Column: Is turning right on a red light your California birthright? Absolutely not!
I had gotten off the freeway and was heading down a side road when a patrol car suddenly swerved in front of me, and this patrolman yelled “California license!”
I almost hit him, I was so flabbergasted. I said, “What the hell do you mean California? I don’t live in California!”
I was confused why he thought my California license gave me authority to cut him off.
The cop turned around and asked, “Is turns right on red a California right?”
“Yes, I do,” I answered.
“Then how can I pass you?”
“I don’t know, the law says that when I’m driving on the highway, I get to take precedence over any other driver.”
“No, because the law says that when you’re in my lane I’m entitled to pass you.”
“I was driving at 55 mph in my lane, it says 65.”
“Well then, I can’t let you pass.”
“That’s true.”
“I can’t let anyone pass me.”
“Well then, I can’t let you pass, either.”
“But I wasn’t in your lane, I was in the right-hand lane of the two-lane highway.”
“I didn’t know you were in the right-hand lane, which is a lane for vehicles to turn right on red.”
“I’m sorry, I thought it meant turn left on red.”
“No, there’s no turn on red, it means turn left on green, not turn right on red.”
I don’t know why these cops are so wrong.
It’s not the California driving law that says that when you’re driving on that highway, the law says you can cut in front of anyone.
It’s the federal law that says that when you