people that do an emergency stop when the lights change are dangerous and wrong

[magrate]

I drive for about two hours everyday for my new job. Have to go through over 20 sets of lights. So many people think that as soon as the lights change you must stop. Aibu to expect people to still go though a second after they go red?

tiresome

Well,we clearly won't agree on this.
So instead of spending all evening discussing my dh's driving,perhaps we can talk about what the section quoting the law on Epic 's post says -"amber means stop at the stop line.You may only go on if amber appears after the stop line or are so close to it that to stop might cause an accident".

OMG - ThatBloodyWoman is even more unreasonable than the OP.

??

It was an accident. Nobody was hurt. It happens all the time. We allmake mistakes.
But your dh was at fault. Your opinion about the meaning of traffic lights doesnt change that.

This x1000. We've all made mistakes driving. It's not for me to decide whether the person in front of me stopped short for no reason; that's not my call. My responsibility is to make sure I'm not too close to him if he does it. If I don't, that's my fault. Even if no one is hurt, I was still in the wrong.

It's absolutely no business of the car behind a car performing an emergency stop why the driver performed one.

The following driver should always be able to stop in time, since they have no idea what the car in front can (or cannot) see.

Yy Aridane

x-post

yy lurking and steff

LurkingHusband put it so clearly and succinctly. That's absolutely correct.

Seriously,back on thread,agred to disagree and all that jazz.
But what does that quoted bit mean?

bloody
The driver in front of you stopped at an amber light. That doesn't rate as an 'emergency stop' because he was required to do. That's what amber lights are for.
Your DH was further away from the amber light, so he had more time and more distance to stop. He had no excuse not to stop in time. Either he was too close, too fast, or not paying attention.

I'm sorry if you can't see this, but that's the way it is.

What it doesnt mean is that you should run an amber light just in case someone is too close and cba to stop.

No it was an emergency stop the other driver performed.Just to put that straight.

Yes,but what does it mean?
There's lots it doesn't mean

Yes sallying thats the most annoying part in a way.
If the driver your dh hit had not stopped he would have gone through a light when he oughtn't. The light would have already changed to amber by the time your dh reached it. So he should have stopped anyway.
He was at fault for driving too close/ fast and for not preparing to stop at the lights.

So do you all have yellow lights between green and red AND between red and green, or did I read that wrong? Here, it's green, then yellow, then red. It then changes directly from red to green. There does it go red then yellow then green, too?

Some posters really do have apt user names

Your doggedness is quite annoying.
It means what it says. It doesnt justify running a light just because the person behind you wants to run the light.
Get it?

It says you shouldnt act so as to cause an accident. But he didnt cause the accident. Your dh did. As would have been born out by an insurance claim.

Magrate I am with you. Amber means stop IF safe to do so. An emergency stop is not safe and in this situation I think you should keep on going (obviously not through a red light though)

I have driven in Australia quite a bit and am convinced the lights stay on amber for longer there. Maybe because they have more sets of traffic lights and on faster roads.

In Western Australia they used to have additional big flashing lights at some junctions to warn you if the lights were about to change. If these weren't on you knew that you could keep at the same speed and not have to do the hover over the brake pedal thing as you approached the junction.

Yes,but what does it mean?

in your case it means your DH was driving too close to the car in front for his speed and wasn't paying attention to the road. He should have been planning to sot at the light whether the car in front did or not.

Strange given he had a delicate wife and newborn baby in the car.

Stop. Not sot. That is a different driving offence altogether.

No. Amber means stop.
Unless it is unsafe to do so. They are not the same.

And as the subsequent driver, who has had more time between the light change, you should be stopping anyway.

I get that you're avoiding my question to have a pop at me instead,because thats whats happening at the moment.
I don't think I'm doing anything I shouldn't by posing a valid question.
I've moved on from my particular situation to talk about the wider sphere,like trying to understand what the quote means.
I'm sorry if that offends some but I thought this was a wider discussion.