Going through lights on 'only just red'

[moutonfou]

I was waiting to turn right at a crossroads and the traffic coming towards me had priority.

When the light went amber, a couple of them chanced it and carried on through (fair enough). Then it turned red and a couple more decided to chance it!

So by the time any of us can actually turn right, the light has been red for several seconds and cars on the other sides are starting to move.

AIBU to think red is red? Amber, fine, but there's no such thing as 'only just red'?!

YANBU
You must also stop on amber, unless it would be dangerous to do so.

Amber is not fine. Amber is stop.

I agree, amber means stop.

Major pet hate of mine

So annoying. Especially when the traffic is blocked up too.

Amber only means 'stop if it is safe to do so'. It doesn't mean 'slam on brakes for an emergency'. Which, if you've already pulled into the junction to turn right, almost certainly means you should do so, so as not to cause problems for the whole junction. But if you're behind the lights, then yes, stop.

I hate this too.
I wish people would realise a car is just as dangerous as a gun. They both have the power to take lives if used wrong

YANBU.

Amber means stop unless it would be dangerous to do so. Red means stop, period. Provided the lights are properly set up, the amber warning phase should mean stopping at a red is never dangerous.

Bloody annoying when I'm in the intersection waiting to turn right and oncoming traffic obviously runs the amber and even red light. Then I'm still there while the cross-traffic gets its green, it's unnerving and could be dangerous.

We have some lights near us at a T junction; the main road is the horizontal part of the T.

If you are driving along the horizontal part of the T the lights are green for straight on at the same time as they are green for turning right (or left depending on your direction). It's fine if you are turning left but if you are turning right the majority of traffic is coming straight at you and nobody lets you out so you are in the middle of the road trying to turn and can't. Then the traffic at the right starts coming at you and you have to move forward and turn right - at this point the traffic lights are on red but are behind you; you've already gone past them when you have started your turn.

It's a horrible junction and I'm never quite sure what to do when turning right as there is no filter lane and the alternative is to wait at a green light when you want to turn right but the only problem then is that nobody lets you out and so you'd only get out if you went through a red light.

I agree! It's even worse when they then end up stuck in the yellow box blocking everyone else!!

Yanbu. As a pedestrian I often see one, two, sometimes three cars going through on red. I have told the DC to ALWAYS check the traffic has actually stopped and not just assume it's fine as the green man is showing.

Yanbu. As a pedestrian I often see one, two, sometimes three cars going through on red. I have told the DC to ALWAYS check the traffic has actually stopped and not just assume it's fine as the green man is showing.

There are lights outside DDs high school that drivers are always driving through on red. A 12 year old boy was hit by a car this morning by a car going through the red light. DD was in the middle off the road so it's not as if it had suddenly changed.

The flip side of this, is that if you are in the cars at the front of the queue stopped at a red light, and there are two or three cars in the junction waiting to turn into your road in front of you, just because your light turns green is not a reason to put your foot down and drive into the side of or swerve around them. You can wait for the junction to empty first.

(The junction I have in mind, the only way people can turn right from the minor road onto the major one is if they wait in the junction until some time after their light turns red. Cars coming out of the opposite much busier minor road block right turns for the whole time the light is green.)

Sorry, that's not the flip side, it's exactly the same scenario.

Just pointing out it's only the oncoming cars that are the problem.

In fact, the oncoming cars pushing their luck is forgivable at my junction, as they will have had to wait for 2 or 3 light changes before they manage to get through, with very long intervals between green lights. No-one on the main road has to stop more than once, and their stop is short.

it's not only (or even mainly) the oncoming cars that are a problem, is what I should have said.

Firesuit if you have a problem with a particular junction, write to your local councillor and ask them to adjust the light timings. That would be better than going through on red all the time

Red is red.
Amber is 'stop unless it is safer to pass tjan stop quickly'

There's no such thing as an 'sort of red'. Those people who run red lights are dangerous.

I got three points for going through red 0.36 seconds after they changed.

I now always stop for Amber even though it results in me being beeped and almost rear ended on a regular basis.

This happens to me a lot at a crossing I use everyday. I used to start crossing as the light changed from amber to red but after seeing cars and trucks not stopping at amber to red it made me realise how easy I could have been knocked over if I didnt wait for the cars to actually stop and just went by the lights. Its a really quick crossing so i dont know why they bother racing through.