Jami the Traffic Cop

There's a stoplight at an intersection not far from my house which is controlled by a sensor under the pavement. Basically, the light will stay red in one direction until a car pulls up, and then the opposing light will shortly go to yellow then red. For many years, the sign at the intersection read simply "Stop Here on Red", and people unfamiliar with the area would fail to pull up to the sign, sitting at the red light until annoyed locals would get out of their car and tap on the window. A few years ago, the borough added a second sign, which clarifies "to change signal". I'd have to say that I'm not certain that it helped as much as you might hope. Eddie and I frequently walk by this intersection and see some poor clueless motorist sitting at front of a long line of seriously aggravated drivers who honk and point out their windows at the sign. At least once a month, I walk up to the passenger window (closest to the sidewalk) and say, "if you don't pull up to where the sign is, the light won't change." Usually people are grateful, occasionally, they are just annoyed and once someone said "Why?" so then, over the increasing honks, I explained. Today it was an older gentleman. Since no one waited behind him, I explained that this light operates on a sensor, and he'd need to pull up to the area that's a little raised so that the light would change. He actually looked at me suspiciously and said "How far??" I point just ahead of the car "Just like 5 feet maybe? See where the sign is?" He actually "harrummphed" at me, and rolled forward, super slowly, watching me closely as I walked back to the stroller and started off. I generally feel that informing people is a nicety. I had no idea I could come off so threatening. The whole way home I tried to figure out what he thought I might be trying to pull. I still don't know. He was still watching me in his rearview mirror (I kept looking back to see) when the light changed and the car that was now behind him honked. I bet next time, he pulls all the way up to the sign.