Traffic lights stuck on red

[Stoned]

Upper exit of Tescos going on to Spital hill.

I was there 4 minutes before i went through them still on red so expect queues to form if more than a few people leave at the same time.

[jensen1378]

Did the same for me last week. Was there minutes so in the end just went through and watched for traffic. I was there around three minutes and it's not like there is anything to stop them changing. Theres no law on how long one has to wait either.

Edited January 14, 2016 by jensen1378

[carosio]

Could be a situation where you're stuck on a faulty red light and have ambulance/fire brigade trying to pass, presume only a police officer could direct you through legally?

[jensen1378]

Vvvvvvvvvvv

Edited January 14, 2016 by jensen1378

[carosio]

This is from a police site (bold mine):

 

"If you cross the stop line at the junction whilst the lights are on red, you will commit the offence of contravening a red traffic light. However, if there is an emergency vehicle behind you with its emergency warning signals on it might be possible for you to manoeuvre out of the way to allow it through. Ideally this should be to the side of the road without encroaching into the main area of the junction. It should only be done when it is safe to do so without putting yourself or other members of the public in danger and it should only be done slowly and carefully.

 

It is important to remember that in committing the offence (crossing the stop line) the onus will be on you to provide evidence that you did so to allow an emergency vehicle through, and this may be considered as mitigation."

[jensen1378]

Unless there is anyone around to see the offence take place I think for where this happened one would be fine.

[Eater Sundae]

This is from a police site (bold mine):

 

"If you cross the stop line at the junction whilst the lights are on red, you will commit the offence of contravening a red traffic light. However, if there is an emergency vehicle behind you with its emergency warning signals on it might be possible for you to manoeuvre out of the way to allow it through. Ideally this should be to the side of the road without encroaching into the main area of the junction. It should only be done when it is safe to do so without putting yourself or other members of the public in danger and it should only be done slowly and carefully.

 

It is important to remember that in committing the offence (crossing the stop line) the onus will be on you to provide evidence that you did so to allow an emergency vehicle through, and this may be considered as mitigation."

 

That's interesting. I'd never seen that sort of advice in writing before. But it is still a bit ambiguous. As you highlighted, an offence would still have been committed, and the driver is relying on mitigation. Mitigation doesn't mean that you wont get a fine and points for driving without due care.

 

Having said that, I've crossed the line in the past to allow responding vehicles through (including police) with no problem, and would do so again.

 

It doesn't help the OP, though, as there's no emergency in this case.

 

---------- Post added 14-01-2016 at 13:37 ----------

 

Unless there is anyone around to see the offence take place I think for where this happened one would be fine.

 

I wonder what would happen if it were at a set of traffic lights with red light jumper cameras. It's still an absolute offence.

[carosio]

Yes I must have done it a few times in my driving career. As far as a motorcycle goes, I think you could , in theory, dismount and push it over the junction.

 

---------- Post added 14-01-2016 at 14:45 ----------

 

That's interesting. I'd never seen that sort of advice in writing before. But it is still a bit ambiguous. As you highlighted, an offence would still have been committed, and the driver is relying on mitigation. Mitigation doesn't mean that you wont get a fine and points for driving without due care.

 

Having said that, I've crossed the line in the past to allow responding vehicles through (including police) with no problem, and would do so again.

 

It doesn't help the OP, though, as there's no emergency in this case.

 

I wonder what would happen if it were at a set of traffic lights with red light jumper cameras. It's still an absolute offence.

 

From this site: https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q699.htm

Edited January 14, 2016 by carosio

[haddy]

This area has a lot of cameras around so of picked up on that ticket maybe issued but you could contest the fine and state for them to check the footage to see the fault

[sgtkate]

Is there a law regarding a faulty red light? Is there any time when you can legally make the decision to go through on red and not risk a driving offence? There must be some 'reasonable grounds' otherwise a faulty light could cause absolutely traffic carnage and stop the engineer getting to the light to fix it! Who is going to sit at a red light for days to avoid a traffic ticket?

 

---------- Post added 14-01-2016 at 13:55 ----------

 

Quite a few threads about something similar and the laws states you cannot go through the red light.

 

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3758817

 

I guess you *should* contact the police and wait until they arrive to sort it, but frankly in real-life I'd just go through the light v, v, v, carefully!