Emergency Service Vehicles & Red Lights

paddedjohn

dacouch wrote: »

Not strictly true, if the lights are not working or you have reasonable suspicion they are not working eg you are familiar with the lights and they have been on red much much longer than normal then they are no longer regarded as a traffic light and you can treat it as a give way junction.

Appreciate your response but until I see a definitive answer from a 100% reliable source then im going to continue to wait at red lights. I got stopped about 3 weeks ago for this exact same thing at 6am on a Sunday morning when the roads were deserted and the copper let me off with a bollocking (and a breath test), later i googled it and half the answers agree with you and half with the copper so im going to err on the side of caution from now on.;)

dacouch

paddedjohn wrote: »

Appreciate your response but until I see a definitive answer from a 100% reliable source then im going to continue to wait at red lights. I got stopped about 3 weeks ago for this exact same thing at 6am on a Sunday morning when the roads were deserted and the copper let me off with a bollocking (and a breath test), later i googled it and half the answers agree with you and half with the copper so im going to err on the side of caution from now on.;)

"176

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36"

https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183

paddedjohn

dacouch wrote: »

"176

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36"

https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183

But the lights are working, they are on red and telling you not to proceed, if they were switched off then i would do as above.

brat

dacouch wrote: »

"176

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.
Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36"

https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/road-junctions-170-to-183

It's case law rather than statutory legislation that provides for this exemption, and the onus is on the defendant to show that the lights were out of phase.

fivetide

brat wrote: »

It's case law rather than statutory legislation that provides for this exemption, and the onus is on the defendant to show that the lights were out of phase.

I once sat at a red light for ten minutes before going through. Even tried reversing and driving up to the light again to see if I could set a sensor off but no dice. It was late night and the road was clear so I went over, albeit slowly and with an eye out for plod!

I felt ten minutes was enough time to work out they were broken in some way but I can certianly see both sides of the argument. Sods law that as you go over, the police spot you and the lights immediately go to green!

brat

fivetide wrote: »

I once sat at a red light for ten minutes before going through. Even tried reversing and driving up to the light again to see if I could set a sensor off but no dice. It was late night and the road was clear so I went over, albeit slowly and with an eye out for plod!

I felt ten minutes was enough time to work out they were broken in some way but I can certianly see both sides of the argument. Sods law that as you go over, the police spot you and the lights immediately go to green!

I wouldn't have waited 10 minutes. We have a set of lights in town that do play up from time to time, especially during the night, and I've sat for 4 minutes at 3am until they changed - and they did. I've also stopped taxi drivers that have carefully gone through them on red, but it would be wrong to take it any further because the lights are known to be fickle.