When to go through Red Traffic Lights?

wazza

From my knowledge on reading posts here and from highway code etc....

We all should know that under no circumstances should we go through a red traffic light. Even if we have the fire brigade or ambulance behind us. They should wait patiently till the lights change and we can move out of the way safely. They should not force us to go through the red lights.

If you do go through a red light and is caught by the red light traffic camera you will be prosecuted. It has happened regardless of the picture showing an emergency vehicle behind you.

However only the police can instruct you to go through red traffic lights. This is allowed according to the highway code.

My question is that for the police to instruct you to go through a red traffic lights can they do it from inside their car or do they have to come to you and instruct you to move? Do you have to take their badge number or car reg number in case you are caught on the camera and have to attend court?

Personally i will move to let them pass when i know if there is no red light camera.

What are your opinions?

[Deleted User]

I will not go through a red light for them. They are trained to get round traffic.

As they will still prosecute you for going through a red light to let them past, I will not be risking my licence. Tough luck until they change the law.

bigjl

Very noble Lee. However in my experience the only people.nocked.for jumping a red light in this situation are the numties that take it as an excuse to.drive off down the road.

It is a tricky situation as there is also a law.making it illegal to obstruct an member of the blue light services.

I personally don't bully drivers across junctions i just turn off the noise till the light changes. Though most junctions there is no need you just go down the wrong side of the keep left bollard and off you go.

I assume the OP is on a rant due to not being able to claim exemptions to certain parts of the RTA since this is the second post abiut this subject.

alastairq

OP also asked same question on another, more specific forum...which..if the OP does a quick search, will elicit a discussion on this very topic......with input from serving Police officers, ambulance and others, as well as magistrates....

moonrakerz

bigjl wrote: »

Very noble Lee. However in my experience the only people.nocked.for jumping a red light in this situation are the numties that take it as an excuse to.drive off down the road.

So if you move forward to clear the path for a fire engine you then just sit there in the middle of the junction, blocking everyone else, until "your" light goes green ?

vikingaero

I go through red lights when there is an emergency vehicle behind me. Obviously I'd think twice about junctions with red light cameras, but even then it's possible to turn the car 90 degrees across the junction immediately from the white line so that your numberplate cannot be photographed. I went through a set of temporary reds last night as they had obviously failed.

Outpost

I think sometimes in cases like this drivers are a little too ambitious with regard to clearing a path for emergency vehicles.

A few weeks ago a couple of police cars were trying to get through a two-lane queue of traffic approaching a roundabout - I pulled by car to the side of the road whereas others smashed theirs up onto six-inch high kerbs, presumably in a panic, when simply pulling to the side would've been more than adequate.

A second police car came through a minute later and people were hitting their vehicles up onto the kerbs again, goodness knows how much damage they were doing to their tyres, tracking and suspension. They weren't even slowly mounting the kerbs slowly!

thelawnet

People are not very good at responding to emergency service vehicles. I was riding my bicycle somewhere around Putney on Saturday and I could hear the sirens so I got over to the side of the road (this was at a traffic light junction with two lanes in each direction and a pedestrian island in the middle). Left lane had cars in it, right lane is clear. So along comes Mr. SUV and heads into the right lane where he finally spots the ambulance, which is trying to use the wrong side of the road to get past stationary traffic along the other side. Mr SUV is paralysed blocking the ambulance's way, so I beckon him to reverse, as there's 200 metres of empty road behind.

After a bit more paralysis he eventually backs up.

dacouch

thelawnet wrote: »

People are not very good at responding to emergency service vehicles. I was riding my bicycle somewhere around Putney on Saturday and I could hear the sirens so I got over to the side of the road (this was at a traffic light junction with two lanes in each direction and a pedestrian island in the middle). Left lane had cars in it, right lane is clear. So along comes Mr. SUV and heads into the right lane where he finally spots the ambulance, which is trying to use the wrong side of the road to get past stationary traffic along the other side. Mr SUV is paralysed blocking the ambulance's way, so I beckon him to reverse, as there's 200 metres of empty road behind.

After a bit more paralysis he eventually backs up.

If I'm on my cycle and hear I siren, I slow down and look around, if it's on the same road as me (Either direction) I always pull over and look at the emergency vehicle driver. I get the impression that a lot of them are not aways sure if a cyclist has seen them and slow down in case they have not. I assume this helps the driver realise I have seen them so they can carry on unimpeded (And it keeps me safe).

Perhaps Bigal can say whether I'm assuming correctly or not

easy

In this situation, I may pull level with - or JUST thru' - the actual lights if necessary to get out of the way, but would stop as soon as possible, not just carry on across the junction (partly cos I would be afraid of being hit by some chump coming thru the green light without taking account of that loud whoo-whoo noise coming from somewhere).

easy

Outpost wrote: »

I think sometimes in cases like this drivers are a little too ambitious with regard to clearing a path for emergency vehicles.

A few weeks ago a couple of police cars were trying to get through a two-lane queue of traffic approaching a roundabout - I pulled by car to the side of the road whereas others smashed theirs up onto six-inch high kerbs, presumably in a panic, when simply pulling to the side would've been more than adequate.

A second police car came through a minute later and people were hitting their vehicles up onto the kerbs again, goodness knows how much damage they were doing to their tyres, tracking and suspension. They weren't even slowly mounting the kerbs slowly!

I've been know to mount the kerb - yep even a high one - to clear the way for a siren .... OK, a police car can get thru a narrow-ish gap, but what if it's a huge great fire-engine coming your way ??

Just think, If YOU were the person who had just been injured and needed an ambulance, would you be happy that the vehicle couldn't get through to you, because some folk were being precious about their BMW's ??