Unless you’re a first responder, no job should require you to hurry to your destination at the risk of others’ safety. However, a dump truck driver in Florida thought otherwise, thinking that he could break the law just so he wouldn’t have to wait behind a red light. ‘Caught in 4K’ on r/mildlyinfuriating, a Reddit user recorded the driver driving straight through a red light without slowing down or even hesitating.
“It’s not just dangerous — it’s pointless,” the poster of the video remarks, pointing out how the “dump truck driver endangers everyone to save time.” By rushing through that red light, he might have very well caused one or multiple accidents, at the cost of others’ safety and lives. And what’s the result? He “ends up waiting anyway” with all the rest of those in traffic. After “running the red like it’s nothing, I cruise up behind him a block later, both of us waiting at the next red. Nice job,” OP says, frustrated.
There Was Zero Reason the Dump Truck Driver Had To Run the Red Light
For those who might think the dump truck driver couldn’t have slowed down because of the weight of his vehicle, one commenter has an answer. “I am a professional driver, driving commercial for 18 years with no preventable incidents,” the user begins, presenting his expertise on the matter. “With a heavy load, sometimes you don’t have enough yellow and you have to roll the red, but he had 4 seconds of red and wasn’t going 70mph,” they explained. In other words, there was absolutely no reason why the culprit couldn’t stop at the red light like everyone else, as he had more than enough time.
Another highly upvoted commenter explained why some people drive in such an irrational manner: the “Time Saving Bias.” Some people believe that going faster will enable them to reach their destination more quickly, which is true, but only to a limited extent. “Just leaving 10 minutes earlier is already way more efficient than speeding and being a huge danger for everyone,” the commenter states. After all, it goes without saying that “risks and magnitude of accidents increase dramatically with speed.”
Psychological biases aside, what the dump truck driver did was illegal, unsafe, and potentially detrimental to the lives of everyone on the road around him. Hopefully, a police officer catches him in the act next time and puts him in his place before he hurts anyone.
