motor vehicle operation. And on occasion, I have found myself unintentionally taking a red light as a suggestion rather than the LAW, and pushing right on through that intersection without hesitation. Galveston Island has become one giant crash course on defensive driving.

Why? Not long ago we had zero operational traffic lights. Slowly, they've been making a comeback. But now it's like a guessing game. "Does this traffic light really work? Or have I been sitting here for the past five minutes like a fool, waiting for the light to change?" Every other intersection is a different story, with seemingly no rhyme or reason. Lights replaced by stop signs. Stop signs replaced by lights. Blinking lights. No lights. Lights that work only certain hours of the day. Lights that have now become arrows for turn only, when passage through the intersection was allowed not long ago. You name it, we've got it.

And we find ourselves in the grown-up version of "Red Light, Green Light!"