Driving through a red light.

[jvaughan]

I have come across this a few times... picture the scene, quiet road, late at night, or mid evening. long straight, road works in the middle.
No one about, you and the car behind slow down for the lights as they change to red.

Is there a statutory requirement for you to stop and wait for the lights to change if the road is clear or can you proceed with caution if safe to do so ?

A Numnber of years ago, I was told that tempory lights are not "statutory" and placed to regulate the safe flow of traffic whilst there are roadworks. So, it was not compulsory to wait for them if you were able to see it was safe to drive on.

I had a mouthful from a snotty little twerp in a panda car who looked like he was straight out of Hendon when he pulled me for driving through a red light.

When I explained that they were statutory, I was more or less threatened "Not to do it again".

Was he right ?

[tvrgit]

Temporary lights mean exactly the same as permanent lights do. The light is a "sign" as set out in the Traffic Signs Regulations & General Directions. Penalties for going through will also be exactly the same.

[Zod]

I was behind a panda car that itself ran a red light this morning on City Road at 0830. If he had turned left into Old Street as I did, I would have drawn up alongside and given the driver a piece of my mind. And, before anyone attempts to defend him with "he might have been on a shout", no blue lights and he drove off in a perfectly leisurely fashion at Old Street roundabout.

[planetdave]

A red light is a red light is a red light.

I believe that you may proceed if the lights are very obviously broken but otherwise it's probably best not to wind the BiB up by calling him a 'snotty little twerp' when you aren't sure of the legal situation yourself.

[dmitsi]

Saw some silly bint jump a red to take a right hand turn today, straight across the main road heading down into Hove. The car in front of her squeezed through on the amber, at which point she was about 3 car lengths behind. The car heading down had to hit the brakes hard as she cruised off oblivious to what a daft she was.

I see this sort of thing on a weekly basis now, it's a piss-take.

[bryan35]

started a link no so long ago about this myself.

similar situation.

the 'roadworks' were infact about 15 feet long leading out of town on a completely straight road when it was absolutely obvious there was nothing coming. I sat there for 2 minutes and the lights didn't change so thought 'sod it'.

no danger, the place was desolate. And much that I condemn people going through red lights, it was certainly an 'acceptable risk'

I think that the distance thing must have been set to about 1 mile, as when I went through, the other side was red also.

[trevorh]

Wouldn't life be easier if we followed some of our Continental cousins and had traffic lights switch to flashing amber from, say, midnight to 6am? Treat them all as give way signs and no more hanging about for zero reason in the wee small hours.

[colonel_smith]

I have heard about this rule of temp lights..I was told it by a delivery driver who got pulled over for going through a red light at the end of the road I work in.We saw him get pulled out of the window and he was not given any sort of producer or a ticket so maybe it is true..
I have come across many temp lights that are obviuosly not working properly(stuck on red) so it is no wonder why people do ignore them now...When they work you always get streams of cars coming through when your side has changed to green..Plus the chances of seeing a police car on the roads is pretty slim..There is little or no risk in breaking road laws anymore..

[tombaron]

trevorh said:

Wouldn't life be easier if we followed some of our Continental cousins and had traffic lights switch to flashing amber from, say, midnight to 6am? Treat them all as give way signs and no more hanging about for zero reason in the wee small hours.

I noticed this in italy last summer. Never heared of it before though. Good idea.

[jvaughan]

if a red light is a red light... surely this cannot be enforcable... Statutory lights on Junctions to regulate traffic flow are connected to the national grid and controlled by complex sequences of variables (time of day, traffic flow stats, Ir sensors etc), tempory lights can be errected by any builder who has a set, and they are run off a diesel generator.

what happens if they are set to "hold all red" or the sequencing is cocked up ? or the Generator runs out of fuel ?

surely this is the same as 2 blokes with STOP / GO Boards ... in the daytime they are there controlling traffic, at night, they leave .. the hole in the road, and excavator is still there.

[planetdave]

jvaughan said:

if a red light is a red light... surely this cannot be enforcable... Statutory lights on Junctions to regulate traffic flow are connected to the national grid and controlled by complex sequences of variables (time of day, traffic flow stats, Ir sensors etc), tempory lights can be errected by any builder who has a set, and they are run off a diesel generator.

