[kelnos]

Really? The grandparent says it's common in Texas, but in my experience it's pretty common in all of the US (at least in urban and suburban areas), and shouldn't be surprising or odd to anyone who's learned to drive in the US or has been driving here more than a few months.

But I agree with you that you should verify that no one is coming in that case; that's sound advice for most all situations, really.

[Arrath]

It may be a kneejerk reaction combined with me being very rurally located for work for these past 4 years, I think there are 3 traffic lights within a 45 minute drive and none of them will show red and green at the same time except in separate lanes when straight is red and left has a green.