for years i've been impatient at red lights. i hate them. i feel like i'm waiting for 3 or more minutes every time i hit one. then i buy this beautiful roadster. take off on a nice day and forget to put the top down. well here i am, caught at my 1st red light. the same one i feel like takes at least 3 minutes to change. it turns red as soon as i get there so I think i have time to get the top down. i read somewhere that it only takes 22 sec. to retract the top. a mear 22 sec. while i wait at a 3 min red light. well i found that red lights are not 3 minutes long and most are either a) less than 20 sec. or b) it takes more than 22 secs to get the top down. nothing like the light turning green and having a line of traffic behind you wanting to go and you still have the top going down...

anyone else notice this problem? i know several will tell my to just pull over but the post was more about red light timing that my poor excuse on not wanting to pull over to get the top down.

 

I think red lights should be abolished...but only in the direction I am going. I have had some pretty short green lights, but not many red lights. They always 'feel' like they are red forever.

I dont have a problem with my top going down too slow..... Oh, I have a coupe.

MikeR

 

When I put the top down on my 70 Chevelle people behind me can't see the light because the top is so damn big! When you drop it, it doesn't collapse until it gets all the way to the rear of the car. So while it is dropping it stands straight up blocking everyone's view.
So no red light problems here!

 

the red lights are absolutely painful in Las Vegas. I'm pretty sure the hair on my legs grew while I waited...

 

Same prob. here in Knoxville. I think I can do an oil change at some of the red lights here!

 

I've been able to drop my top at stoplights a few times without issue. Of course, in anticipation of doing so I will pop the latch as I slow down so I'm ready to go while still rolling at maybe 10mph or so.

With my old Miata this was never a worry. Fully manual top that took about 3 seconds to unlatch and throw over my shoulder. I took great joy in doing this in proximity to Solstice/Sky drivers. They actually have to exit the vehicle to raise or lower their manual top. Heck, even if I didn't want to raise or lower the top, I'd do it just because I was next to a Solstice/Sky. Was that bad of me to do?

 

I'll keep my answer serious (for a change). Since I garage my roadster, the top is down almost all summer. On the occasions when I take off top-up, I'll only drop it if I approach a light that is turning red. I've always had enough time for it to cycle. Even if it didn't, most drivers around me are so fascinated by the process and the Rube Goldberg cable system that they are watching my top and not the light.

Tangental story...when I was in Brazil last summer the only SLK280 that I saw in the city pulled up to an outdoor bar where I was sitting with about 60 other people. Partially because two beautiful hook...I mean girls...exited the car and then he put the top up, the place went dead silent and EVERYBODY watched that hardtop come up and over. I wish Brazil wasn't so far away -- what a great place to have a roadster. You'd be fighting off the chicks and the hijackers in equal parts.

 

I am certain we all dislike waiting at red lights but what really burns my as$ is the person that won't proceed into the intersection in the left turn lane when the light is green.
So then stuck behind them for an entire green light ,the light turns yellow and of course the moron isn't gonna be making his turn now like he should and then the light turns red again. So we sit and wait for the green arrow now which the moron missed the first time cause he was on his friggin cell phone and not paying attention.
So hopefully he will go when the next green arrow comes on or somebody is gonna get hurt.

I have been known to pull around in front of these morons and proceed turning left when the yellow lights up and the oncoming traffic stops.

Now don't even get me started with the jerkoff driving the speed limit it the left lane !!!

 

Valk, you should have been born a truck driver...

 

If ya call driving a 22 foot straight truck a truck driver then I was but I think you are referring to an 18 wheeler.

 

Me too Valk. You can ask my wife. I'm always bitching about that driver that won't pull out into the intersection stranding you through the next series of red lights.

I don't like red lights and they are a big waste of energy in this country. That is, the gas being wasted sitting ideling at the red light or the stop and go they cause. I would like to see more traffic circles as they have in the UK. They may be a little confusing at first but once you get used to them you wouldn't go back. I put on 1,200 miles in the UK and loved the traffic circles, I believe they call them "round abouts."

We have a traffic circle near our second home in Angola Indiana right downtown at the intersection of Rt 20 and Wayne street that has been there more than 100 years. Big trucks, cars, and motorcycles just sail on through.

 

Unfortunately our town has started to put these roundabouts in at more places. The way they built them makes it very hard to see traffic coming and they are small. They cause more accidents than anything else. I am PRAYING that they will remove them soon.

Roundabouts are, IMHO, an abomination that are being inflicted on us more and more with no end in sight.

 

I agree itsky if the roundabouts aren't done right, they're no good. You need quite a bit of space for them and visabilty is a must. I think you qualified your statement by saying "the way they build them."