Possibly caught by a traffic light camera

woodpigeon4 · 1 Nov 2011 at 17:32

May have been caught by one of those grey traffic light cameras which are seemingly on every set of lights in london. Thanks to a lapse in concentration I ended up going through the lights around two seconds after they had turned red. Pedestrians hadn't begun to cross or anything, but still it obviously was a stupid mistake on my part. I don't think I was speeding (in fact, I think I was doing under the limit) but if I was speeding, I would have been no more than 5MPH over.
Anyway, I can't say I noticed a flash of any kind, although it was a clear day so do they flash? I was in the outside lane as well, and have heard some reports that they only measure the inside lane, which seems hard to believe.
So, based on what I've said, is it likely that I was caught? If so, what would the penalty be and if I don't get anything after 14 days will I be in the clear?

Thanks, and inb4 child killer, rot in hell etc etc :rolleyes:

Scania · 1 Nov 2011 at 17:39

It depends on the type of camera, some have flashes, some don't.

Consider this, I often pass a traffic light in London in my HGV on green, but due to the snails pace of the traffic its not uncommon for my 45ft trailer to pass the camera a few seconds after the light has actually changed to red.

I've yet to recieve a ticket / nip for this and would imagine you may be in the clear. (Famous last words eh?)

Either way, rot in Hell you child killer! :mad:

woodpigeon4 · 1 Nov 2011 at 19:26

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
It depends on the type of camera, some have flashes, some don't.

Consider this, I often pass a traffic light in London in my HGV on green, but due to the snails pace of the traffic its not uncommon for my 45ft trailer to pass the camera a few seconds after the light has actually changed to red.

I've yet to recieve a ticket / nip for this and would imagine you may be in the clear. (Famous last words eh?)

Either way, rot in Hell you child killer!

Good point - I've never thought about it that way. I looked them up on google and of course got hundreds of daily mail-esque articles telling me how many thousands of people are caught each year, which was mainly what worried me; I'd always thought they were for the occasional nutter that goes through them at 150MPH at night.
Thanks for the info anyway, I'm just off outside to clean all the blood off my bonnet

scaza · 1 Nov 2011 at 19:58

I had this exact same feeling couple of months back, but i never saw a flash (Most of them do flash i believe) and ended up in the clear.

Oh, and these cameras will only peanalise you if you start to go through on red, so in a HGV you'd be fine. (Spent a while researching while worrying)

Fingers crossed you get away with it

Liquidfox · 2 Nov 2011 at 00:05

You've got the usual 14 days + postage, which is 1 working day I believe, then you're in the clear. It's the usual 3 points & £60 if you do get caught though.

Scania · 2 Nov 2011 at 00:24

scaza said:
Oh, and these cameras will only peanalise you if you start to go through on red, so in a HGV you'd be fine. (Spent a while researching while worrying)

Ahhhh !!!

Rybo89 · 2 Nov 2011 at 08:27

A bad one to have on insurance as well.

londonbairn · 2 Nov 2011 at 08:43

Most the ones on my cycle from West London to city don't seem to work, seen loads of cars break them and no flash..

TheVoice · 2 Nov 2011 at 09:32

I wish they could detect those morons who creep over the line while it's still red. Worse still, half the time they don't even pull away particularly quickly.

numatic.nathan · 2 Nov 2011 at 09:36

TheVoice said:
I wish they could detect those morons who creep over the line while it's still red. Worse still, half the time they don't even pull away particularly quickly.

That's a good and bad idea, some people so etimes only just end up braking past the line, but accidentally, plus you're not as such doi g anything massively wrong?

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 2 Nov 2011 at 10:14

Abraham · 2 Nov 2011 at 10:28

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
Consider this, I often pass a traffic light in London in my HGV on green, but due to the snails pace of the traffic its not uncommon for my 45ft trailer to pass the camera a few seconds after the light has actually changed to red.

So you enter a junction when your exit isn't clear enough for you to go into it?

Scania · 2 Nov 2011 at 10:40

Abraham said:
So you enter a junction when your exit isn't clear enough for you to go into it?

In certain situations, given as I say this is London,but, by no means as a matter of routine,sometimes, yes.

- as I'm sure you do!

mistercrabb · 2 Nov 2011 at 12:27

Abraham said:
So you enter a junction when your exit isn't clear enough for you to go into it?

That's completely fine to do if there isn't a yellow box, especially in heavy traffic (obviously it's not nice to deliberately block the junction).

Abraham · 2 Nov 2011 at 12:57

mistercrabb said:
That's completely fine to do if there isn't a yellow box, especially in heavy traffic (obviously it's not nice to deliberately block the junction).

It was fairly tongue in cheek after getting particularly annoyed with someone blocking a junction for 3 changes of lights last night.

I had actually thought that the rule applied to all junctions, but apparently it only does in the EU excluding the UK.

woodpigeon4 · 2 Nov 2011 at 16:20

markyp23 said:
Find a picture of a camera... Most of the CCTV-like structures are just sensors.

No, it was definitely a camera, one of these to be precise:

[TR]SweetSpotOz · 2 Nov 2011 at 18:56

Soviet · 2 Nov 2011 at 19:15

According to a colleague they're 'active' up to 5 seconds after the lights turn red. Anything going through on a red after that point won't get snapped.

As above, you just gotta hope it wasn't operational.

Abraham · 2 Nov 2011 at 20:16

Soviet said:
According to a colleague they're 'active' up to 5 seconds after the lights turn red. Anything going through on a red after that point won't get snapped.

As above, you just gotta hope it wasn't operational.

My understanding was the opposite, that if you just get through as it turns you'll be ok, it's for people genuinely running the light

TheVoice · 4 Nov 2011 at 00:29

numatic.nathan said:
That's a good and bad idea, some people so etimes only just end up braking past the line, but accidentally, plus you're not as such doi g anything massively wrong?

If you brake and come to an actual stop just over the line, then fine. It's the people who don't come to a complete stop at all - or start creeping forward ages before the light even goes amber - that annoy me immensely.