The contractor will have undergone statutory training in use.

jvaughan said:

what happens if they are set to "hold all red" or the sequencing is cocked up ? or the Generator runs out of fuel ?

the same as what happens when there is a power cut or other fault at any lights.

jvaughan said:

surely this is the same as 2 blokes with STOP / GO Boards ... in the daytime they are there controlling traffic, at night, they leave .. the hole in the road, and excavator is still there.

Shirley not. Otherwise the lights would be removed or set on a timer to go off for off-peak periods. Traffic lights are traffic lights. If they have the red, green and amber lights and are on the public highway then they are for your attention.

[dickymint]

Hiya Jas,

Looks like you'r wrong on this one mate......... www.whatcar.co.uk/news-special-report.aspx?NA=216172&EL=3134046

[dickymint]

colonel_smith said:

I have heard about this rule of temp lights..I was told it by a delivery driver who got pulled over for going through a red light at the end of the road I work in.We saw him get pulled out of the window......

Bit harsh i thought

[Denis O]

Happened to me just the other day. Stopped at red light for road works. Couple of cars stopped behind and then "impatience personified white van man dick head" overtakes us all to go through the red light. I had to wait all of 45 seconds before it went green which had a dramatice effect on my life and of course, I caught "dick" up at the next right turn.

If only a "dick head 2" had been further ahead in the queue and decided he would break the law and go through the red light, pulling off as "dick head 1" was just coming alongside. That would have made for an interesting exchange of information on the accident report form.

Birch 'em.

>> Edited by Denis O on Wednesday 29th March 14:48

[deva link]

We get the temp lights a lot around here (Cheshire) on single carriageway A roads. They often have long pauses where both sets are on red, and it's quite standard for the person at the other end to flash their lights when they stop to get the traffic moving the other way.
However I saw a van respond to the flash, while a police car was behind it. Sure enough, as soon as the van was clear of the roadworks, Bib pulled him over.

[jvaughan]

dickymint said:

Hiya Jas, Looks like you'r wrong on this one mate......... www.whatcar.co.uk/news-special-report.aspx?NA=216172&EL=3134046

B4stards !

ok, cleared it up anyway. Next time, Ill make sure that I stop for the length of the red light. if you see me asleep at the wheel, wake me up !

[Balmoral Green]

Why do they have to have temporary traffic lights for an obstruction no bigger than a legitamately parked car? We appear to have loads of them around our way at the moment, roadworks clearly visible and obvious barriers and warning lights etc, no bigger than a car parked up at the side of the road and certainly more visible, and yet bloody traffic lights. No obstruction being caused and you can see the road is clear. You wouldnt put lights up around every parked car.

[Holst]

Balmoral Green said:

Why do they have to have temporary traffic lights for an obstruction no bigger than a legitamately parked car? We appear to have loads of them around our way at the moment, roadworks clearly visible and obvious barriers and warning lights etc, no bigger than a car parked up at the side of the road and certainly more visible, and yet bloody traffic lights. No obstruction being caused and you can see the road is clear. You wouldnt put lights up around every parked car.

/Cynic mode

Charage the council or whoever is paying for the light rental?

Might also be that the contractors must take reasonable precautions to prevent accidents in there contract.. shoving some lighs up is pretty easy to do.

Personally I will run a light at small roadworks if the coast is clear, and Im confident that no police are watching

[Pigeon]

Balmoral Green said:

Why do they have to have temporary traffic lights for an obstruction no bigger than a legitamately parked car? We appear to have loads of them around our way at the moment, roadworks clearly visible and obvious barriers and warning lights etc, no bigger than a car parked up at the side of the road and certainly more visible, and yet bloody traffic lights. No obstruction being caused and you can see the road is clear. You wouldnt put lights up around every parked car.

Health & Safety

[hyena]

planetdave said:

I believe that you may proceed if the lights are very obviously broken

Most traffic lights don't see motorbikes at all which means waiting until a car pulls up behind you. Coming home from a night shift I used to get stuck at the same lights every time. I bet if I had ever been caught going through on red I would have been done, I still did it though.

>> Edited by hyena on Thursday 30th March 01:40