I must have been driving along ECR before you put your flare out, because it was PITCH BLACK as I drove down ECR.

I drive ECR daily and almost blew all the way thru the intersection of ECR and Castro last night when the power was out. It was SO pitch black I didn't realize I had entered the intersection until I was a full car length into it. Very dangerous conditions when not only were the traffic lights were out, but evidently ALL power was out along several blocks of ECR as well as several complete blocks on either side of ECR.

Mountain View's self-entitled car drivers think they own roads and everyone else will yield.

Based upon my experience last night, it seems clear that - even for those drivers who know ECR VERY well - the utter blackness along ECR made for some exceptionally dangerous driving conditions. It should be noted that the lights were working at the corner of ECR & Shoreline/Miramonte...ECR went dark after that intersection.

maybe they didn't see that it was out.

Maybe they weren't from this area.

You also assume people knew how to drive in the first place. Were you aware of the phone book scandal at the DMV?

You also used to be able to schedule multiple DMV drivers tests at at time. Fail one, go to the next one that afternoon, or the next day

Sparty,

I don't really understand the relevance of your reply. The traffic lights were completely out, along with all the street lights and businesses on ECR. It would be impossible to not see them out. Regardless of where they are from, the vehicle code requires them to stop. As for DMV testing, that has nothing to do with the point I was raising that there was no official response to this outage to reduce the chance of accidents.

I welcome some constructive input.

There is some confusion with my post.

"Maybe they didn't see the light was out." This means "maybe they didn't see the light was out.

Also- "maybe they weren't from this area." That means maybe they weren't from this area.

But as mentioned-- all the lights were out. Which usually make is easier or harder so see things at night? So-- maybe they didn't see the light was out.

Your point- that perhaps everyone forgot how to drive-. My response was "you assume people knew how to drive in then first place" which means you assumed people knew how to drive in the first place.

Unless of course you think having all the answers to all the written tests handy while you take the test makes for superior learning and retention.

As you may well imagine, knowing the traffic laws is a memory skill. You assume they knew these laws in the first place. If they didn't, then one of the laws they wouldn't know would be the one where a dead stoplight is the same as a stop sign.

The MV police certainly should have put flares in all intersections that had zero traffic signals. Drivers are used to flashing lights at least when signals aren't working right, but seldom do we have nothing. And nothing is really hard to notice in pitch darkness. That's why it is on the police to highlight the situation with flares.

By the way, thank you, Greg David, for the flare you contributed. You may have saved lives that night.

A big deal about nothing...,

Until you get t-boned. Car kills. They should be banned.

What do you think of that mister moreregulation?

We do NOT need more traffic regulations. What about PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY??? Dumbing down America will end us all .

The power outage was widespread, homes offices, traffic lights...it was PITCH black. I am pretty sure that anyone who may have blown thru an intersection did so not out of willful disregard for the law, but because they had no idea they had entered an intersection until after the fact because it was PITCH BLACK...at least that's what happened to me.

I agree that it would have been helpful for the police to have placed flares or otherwise done something to try and warn drivers of the hazard, if one was driving south on ECR it was easy to make the transition from Shoreline to Castro before realizing that there was a huge power outage.