Screwed up at traffic lights, help

[Iguessthatswhytheycallittheblues]

It's fully my fault, just stressed and unsure what to do. I stopped at the lights on a one way street, before the 'no entry'. It turns out the actual stop line was a thin line further back on the road that I missed, so I'd stopped before the end of the road and lights but past the stop line.

A police 'dog unit' stopped behind me, I saw him gesturing at me then beeped, so I went as I thought I was meant to go, the light was still red.

I went and the police car turned the other way, I saw the guy look at me again. Only been driving a few months and I feel sick, it was a silly mistake, I'm not someone who speeds or runs reds on purpose. Has anyone else had this? I've just got to deal with it.

Maybe the lights had turned green but you couldn't see it as you had stopped too far past the stop line and the police were beeping you to tell you to get going. If they followed you onto the junction the lights must have been green because they wouldn't have jumped a red light.

Did they pull you over? If not dont worry. Just be careful when stopping at junctions

No they just drove off the other way, i feel so stupid that I missed the line

Time to get over it now. Honestly, stop condemning yourself.

It was a mistake. You are not stupid and the fact that you care that you made a mistake and want to get it right next time is a good thing. It’s time to move on and not dwell on it further.

Is it??? 😟 great, just what we need on the roads - panicky nervous people who don’t know what they’re doing when they’re fully in charge of 2 tonnes of metal! You gain more experience once you’ve passed your test, but you should already be competent.

Do you always take things so literally? We learn to anticipate other drivers' moves and hazards, in anticipation of collisions.

OP could you drive back through the same way as the passenger with a trusted/experienced driver and explain what happened and re-look at what to do? The experienced driver can tell you how to approach the section of road correctly. Then you’ll feel better about your mistake, because at the moment you haven’t learnt from it and you just feel stupid. If you’re worried about being judged don’t tell them the story, just say you drove there and it was confusing so want to make sure you know what to do.

Decided to book some refresher lessons as I'm sick of the constant anxiety and worrying about mistakes and points

Oh bless you!
It sounds to me like the other driver was sort of bullying you?
I hope your panic will soon subside & you can forget about it. Hugs.

Stopping beyond the line was a very minor error, and in this case, not at all dangerous. The stop line is so far back from the junction due to the position of the lights on the left hand side of the street, which can't be nearer to the junction due to the curvature of the buildings. If they were placed nearer the junction it would be impossible to see them from further back down the road on which you were driving.

The dangerous error was proceeding onto the junction when the light was still on red (traffic could still be crossing the junction and you could have crashed). Never do this, even if a vehicle flashing blue lights is behind you.

I understand, so i don't know why the police car behind was waving their and beeping at me if it were only a minor error and what I was meant to do, it confused me

The most likely explanation is that you had driven past and stopped just beyond the red light (not ideal but not a major deal given the photo you provided and it being a one way street - you weren't blocking anyone coming from other directions) so you could no longer see the light. The light then changed to green, you didn't realise, the police beeped to alert you that the lights had changed so you could move and everyone else could move too. That's what you did, all good. Maybe people shouldn't really beep in this situation, particularly the police, but they frequently do, sometimes to be helpful, sometimes in annoyance. It's a bit frightening when you're new to driving and hear the beeping but you'll get used to it, some drivers seem to beep a lot. And road signals and road markings are often more confusing than they need to be. And people do occasionally gesture to you and you will wonder what on earth they're trying to say. All these things can cause stress sometimes for even very experienced drivers. As long as you're cautious and not speeding around or driving erratically it will be fine, you just need a bit of practice to get used to how it all works. You were unlucky that the person behind you was the police but it sounds very unlikely that there will be any further consequences from this incident so please try not to worry.

I've attached another picture showing where the actual line is, so I had stopped after those lights but there is a repeater light further up, the police pulled out the same time as I did but just turned right as I turned left so that means if I ran a red they did too. I just want to stop ruminating but it's horrible, I had a nightmare last night.

I reviewed dashcam footage and the lights were amber when I drove off so I didn't go on red, but i still stopped over the line.

Mate, you need to chill out. Having nightmares because you stooped beyond a line?

Id suggest you don’t drive until you’ve addressed your anxieties as it doesn’t sound like you’re safe to do so

That's why he's beeped them.

Step away from the thread. Stop thinking about it. Move on

I understand why people are saying chill out, but I'm a new driver so 3 points is 50% of the way to me losing my licence and it's the horrible wait to see if anything comes in the post, I'd rather they just tell me there and then.

@Iguessthatswhytheycallittheblues you aren’t going to a get anything in the post. The dog unit police in the car that beeped you aren’t going to bother with any possible minor road error. If they cared, they would have spoken to you there and then.

Once you are past the stop line you are no longer bound by the lights. They were most likely just beeping you to move on. You aren't going to get anything in the post.

It’s not even legal to just send you something in the post if it’s not a dedicated camera. They’d have had to stop you then and there.

Honestly, you need to brush up on driving law as well as the driving itself