Caporegime
You’ve been done.
Pay it & move on.
Pay it & move on.
How to appeal a Contravene Red Light ticket?
- Thread starter Kuhan
- Start date
Since amber appears to be 3s (+/-0.25s) - this seem pretty marginal for a 50mph zone
@50mph you cover 67.5m in 3s (62m in 2.75s)
@50mph stopping distance from (antiquated ?) highway code is 53m 13 car lengths.
In wet condition say, I suspect this will feel like an emergency stop, which I would not expect to have to execute for the lights,
so either you risk running a red, or you proactively reduce your speed in anticipation light will change & well cover the brake.
I had previously logged a complaint about an A10 light with a seemingly small amber period .... with above calculation @50mph I think you could appeal, demand a light calibration check. ?
@50mph you cover 67.5m in 3s (62m in 2.75s)
@50mph stopping distance from (antiquated ?) highway code is 53m 13 car lengths.
In wet condition say, I suspect this will feel like an emergency stop, which I would not expect to have to execute for the lights,
so either you risk running a red, or you proactively reduce your speed in anticipation light will change & well cover the brake.
I had previously logged a complaint about an A10 light with a seemingly small amber period .... with above calculation @50mph I think you could appeal, demand a light calibration check. ?
The more you argue the case the more I'm inclined to think you were driving without due care and attention to the road conditions in front of you. Was the road clear in front or were you directly behind traffic? Should you not have anticipated the lights may change if you had clear vision of them being green for a time? How close were you that you were unable to come to a stop, from a starting point of your own admission that was under the speed limit, once the light changed to amber? What was the speed limit of the road?
I don't think you'll get far in all honesty, the only leg you may have to stand on would be lack of clear vision and evidence from the reporting officer. Perhaps he did see your brake lights come on, then go off and chance it through the lights, ever think of that?
I don't think you'll get far in all honesty, the only leg you may have to stand on would be lack of clear vision and evidence from the reporting officer. Perhaps he did see your brake lights come on, then go off and chance it through the lights, ever think of that?
Best to always reduce your speed approaching lights, I tend to take my foot of the accelerator and cover the brake ready. So in a 40 I probably go through at about 35, I would love to see a countdown timer so you could anticipate better.
It's more like when you did your test and had to react to the instructot slamming his hand on the dash to signal a stop.
Why should lights act similarly when they have a programmed time.
It's more like when you did your test and had to react to the instructot slamming his hand on the dash to signal a stop.
Why should lights act similarly when they have a programmed time.
Soldato
Why would the car behind you rear ended you? Surely the driver of that car would have seen the lights and been able to stop even though you couldn’t/didn’t?
Caporegime
OP is psychic. They KNEW that the police officer couldn't have seen them (when obviously they did hence pulling them over) and they KNEW that the car behind was going to rear end them (which they didn't).
pretty common no - someone following too closely , jawing away, gestiulating to their passenger, and you know, if you tapped your brakes they would be sitting next to you ?
All costs in - could a fine for a red light be cheaper than premium increase from rear end crash..
Soldato
I saw something somewhere where some country had a timer, however this was on the red, a countdown until you would be able to go. Mean't people were getting ready to go and started to move earlier.
I could imagine that having a countdown would probably attract more people to try to beat the lights if its touch and go if you can make it in time press the right side peddle
Maybe a line on the road, or a completely different colour tarmac would be best. Ie the tarmac for say 35M is red (they are often painted anyway), so you know the safe area to be in to clear the lights at correct speed, and if your outside that you should stop.
If you drive around you do sometimes find lights that seem to require excessive braking as they seem to change very quickly. I am not so sure they are all setup the same, or maybe some are just set more aggressively to try to get more traffic through?
Permabanned
Wrong, it's your front wheels only.
If your front wheels cross the line when it is still amber, then you're safe.
good idea.
is gps accurate enough to program in a warning distance. ?
(who pays the fines for AV vehicles is going to be an intereting dilemna https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?p=35075873 )
Are you sure?
I've got this off another site
I drive an articulated vehicle. Quite often, when I approach the lights they are green, but by the time by vehicle is through, they have changed to red. There is nothing I can do because of the length of the vehicle. Why should I be prosecuted?
If the red light is not showing when the front of the vehicle crosses the line, but is illuminated before the rest of the vehicle has passed, an offence is committed. The rules state that it is your obligation as a driver to ensure that the whole of the vehicle can pass on green. If it cannot, you should not proceed.
@OP While this is frustrating position to be in I think i'd rather just accept the fine and move on. The amount of stress and fannying around you'll have to do to book a day of work to go to court etc... IMO isn't really worth the hassle. Like you've mentioned, you'd be better off just taking it on the chin and getting a dash cam.
3rd point of view from pistonheads
so - (reasonably) this permits straddling as long as you don't move when red.
so - (reasonably) this permits straddling as long as you don't move when red.
I tried a similar tactic. I got done by a camera going through a red. The road is downhill, it was wet and I had a hatchback full of stuff that could have been damaged if I broke hard. They told me how long the light remained on amber and I worked out that according to the highway code I had milliseconds to decide if I should stop.
I got a letter back from the cops saying I should have been driving to the conditions, ie < than the speed limit. Still got done.
Utter nonsense, I regularly drive a vehicle in which it would be impossible to control whether or not the back would be through on time even if it had just turned green. Speed limited and very long. I wish people wouldn't quote from random websites.
Soldato
I need to be mindful of this, being guilty of nipping through just as the light has gone read.
I don't mean approaching a clearly red light, but I sometimes put my foot down approaching an amber to get through.
I don't mean approaching a clearly red light, but I sometimes put my foot down approaching an amber to get through.
Impossible!! Really? What is it your driving that you can't cross the line the whole duration of the sequence? Speed limited? What speed? @30Mph your travelling at 44 feet per second the avg HGV with trailer will be 54ft 2in in Length so the rear of the vehicle will cross the line just over 1 second after the front.
You know the sequence of the lights is Red, Red Amber, Green , Amber, Red. Right? So You can 100% expect an Amber light after a Green one? And a Red one after that. When your driving are you not looking ahead reading the road? As a driver and even more so a "professional" driver you should notice them far enough ahead and notice their colour! this should give you the idea of if they are going to change and prepare accordingly. The clues are out there some people are just to lazy to look for them.
Maybe my driving instructor was above avg but I was taught to anticipate a change. to drop down a gear or If in 3rd and ready to change to 4th then to hold 3rd until past. Its known as a Stale green.
The other problem is people have forgotten what an amber light means.
Not quite so random website
http://www.motorlawyers.co.uk/offences/traffic_lights.php
Oh and
'The front part of a vehicle crossed the stop-line at traffic lights when the light was green. When half its length was over the line, the vehicle was obstructed by turning traffic and by the time it proceeded the light had changed to red.
It was held that it is an offence if any part of the vehicle crosses the line when the light is red even though the other part crossed when the light was green.'
Ryan v Smith [1967] 1 AER 611.
this is badly worded no ? (the vehicle is across the line) - was the law unclear prior to that(1967)
the fault is if the vehicle proceeds/moves-further across the line after it is red - per the website links.
seems a bit daft that none of these web sites quote the law itself ... or is it expressed in some contorted way ? (proceeds/crosses/moves...)
