Rat runners are a growing problem in Manteca.

And it’s a sure sign we’re transitioning from big town to small city mode.

We’re not talking about the ones that scurrying across power lines and the top of fences.

Nor is Chuck E. Cheese — the official rodent of Excedrin — striking fear in into the hearts of parents by planning on opening a location in town.

We’re talking about drivers cutting through parking lots, especially at corners, to avoid waiting at a red light to make a right-hand turn.

The term coined in the bowels of great traffic mazes such as Los Angeles also refers to those who zip down residential side streets to avoid congestion on travel corridors traffic wonks refer to as arterials.

Since Google became the Pied Piper of lemmings licensed to drive, rat running has become more of an issue in once relatively quiet urban neighborhoods.

And just like lemmings plunging to their demise by going off a cliff into water below, there are instances reported every now and then of motorists driving across runways or getting stuck in snowdrifts in the middle of nowhere on a backwoods dirt road trying to avoid chain controls on Interstate 80.

 After all, why think and exercise common sense if there is an app like Google Maps telling you what to do?

Rat running has been practiced around Manteca for years.

Usually, they are at corner gas stations or places like the 7-Eleven at Yosemite and Powers.

It’s become, on average, a weekly experience for me to encounter firsthand since the Bulletin moved to the Hensley Building on the northwest corner of Union Road and Center Street especially when I pull into the parking lot after 6 p.m.

Save for 10 or so City of Manteca vehicles, there usually isn’t another car in the lot at that time of the day.

The shape of the building not only blocks one’s view of the full parking lot when you enter it, but it requires four 90-degree turns to go from southbound Union Road to westbound Center Street.

Anyone who has driven through the nearby intersection knows, by Manteca standards, the backup at the light is minimal and the timing sequence more than tolerable.

Shaving drive time so you can squeeze in a few more seconds of Fortnite when you get home is more important than following implied rules of civilization.

That said, there is nothing illegal per se about rat running and not following the plans of traffic consultants as well as traffic engineers.

It is not against the law to use parking lots on corners as de facto bypasses to avoid waiting at a red light.

It is illegal, however, if you do it in an unsafe manner.

I need to point out that not once have I encountered anyone while trying to navigate my way to a parking stall who was using the Hensley Building asphalt as a right turn lane doing so in a dangerous manner.

They do, however, seem a bit  surprised someone might be driving a car that actually wants to park in the parking lot.

Their top speeds are in the 10 to 15 mph range, likely a function  of all the sharp angles for the lot’s main travel lane.

It may have been an unintended consequence, but clearly the parking lot was designed as a passive traffic calming device.

That isn’t always the case at the aforementioned 7-Eleven.

Hot heads channeling Starsky & Hutch — and if they’re younger trying to emulate one too many Grand Theft Auto platforms  — gun it  through the parking lot.

And, why not? They’re likely among the dolts that believe pedestrians  in crosswalks are the equivalent of discarded burger wrappers

Such behavior is illegal. And if Manteca Police see it and aren’t on the way to something more pressing, rest assured they’d pursue the traffic transgression.

 It doesn’t help that Manteca lacks a reputation as being a place where motorists should be looking over their shoulder in fear of getting a ticket.

The woefully undermanned Manteca Police traffic unit has the same number of officers on the streets as they did 15 years ago when the city had 25,000 less residents.

It may not matter anyway given this is California where social justice advocates have made tickets the legal equivalent of confetti..

It is no longer news when an officer pulls over a driver whose license has been suspended three or four times and more traffic tickets for speeding  than there are unsold tickets to a typical Oakland A’s home baseball game.

That leaves engineering as Manteca’s most effective way to address traffic safety issues.

Retrofitting existing roadways with solutions that modify driving behavior to make the streets safer and the community more livable needs to become an even higher priority.

Especially given the fact  it is looking doubtful that current the City Council has any more stomach than their predecessors about asking voters if they want to increase sales tax even a quarter of a cent to specifically  give Manteca Police more manpower.

In the past few years, city hall staff has shed the need to call a consultant every time a perplexing traffic problem — whether it is unsafe truck parking or congestion — comes to their attention..

The best example is the under $100,000 solution primarily executed by existing city staff that significantly improved traffic flow on the Main Street corridor running through downtown.

It involved synchronizing traffic signals whose control software was hopelessly outdated.

In doing so, they drastically reduced rat runners using nearby residential streets to escape getting stuck in the traffic quagmire the two-lane stretch of Main Street once was.

Less rat running, means quieter and safer neighborhoods.

Imagine how similar fixes elsewhere on major corridors in Manteca could work to not just reduce rat running, but cut back on speeding plus ease up on red light running, and other transgressions.

It is clear based on the changed behavior of drivers in the central district, that whittling down wait  time at signals in a manner that reduces congestion goes a long way to combat squirrely behavior among many, but not all, drivers.

 Such engineering solutions are an effective way — in results and costs — to make Manteca’s streets safer.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com