Green Means Go, Red Means Stop, Yellow Means...

Hannah has been obsessed with stoplights lately. If she sees the light turn green, and I'm waiting for the car ahead of me to go so that I can start moving, she has to point out that it's a green light, which means we can go now. She makes me aware of when the people to our left can go now, because she sees a green "point" (=arrow).

She has memorized the poem:

Green means Go!
Red means Stop!
Green's Below and
Red's on Top.

Unfortunately, I neglected to explain yellow to her. (Or in her eyes, orange.) Once in a while she'll ask me about the middle light, and I'll tell her that yellow means "watch out, be careful." Even though I learned when I was little that "Yellow means wait, even if you're late!", as a driver I never fully embraced that concept. And in my defense, I'd like to say that I'm really a good driver. I have never been pulled over, never received a citation, and I haven't been involved in an accident for 10 years, and even that was not my fault--I was rear-ended while I was at a dead stop behind a bus, by some silly student in Provo. Need I say more?

Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago, when I was taking the girls to meet Doug (who had been at church meetings) at the ice rink for their skating lessons, and I was running a bit late, and we were (of course) hitting every red light on the way, I got a bit frustrated. As we approached the final stoplight before the rink, and the light turned yellow as I approached, I decided that in that case, Yellow means hurry up! I had put in more than my fair share of time waiting at red lights on that road! As I crossed the intersection, I saw a couple flashes of light out of the corner of my eye, sort of like lightning. It was a rainy day (surprise, surprise), so it could have been lightning, but I knew it wasn't. And halfway through the intersection, I glanced up and saw the red light above me. Ok, so that was cutting it close. I knew it. After dropping off the girls, as I was waiting at a red light at that same intersection a few minutes later, heading the other way, I watched the same flashes of light as another driver tried to squeeze through before the red, and I noticed the traffic cameras next to the stoplights. So, I wasn't totally surprised today when I saw in the pile of today's mail an envelope from the city's "Photo Enforcement Program." And I wasn't surprised to see a picture of my van in the middle of the intersection with the red light above it. But I was surprised to see the picture showing my van not yet entering the intersection, and a red light above that. Honestly, did someone tamper with the photos? Because I would not have done that on purpose.

So, I'm going to swallow my pride, admit my guilt, pay the fine, repent of my yellow-light philosophy, and start practicing the complete stoplight poem with my 3-year-old. Especially the part about Yellow means WAIT, even if you're LATE! (Exactly 4minutes, 47.9seconds late, according to these photos.)