Semi-serious blunder at intersection

First one of my career but could have been the last. A car was in front of me and absolutely smashed his brakes for a yellow light. I started braking but decided to pass to avoid rear ending him. I could have stopped I think, but didn't really want to find out since I've never actually slammed the brakes before and didn't really know how the physics would play out. Its a big mess up because I should have had more following distance...if anything happened it would have been 100% on me and yeah the light turned red before I even went through it. Thinking of quitting this job now.

 

No reason to quit.. Stop lights are hard to time in a big truck. Try and hover your foot over the brake pedal when approaching an intersection with a light that has been green for awhile. And slow down to a speed that you will be able to come to stop at. Regardless of what the speed limit is.

 

How long have you been a driver?

 

About 20 months

 

I know the feeling. Sometimes it's not worth the risk.

Listen always approach the lights slowly. You can only go fast 1 time and a collision happens.
Slow it down. Enough spacing and you should be good.

 

"The light turned red"...and there was a camera? You got a ticket?

If not, what's the problem. Just wipe your brow, move on, and try to do better next time. If so, I think I've read people here saying that camera tickets have no effect on "points". But I'm not sure on that one.

 

You understand what you did wrong and no one got hurt. Chalk it up as a lesson learned, change your shorts and keep on trucking.

I’d reconsider making split second lane changes though. If you don’t have time to properly check your mirrors you may miss something next time, like a motorcycle.

 

No camera at the intersection fortunately. I'll probably be slowing down a bit from now on though

 

Watch for hand or walking person some even have timers .. if a light is stale green and someone is sitting at intersection expect it to change.. you never hit anything take it as a lesson and drive on..

 

I've been in your situation multiple times even driving as slow as I do. It happened to me just 5 days ago in Pennsylvania. I was driving in the right lane, rolling 35mph in a 45mph zone. When I felt like the light would change at any moment I started braking with a green light. A car came around me in the left lane and darted in front of me so they could turn right at the light. I quickly questioned whether I could stop or not before making contact so I did exactly what you did and swerved to avoid them. Luckily I had already checked my surroundings and I knew I was clear.

I have made it part of my driving habits to always assume a light will change at the last second so I can get prepared to safely stop.

As the other drivers have stated, no one was hurt and no damage was done. Take a deep breath, wipe off your brow, change your skivvies and chalk this situation up to a real life driving lesson and keep trucking.