If you have driven in Lubbock for any amount of time, you likely follow the Lubbock "Beat" at intersections, whether you realize it or not.

What Is the Lubbock Traffic Beat?

It's the unspoken understanding that even after the light turns green at an intersection, you still want to take a beat, a breath, and look both ways before hitting the gas.

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It is the unfortunate result of Lubbockites taking a red light as more of a suggestion than a command. Well after the light has turned red, a few cars and trucks will continue through the intersection, unwilling to wait one more light cycle for their turn to continue their travels.

The rest of us, unwilling to risk getting T-boned even if we have the right of way, allow this to happen. Who could ever blame us?

What The City of Lubbock Could Do To Prevent Intersection Accidents

For one, traffic police could start giving tickets to red light runners. I'm sure they do, but I never see it happen.

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Even better, we could improve the timing on our traffic lights so drivers don't get frustrated and "plow on through" because this is the third light they've hit in as many miles.

How the Traffic Beat Impacts Commutes and Travel Times

How annoying is it to be the third or fourth car back, waiting for the first car to brave the green light? I'll admit I've beeped my horn after the understandable "beat" has passed because I may be waking someone up from their phone haze.

The truth is, if people stopped habitually running the red light, people could go confidently on green, which would make traffic faster for all of us.

Instead, we exist in this unsafe feedback loop of more and more people running the light, and more and more people not entering the intersection on time, because they don't want to die today. Which, again, I can relate to.