Running red light

muon said:
Even if it is red for an hour, you can't cross it. The rule is absolute. There could be a reason why it is red for all you know.

Opening it up to judgement is a slippery slope the law avoids.
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The same rule (assuming you are referring to rule 176) also states: "If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care."

It's somewhat ambiguous what "not working" means, but I reckon you would have a good argument in court that a light stuck on red for hour would be reasonable cause to believe it was "not working".
 
I’ve seen people go through normal red lights because there was no incoming traffic etc

Don’t see a major problem as long as there’s no camera ;)
 
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there was a looooong period of roadworks at one of our junctions and the 'ing lights broke down about 5 times that i recall, freezing on red. they actually ended p w/ a sign w/ a number to call if the lights weren't working, which i think should be mandatory for temp lights. i just used to make sure the road was empty and drove through. no cameras, if there was i would have searched out a number and reported the lights when i got home to cover myself.
 
Going back probably about 10 years I remember this question coming up on the old 5ive-o (I think it was) forum and if memory serves one of the serving traffic officers who posted there basically said if the lights are obviously faulty/not working and you've waited for 5-10 minutes treat proceed with caution but be aware if there is an accident you are likely to be found at fault. I think the reasoning was that you can't have a lane of traffic potentially stopped for hours/days just because of a faulty light.
 
The roadworks I mentioned actually got stuck on red last night - but one of my colleagues was going through about an hour before me and gave me the heads up so I took another route.
 
Feek said:
If I’m sitting at a red temporary light, if it’s been red for ages and I can see to the end of the works, if it’s totally clear, I’m going.

It’s happened before when lights have been stuck on red and I have no qualms about doing it.
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I've done it too but still not strictly legal come a fine/penalty its something you'd have to challenge in court
 
I was behind a police car a few weeks ago at some temporary lights, you could see the other side of the lights and it had been red for 2-3 minutes and the police decided to go through on red as they cba to wait, I followed behind as did the car behind me, you’ll be fine.
 
Happened tonight - quite a queue my way, fortunately just 1 car the other, after 5 minutes everyone just went of their own accord. There was actually a police car coming the other way just after - I almost turned around to see what they'd do LOL.
 
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