Topic: Steering You Right: Stop the car!

[Autos_Editor]

After rushing through an intersection before the light turned red, Peter was given a ticket for entering an intersection on a yellow light, which is illegal in most places.  But it was the second ticket he received that really surprised him.
Read More...

[oldE]

Perhaps it is different in other jurisdictions, but in Nova Scotia, if you see emergency lights in your mirrors, you get off the road.

Regardless of whether he thought the lights were "for him", he should have been clearing the way for the vehicle displaying the lights.

Pay the fine.

Les

[overtakeyouintheleftlane]

Geez, this guy Peter never gets a break. How many problems has this guy had? He's the Charlie Brown of all drivers or he's just a made up character. Never heard of somebody has dumb...

Anyhow, personallly I would take both tickets to court. The 1st ticket, I would just hope the cop wouldn't show up... the second ticket, hell, I don't pull over unless I know for sure the cop wants me (since you mentioned the cop was several hundred meteres away). I would've kept driving as well but I would stop when it's clear the cop pulls up behind you with the lights and/or siren. It's not like he was running when the article indicated he was driving at a leisurely pace. I'm sure he'll get off of the second ticket, just sounds like the cop was pissed.

[tpl]

Apart form the obvious attending to accidents and directing traffic in a power out and so on I wonder if we wouldn't all be somewhat better off if there were no traffic cops.  Just get rid of 95% of the offences and just leave Dangerous Driving and causing death (injury) by Dangerous Driving and before anybody rants on at me, drunk driving IS Dangerous driving.

[Dougbib]

The part of this story about it being an infraction to enter an intersection on a yellow light makes no sense. If you're ten feet from the intersection when the light turns yellow, you can be guaranteed to be rear-ended if you slam on the brakes. I live in Arizona much of the year and we have lots of red-light cameras....which I think is great. But they trigger about 0.2 seconds AFTER the light turns RED...not yellow...and your front bumper needs to be over the intersecting curb line from which you enter the intersection...or you're in violation. Under no circumstances is it illegal to enter an intersection on the yellow. This story looks an attempt to start an urban myth that "it is illegal to ever enter an intersection on a yellow light". Balderdash !

[SomeGuy]

First, the yellow: in Alberta, if you are facing a yellow light, you must stop your vehicle if you can do so safely. If not, only then can you proceed through a yellow. The yellow isn't "go if you want" or the ever-popular "speed up and go", it's "clear the intersection, otherwise stop if you can". Other provinces may be different.

On not pulling over right away: again, in Alberta, you are obligated to pull off the road and stop if you see the lights activated on a police car, fire truck or ambulance, either in front or behind you. If the cop wanted to get him for not stopping specifically for his own vehicle (i.e. trying to run away from the police), then he would have charged him with a different offence, likely something under the Criminal Code. From what I see, Peter The Hapless was charged with the more generic "not stopping for an emergency vehicle" offence.

[Wheelboy]

Peter certainly deserves the 2nd ticket.  What's not to understand about Highway Traffic Act article 159 (1) which says -  "The driver of a vehicle, upon the approach of a police department vehicle with its bell or siren sounding or with its lamp producing intermittent flashes of red light or red and blue light, or upon the approach of an ambulance, fire department vehicle or public utility emergency vehicle with its bell or siren sounding or its lamp producing intermittent flashes of red light, shall immediately bring such vehicle to a standstill.....blah, blah, blah."

As a retired emergency services person, I found the Peters of this world ("Who, MEEEE?") were a royal pain in the arse.  The cops should have one more generic charge to lay at times like this - Gross Stupidity.

[X-Traction]

Lots of people drive through yellow lights because they can't stop safely because they're driving above the speed limit to begin with.  Yellow lights are timed for legal driving.  How much sense would it make for lights to be timed for illegal driving.

When, as a teenager, I took driver education, the instructor taught us to notice how long a light had been green, and anticipate that a long green would be changing to yellow soon. 

Peter sounds like a typically idiotic driver, and I bet he was driving more than a bit above the speed limit.

[Wheelboy]

When, as a teenager, I took driver education, the instructor taught us to notice how long a light had been green, and anticipate that a long green would be changing to yellow soon.

They were called stale green lights - if you didn't witness the light turning green you were to assume that it could go yellow at any time and to be prepared for such an event (foot off the gas pedal and hovering over the brake pedal).

Of course us two-footed drivers are always partially prepared.

[opg210]

I agree in part with Dougbib - this is a stupidly worded law. Correct, you should stop if you are able to do so. But to quote the article " The law states that you are not allowed to enter an intersection on a yellow light." I'm sure it is worded that way so that people can't keep pushing the boundary, but the laws of physics remain. Say in a 50 kph zone, if you're doing 50 and the light turns to yellow when you are 5 meters from the intersection...you will enter an intersection on a yellow light, and there is nothing you can do about it. There are instances where, even though driving prudently and within the speed limit, you will enter an intersection on a yellow light. Technically you are breaking the law even though you've done nothing wrong. 

I actually would like to see this enforced more, but it does annoy me greatly the way it's worded. The "if you able to stop safely you may do so" is an interpretation, but the law as worded is just plain wrong.

[kirm]

Yep opg210, both these tickets should have been fought. That's the only mistake Peter made. Fight the yellow on the grounds you mentioned (Lots of math and diagrams would do the trick) and then, if you win, get the other thrown out as he shouldn't have been stopped in the first place.

Sounds like he ran into a "state funding agent" that wanted to double dip for his pimp, the government. *Sigh* When will cops go back to being peace officers instead of tax subsidizers for the government?