Why I Stop at Red Lights at 3:00 am

Why do you follow the law?

Is it because you are a good citizen? Do you do it to build good Karma? Are you afraid of the consequences of being caught? Peer pressure? Is it okay to break a rule that you think is useless or unecessary?

Imagine this: It is 3 AM on a Tuesday and for some reason you are alone in your car, driving home from some event. You are near your home on familiar streets when you come to a traffic light and it changes to red before you. You are tired and ready to be home. After 30 seconds of waiting for the light to change you look to your left, up the street and there is not a car in sight. You look to your right and there are no other cars visible. A quick glance in your rear-view mirror shows you to be all alone at this intersection. So, what do you do? Do you cross on the red or do you wait for the light to change?

I mean, really, the traffic lights are meant to keep traffic safe, to prevent accidents at busy intersections and smooth the flow of traffic. Does this red signal really serve any of those purposes at 3 AM on a Tuesday?

So what do I do? I wait for that light to change. Obeying the law is part of our contract with our community. We, as citizens of a community, take much comfort from the knowledge that most of those around us obey the laws. It makes us feel safe when driving on the roads to know that a green signal means it is truly safe for me to drive through an intersection without fear of injury. Imagine what it might be like if people only obeyed the laws when it was convenient for them to do so. So, at 3 AM on that Tuesday I wait for the light to change because, if I don't, that way lies chaos and the end of civilization as we know it.

Of course, I sometimes have been known to exceed the speed limit by a little bit . . . .