vehicular douchebaggery

i've about had it. people, please....when the light is red, you shouldn't be going through the intersection. i don't know if i'm just getting more sensitive to it or if it's a real phenomenon, but as of late i notice more and more people in san francisco running red lights and exhibiting general vehicular douchebaggery.

cases in point...

today, right before 6pm, corner of 18th & dolores. a bunch of cars are lined up to turn left from dolores onto 18th. at the yellow a couple sneak through -- understandable. one guy in a silver something or other (4-door sedan of some sort) hesitates for a moment and then plows through a full 5 seconds *after* the light changed to red. again...before he goes through he hesitates. people, when it comes to going through a red traffic light, if you have to think about for even a split-micro-second? don't fucking go through the light.

not five minutes later i'm crossing church street at the steps by the bridge over the muni tracks, at the 19th st. stop sign. car goes through and i stride into the intersection, because it's a stop sign, right? the next car will stop and see me, no worries, right? of course not. the driver did stop, but clearly not for a long enough time, and clearly didn't look to the right. i almost got plowed. to be fair, i wasn't at the crosswalk, but about 8 feet in front of it. and it was getting dark and i wa wearing a dark jacket and dark pants. but still...people...look carefully before proceeding through a stop sign. that and the red light thing are basic drivers ed stuff.

and it's not just these examples. not a day goes by that i don't see a couple of people going through red lights. shit's getting out of hand in what i thought was a town where some basic civility was more the rule. last august the chronicle noted a "scary surge in traffic deaths". recently, there has been some press about the problem with market & octavia mainly drivers making an illegal right turn from market to the freeway on-ramp at octavia.

beyond better enforcement, what's the solution? cameras at intersections? bleh. more police presence? eh. how about people just don't be dicks behind the wheel.