Got a ticket...

[Zergling]

That's right, a cop pulled me over for running a red light. Deal is, i entered the intersection on a green left-turn arrow, and it turned yellow while I was in the intersection. Well, i think the cop just wanted to get someone who wasn't going to put up a fight. I was really polite and everything, but I still got a ticket.

I only have a provisional license, and now I can't get another ticket for a year. Now i'm afraid to drive, because no matter what I do i'll still get a ticket ... even if I go through an intersection on yellow.

Ah well, life sucks for me right now.

Also, a couple of days ago i smashed my thumb with a 45 lb. weight. It's still swollen and sore.

</gripe>

[Chris-3DT]

can't you complain about the ticket? any wittnesses?

[Ironbuket]

Did you turn left or go straight on?

[MDX]

What country you in??

[Zergling]

We're probably going to contest the ticket. The cops here record every incident, so he should be on tape telling me that it is illegal to go through a yellow light *chuckle*

I did turn left. As I was coming to the turn, my mom (also my driving instructor) told me to go on through. The light changed to yellow as I was entering the intersection, so I hesitated. My mom told me to go on through, that it would detromental to the flow of traffic to stop in the middle of the intersection and back up ... duh... Anyway, yeah. Had my signal going for a left turn, made the left turn correctly and directly into the leftmost lane of the road I was turning onto.

I'm in the USA, by the way.

[Ironbuket]

Well if that was the UK theres a lot of things right and wrong about that story.

Over here if you go past the stop line before its red you can keep going no matter what color the lights subsequently are, but you have to give way or something. You have an obligation to clear the intersection, but obviously you cant just pull out and make people crash into the side of you. Mostly if you are close to the stop line people will stay put, if they are blocking the intersection at all they will move either forward or back to remove themselves as an obstacle to the other traffic.

If you went through a yellow light over here its not illegal, but if the cop starts telling you off for it he is right to do so. Driving through yellow lights at the last moment is dangerous. Yellow means stop as long as its safe to do so. If the light goes red while you are still in the intersection it means you didn’t stop for the yellow for one of these 2 reasons::
1. Driving too fast to stop in time (speeding)
2. Driving without due care and attention (just decided not to even try and stop)
If they want to book you for something they can, just don’t **** them off.

Another thing about driving on provisional with your mom in the car. Over here in that situation the person with the full licence is liable for everything that happens. If you get stopped by the cops, it would be your mom that gets the ticket not you. From your description of what happened you can see why this is actually a good idea, as shes made you go through the yellow.

I guess it doesn’t work like this in the US, how does it work then? Do you have to get insurance and everything even though you are only on provisional?

[Zergling]

I think the rules over here are more for dummies. It is legal to go through a yellow light no matter what color the light changes to after you enter the intersection. My handbook says you must stop at a yellow light if you can do so safely. Given the circumstances, I could not have stopped safely. I could have stopped, but it would have been a screeching halt, and seeing as the cars behind be were either large SUVs or trucks, i would have been rear-ended.

I didn't tell the officer off while he was giving me the ticket. I figured i'd just fight it in the courts and not invite another magical offense on the ticket. I wasn't speeding, but I was rolling fast enough to make the situation dangerous by stopping.

In the US you don't have to have insurance to drive under a provisional license. I did get a ticket, although the officer did not even confim that my mother was a licensed driver... a mistake on his part.

Like I said though, the lights are set up over here in such a way as to make an accident almost impossible if everyone follows the lights. There is a delay of at least a second between when the light for traffic in one direction turns red and the light for traffic in the other direction turns green. On the ticket, the officer wrote that I failed to yield right of way to oncoming traffic. I know this is not true because even when the arrow is yellow, the light for traffic I was pulling across could not have already been green.

[Ironbuket]

I could not have stopped safely. I could have stopped, but it would have been a screeching halt, and seeing as the cars behind be were either large SUVs or trucks, i would have been rear-ended.

but I was rolling fast enough to make the situation dangerous by stopping.
Well theres something wrong here. As the delay between green and red, ie how long the yellow is up is not just random its calculated to allow someone thats travelling within the speed limit (for that road) to be able to stop easily or be well clear of the intersection by the time its gone red.

If you are still on the intersection when its gone red. You must have either kept going instead of trying to stop when the yellow appeared, or been speeding. The only other alternative is the timing on the lights is wrong...

[MDX]

Theres been a couple of times when I've gone thur yellow lights... on both sides. Thats usually when I don't have enought distance to stop in time... i.e. I'm like 2 meters or so from the line. So got no choice but to go accross.

I've got my provisional licence. Needed insurance & everything tho...

[Ironbuket]

Originally posted by MDX
Theres been a couple of times when I've gone thur yellow lights... on both sides. Thats usually when I don't have enought distance to stop in time... i.e. I'm like 2 meters or so from the line. So got no choice but to go accross.

Yes, but by the time it went red you should have been across and a long distance away from the intersection.

Actually ive just realised that Zergling's left turn is our right turn, and so I think I need to take back most of what I wrote above. Thats a more tricky situation, should be driving onto the intersection at the last moment if you intend to trun across the oncoming traffic. Im not so sure about that do and donts of that one

[Zergling]

Deal is, over here the cross traffic should not be rolling when the yellow arrow is still lit. The cop was in the cross traffic, and he said I went through the intersection when the light for him was green. I don't know if he was lying or the lights are messed up.

Either way, i was in neutral, ready to stop, rolling fast enough to make it to the intersection ... i'd say I was going 15 mph when I entered the intersection. Anyway, my mom just told me to go, so I put it in second and hit it... I thought yellow lights were designed so ya don't get rear-ended or screech tires...

[Ironbuket]

:)

There has to be yellow (or sometimes its blinking red). Otherwise it would be impossible to avoid going through reds all the time and red would then becoming meaningless. People would just go through reds all the time and say they couldnt stop safely in time, exactly as it is with yellows atm :)

[olympus]

Here in the USA, or at least here in California, I think there is a set time for the yellow light; 4 seconds.

On some intersections with red light cameras the time was reduced, to 3 seconds, by the private contractor installing them. The contrators did this for a very simple reason, they receive a percentage of the ticket revenue generated by the cameras they install.

[Chris-3DT]

woot? private companies installing cameras? woot?