To stop when traffic lights are amber?

[Birdtablegreen]

Picture this: Driving along

Oops!! Pressed post by accident!

Driving along - main busy road 30mph, lights have been green a while so you drive up to it as normal but start to anticipate that it will go red so don’t put your foot down to speed through, and when it goes amber, stop (not suddenly!). Car behind clearly angry you didn’t zoom through the lights on amber.

I always see on here people saying how you should always stop for amber - but in real life no one seems to and if you do you get beeped or nearly hit?!

Occasionally I know it is safer to just sail through on amber if stopping would cause an accident.

Generally, are you a ‘zoom through on amber’?! I hate traffic lights for this reason as I feel anxious driving up to a light that has been green for a while

Amber means to prepare to stop. I can usually judge if it will be red when I get there or not do would stop then but no if it's on amber and I'm at the lights I drive through them.

@siriusblackthemischieviouscat if it’s literally gone amber as you’re a few metres away (e.g car in front goes through and it turns amber) would you go?

For some reason some traffic lights really take me by surprise and I’m like ‘shit, it’s on amber!’

I probably need to get a life

Sounds to me like the lights were green, you dawdled until it was amber and then stopped. Definitely sounds annoying.

When the lights are green, it means keep driving. Amber is when you slow down. If a car is directly behind you it's always safer to keep going.

"AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident"

www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/light-signals-controlling-traffic

From the highway code. Ir does not mean get ready to stop. It means stop unless unsafe to do so

@Peoplemover I didn’t actually slow down though, I carried on at the speed I was going (which was below 30 as the traffic is so busy you rarely can go 30) - I just didn’t accelerate as a lot of people seem to do!!

@Powerbunting so why do I feel like I’m being an idiot when I don’t race through on amber? Maybe it’s just where I live (major city)!

A friend of mine does an emergency stop every time she sees an amber light. It's extremely dangerous. I continue through if I'm close. I slow down and stop if not. I certainly don't jam on the brakes

You just have to ignore the angry people behind you. You were fine stopping.

I had a car full of people shouting at me because I wasn't overtaking three cyclists. I didn't think it was safe at all with all the oncoming traffic.! The idiots behind me did - it spoilt an otherwise pleasant drive.

If the light has been green for a while, I certainly don’t slow down - I get a move on, to clear it before it does change to amber!
It sounds like you dithered, and approached more slowly than necessary in anticipation of it changing - and then of course it did and you had to stop, as by then you didn’t have enough speed to clear it before it went red.
The driver behind would be understandably pissed off, if you both had time to get through at normal speed but you messed it up by slowing down and made him sit through another whole sequence of lights.
Maybe drive a bit more positively, OP!
Green means “Go”, not “Slow Down in case it changes to Amber”!

I don't drive, but I think in case there's an idiot coming through amber the other way?

@SmellbowSpaceBowl this was my thinking too - creates a lot of tension on the roads though!

No, but there are a lot of impatient people driving around on the road, many of whom don't actually have any idea about the Highway Code 🤷

@Birdtablegreen

I don't know if things have changed, but when I passed my test (1990s,) it said in the highway code that it's acceptable to go through lights on amber, as it ensures the safe passage of the traffic. Suddenly slamming the brake on when the light turns amber, is more dangerous than whizzing through on amber.

I have gone through on amber many times; even when I have had a police car behind me, and I have never been clobbered/pulled up/fined.

So, I would say don't suddenly stop, unless you are going say, less than 20 mph. I am not sure how you can anticipate amber when you don't know when the lights are going to change. And living in a city (which you posted in your drip feed,) makes no difference.. Traffic moves relatively the same outside cities too.. In towns, and even some villages!

YABU. I would find you annoying - and dangerous too!

@Babdoc I didn’t actually slow down though - to be fair there have been times when I have really been in a rush and have probably been tailgating someone to quickly get through the lights before it gets to red but I know that’s wrong and I would hate to end up accidentally going through on red as I’ve pushed it too far!

Also if someone is going to get really agitated about being stopped like this, they maybe need to think about calming down before they get behind the wheel...

@SmellbowSpaceBowl. Apparently it’s annoying and dangerous though to not speed through though. Slowing down at all is a heinous crime

If you were approaching the lights and changed to amber then you slow and stop .
If you arrived at lights and it changed to amber then stop but not as in emergency stop and certainly not if a car is right behind you so it was maybe safer to go through .
Saying that I've gone through at amber if I'm driving at 30 and a car behind me and I've looked in my mirror and 2 , 3 or even 4 cars have followed me so almost certainly changed to red .
I've also seen this I've stopped at lights, car behind me gone round me and gone through red lights. Some people are driving like idiots .

Powerbunting is correct. I don’t hang about when I’m driving, but have been driving for many years and have noticed a change in driving habits - it used to be that the majority would stop on amber as per the Highway Code - now people just tend to drive through amber and red if they think they can get away with it
I don’t know if people get confused with pelican crossings, where it’s ok to start driving when the amber light is flashing (assuming no pedestrians on the crossing).
As the old joke says:
Red means stop
Green means go
Amber means go a little faster

It definitely depends on where you are. I used to live in Brighton and people would often drive through the lights on red, let alone amber! I'd be sitting there on the cross street, my light would turn green and there'd be some pillock sailing across the junction from the other side. It's made me extremely cautious about being at the head of the queue.

I now live in Yorkshire and people here are a lot more sensible with regards to traffic lights, but seem to have an issue using their indicators...

You definitely stop for amber. I didn't and got a ticket (from a patronising git of a policeman I'll add - I have a lot of respect for the police but he was so unnecessarily rude!). Amber means stop unless it is unsafe not to.