Health & Fitness

A Tale of Two Tickets: No Right on Red at Russell & 113

I've gotten two tickets in my entire life. Both were in the exact same spot in Davis. That annoys me.

I’ve gotten two tickets in my entire life. One was a no-right-on-red violation about nine years ago, right after I got my license. The other was last week, in the same exact [expletive] spot: The northbound Highway 113 off ramp at Russell Boulevard.

Let me concede the main point and then I’ll move on: I broke the law and I should have known better. I accept the ticket.

But come on! How could this possibly happen?

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I drove hundreds of thousands of miles between those two tickets, from Arizona to Vancouver to Rosarito to Virginia. How could I be victimized a second time by that same annoying sign after all of that driving?

Here’s a theory: After nine years of making right turns on just about every red light in the paved world, the nature of the habit finally superseded the financial sting of that first ticket. The ingrained habit pulled my foot away from the brake pedal and coaxed me to the right, toward my home, breaking the law in the process. 

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It’s a terrible theory, but still.  

When I got home, I opened the DavisWiki in hopes of finding dozens of other locals brimming with anger over the randomness of that annoying no-right-on red sign at Russell. I found nothing.

That blew my mind. The DavisWiki has a page about Zombie Attack Responses. How could there possibly be no mention of that sign? (If you’re a Wiki pro and you know it's on there somewhere, please post the link for me).

I was a teenager working at the Pizza Factory in Winters when I got that first ticket, so it’s safe to say it was a legitimate financial blow at the time. Still, this one annoys me more, mostly because it's less justifiable since I had already been dinged before. 

I was driving north on Highway 113 after spending the morning with my colleague in Dixon. The better path to my apartment would actually be to exit on Covell, which is what I normally do. I’m not sure why, but this time I took Russell. The deicision was made entirely in my subconscious. It was a regrettable one. 

In conclusion, I have no valid excuse. All I’ve got is this: Right turns are almost always legal at red lights after a complete stop. I don’t specifically know why it’s illegal at this one, but I’m going to trust the authorities (and assume it probably has something to do with the safety of cyclists). If you know why this sign exits on Russell, please do share below.

None of it will make me feel any less annoyed when that ticket lands in my mailbox for the second time in a decade, but I guess that’s how lessons are learned. 


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