War on Short yellow lights.

It seems reasonably obvious that for any given yellow period there is a maximum speed at which it is always possible either to stop before the line, or cross it before the light goes red.

Exceed that speed, and sometimes you'll run the light.

Sylvia.

A jury of your peers, if you are cited and choose a jury trial.

The statute is given literally as follows:

"A driver facing a steady circular yellow signal light is thereby warned that the related right of way is being terminated and that a red or flashing red light will be shown immediately. A driver facing the light shall stop at a clearly marked stop line, but if none, shall stop before entering the marked crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or if there is no marked crosswalk, then before entering the intersection. If a driver cannot stop in safety, the driver may drive cautiously through the intersection."

Source:

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

If it gets that far,you're screwed. It comes down to your word vs the officers. Guess who wins?

-- Jim Yanik jyanik at kua.net

The rule around here is the rear end at least half way through the intersection on red to be legal.

They also just added a law, headlights must be on when windshield wipers are on. Thats for those who don't understand, headlights must be on in bad weather conditions.

greg

on red

weather conditions.

You mean _everyone_ doesn't have automatic headlights ?:-)

...Jim Thompson

The alternative is to flood our society with cameras recording our every move.

Personally, I'd rather continue to ensure that most cops are doing their job properly, and are out there to enforce vehicle ordinances for everyone's safety.

Jon

"Jon Danniken" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

I'm anti-RLC,too. But I've also been tagged for running a "Red" while it was still yellow,in MA,a LONG time ago;it was yellow while I was UNDER the light itself. The dishonest cop claimed it was a high-accident intersection.

I've also been rear-ended several times stopping for RED lights,and had people far behind me,in other lanes,go thru the RL when I stopped. If I can stop,so can they. They just CHOSE to NOT stop.

the problem is not running YELLOW lights,it's running RED lights. And that problem's cause is that police just don't enforce RLRunning with any regularity. That's why cities want RLCs,so they can have their cops on radar collecting revenue,and the RLCs bringing in MORE revenue.

allowing ticketing on Yellows is wrong,and it is just to bring in more revenue.It also increases the uncertainty of the drivers behind;"Is the guy in front going to stop,or not?" for a YELLOW that they -could- go thru the intersection.

Make the yellow the proper duration,and have cops enforce the RLs,writing REAL tickets with REAL points,and other people see the violators getting written up and learn from it.Then it becomes well known to not run RLs.

and then the worst RLRunners will get their licenses suspended or revoked,as is proper.

Under RLC regimes,no chronic RLR's will have their licenses suspended or revoked.

weather conditions.

That has been the law in Florida for decades.

snipped-for-privacy@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote in news:gsi2iu$3al$ snipped-for-privacy@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

Rule in FL is that if front wheels are past the Stop Line when light turns red,then they have not run the RL. (you were already "in the intersection" when the light turned red.)

Here in FL,running red lights is mainly a conscious CHOICE,not any lack of attention or "going too fast" situation.

But we're still getting RLCs. :-(

Wonder why... Are you really allowed to drive in the rain ??

greg

True, and for any given speed limit there is a duration of yellow that will create an automatic ticket zone, an area of road that if any part of your car is inside that zone when the light turns yellow you are getting a ticket. That's how they make the money.

snipped-for-privacy@zekfrivolous.com (GregS) wrote in news:gsie76$666$ snipped-for-privacy@usenet01.srv.cis.pitt.edu:

some folks can't even when their wipers and lights are on.

Hi, "att", Sounds plausible. Can you point me to some references/citations on calculating that. We have a red light near me in a 55MPH zone, that is only yellow for 4.3 seconds :-(

...Jim Thompson

In article , amdx wrote in part:

Shortening the yellow is evil, and should be banned by state law. The voters should ask everyone running to get elected or re-elected to their statehouses where they stand and what they will do.

Meanwhile, my experience in Pennsylvania is that on roads where the speed limit is 35 MPH or less, yellow lasts 3 seconds and the next 2 seconds all lights are red. I did not see yellow shorten at a Philadelphia intersection that got a camera. It appears to me in Philadelphia, that the cameras are a badly needed tool being used properly.

My biggest complaint was a PA state law mandating that the cameras be "wet film" rather than digital, which I suspect to have resulted from campaign contributions by a manufacturer of "wet film" traffic enforcement cameras.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

In article , amdx wrote in part:

In PA, the penalty for being caught running a red light by a camera is a $100 fine and no points - as of a few years ago. The reasoning for lack of points is that the cdamera does not identify the driver, only the vehicle.

In PA, being ticketed by a live police officer for running a red light was about $80 3 years ago and is probably about $100 now - plus 3 points.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

In PA, I think it is legally required to stop for a yellow if safe to do so. The online version of PA's "Driver's manual" currently does not work for me - probably too old an operating system and version of Acrobat, so I can't see for sure just yet.

Meanwhile, if it is a legal offense in PA to fail to stop for a yellow light when able to do so, points are not incurred. And I never see anyone getting pulled over for blowing yellow lights.

Same for speeding by 5 MPH or less in PA - no points, and I never see anyone getting pulled over.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

In Philadelphia, there is too much work for the cops, and the city is in poor financial shape and has high taxes paying for a large police force (among other things including pork). And occaisionally, if a Philadelphia driver is pulled over by the cops, especially a "bad-ass" type driver who most deserves to be pulled over, then the driver starts shooting, and the driver's family and neighbors screech about the cops being murderers for shooting back (or shooting first).

So, traffic enforcement in Philadelphia is excessively lax - especially for use of turning lanes as passing lanes. (Philly's cops do seem to have almost adequate intolerance for red-light-running in recent years at least.)

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@rcn.com)

How about have both cops and cameras? Philadelphia needs all the traffic enforcement help it can get!

Cameras would be better at intersections where the traffic is heavy and the parking lanes are full, since stopping a car will cause a traffic jam. And too many Philly drivers know that they can get away with some moving violations where being pulled over will cause traffic problems.

Have cops elsewhere.

Occaisionally have a cop where there is a camera, to keep drivers on their toes. If you get ticketed by both the cop and the camera, then mail a copy of the police-issued ticket to where the money for the camera ticket goes.

Now, what Philadelphia really needs is a camera to ticket those using the right turn lane of Chestnut approaching 38th as a passing lane. Chestnut loses a lane between 38th and 34th, so cops don't like to stop drivers in that bottleneck stretch.

- Don Klipstein ( snipped-for-privacy@misty.com)

It's usually highly subjective. Even if a police officer believes he could have stopped, that may be because he has better reaction times than the driver does.

Except for truely blatant examples, I'd expect it would be (or at least should be!) very difficult to get a conviction if a person pleads not guilty.

Sylvia.