Fined for going through a Yellow Light?

Sam_Boss260 · 01-05-2008, 04:17 PM

Has anybody on here ever been fined for going through a yellow light? Not red, but yellow?

A mate a work just got fined $225 and 3 points for going through a yellow light. I thought that wa sa bit rich.

TheSneakiness · 01-05-2008, 04:22 PM

I suppose you can.

It's in the QLD Demerit Point System but have never ever heard anyone being done for it before.

Sam_Boss260 · 01-05-2008, 04:28 PM

Jeez.... if that was the case, then I wouldn't have a licence.

I've never heard of anyone being booked for this before.

And yes it is in the demerit system, as there is a special code for it, but appreantly the officer had a bit of trouble finding out the code for it!!!

TheSneakiness · 01-05-2008, 04:31 PM

As far as I could read it Sam they judge it the same as running a red light.

Powdered Toast Man · 01-05-2008, 04:33 PM

Which would be stupid as a yellow is a warning that it is going red, and for you to stop if you can do safely. They shouldn't be able to fine you for that I reckon.

ELtim · 01-05-2008, 04:36 PM

No...what the hell?

So as soon as the light turns yellow you're suppose to lock it up or something?

Or slow right down to 10k's on a green light just incase it turns yellow?

TZENU · 01-05-2008, 04:37 PM

A mate got done for the same thing; apparently it's up to the discretion of the police officer..

He was also told that if there is time to stop then you must stop and not speed up to get through the intersection

(That's what he was told by the officer when we got pulled up)

T3man · 01-05-2008, 04:45 PM

I'd have thought it was pretty simple really - anyone with a driver's licence should know that orange means the same as red - you must stop behind the line. The only time you can NOT stop is "if to do so would be likely to cause an accident". And the onus is on YOU (the driver) to prove in court that an accident would have been emminent if you had stopped. A pretty hard thing to do I'd suggest.

So in short - anyone running an orange faces the same penalty as anyone running a red. And rightly so in my book. No I am NOT a cop - but I have witnessed plenty of accidents at intersections because people have run a red. And why does this happen? Because they see the orange and decide to speed up to beat the red. Guess what? Most people have pretty bad judgement of time and distance and that fact is evidenced by the number of accidents caused by the above.

[/end of rant]

Sam_Boss260 · 01-05-2008, 04:52 PM

Personally, I think that slamming on the breaks for a yellow light will cause more accidents.

TheSneakiness · 01-05-2008, 04:55 PM

Not if you've got time to stop.

It would be dangerous if you slammed on the brakes 30 metres away from a set of lights that just went yellow.

**TUF_302** · 01-05-2008, 05:00 PM

The law says you must stop only if safe to do so, if there isn't enough time to stop safely its ok to go threw a yellow light, well thats what i said to a cop who pulled me over for going threw one, i got off with a warning lol!

futura888 · 01-05-2008, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam_Boss260

Personally, I think that slamming on the breaks for a yellow light will cause more accidents.

agreed,i almost had a crash the other day because of this idiot slamming his brakes on 5 or so metres before the intersection as soon as it turned orange(and i wasn't tailgating either),some people have no idea:togo:

eb_5litre · 01-05-2008, 05:01 PM

They should add another colour to warn that the amber light is coming.

Scott · 01-05-2008, 05:08 PM

If you see the light change to amber, you have time to stop. If you didn't have time to stop, you were speeding. If you didn't see it turn amber, you weren't paying due attention. If you enter an intersection and the light flicks to red when you are 90% across, you have run a red. What "should" be a long amber is timed so that anyone who saw the light come on either has enough time to cross the intersection OR has enough time to stop before it.

Rarely do people get caught out at lights and also be completely innocent. There are examples but for 99% of cases, the timing on the lights can deal with our excuses.

XR8putts · 01-05-2008, 05:13 PM

I agree with most of the people saying that a ticket for running a yellow light is a load of shyte.

But, what probably happend in this case, the man in question put the foot down when he saw the yellow, and although he may have made it before it turned red, it dosn't sound so innocent now..

We've all done it, we could've slowed down and stopped but instead we hit the go pedal a little more and cross before it turned red. He got caught, learn from it and move on.

SubJimbo · 01-05-2008, 05:18 PM

I'm 90% sure the law is when the light goes Yellow, Its stop unless you cant do so safely, Isnt it?

ubute · 01-05-2008, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eb_5litre

They should add another colour to warn that the amber light is coming.

Hehe, I'm guessing why they added the amber.. to warn that the red light is coming?

Conversly, that reminds me of how in Argentina when the light is red it then flashes amber to warn that the green light is about to come (to the sound of reving engines and cars edging forward in preparation). At least it gets traffic moving again efficiently rather than waiting for the airheads to realise that "oh, gee, its turned green again, maybe I'll get ready to start moving"

ubute · 01-05-2008, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SubJimbo

I'm 90% sure the law is when the light goes Yellow, Its stop unless you cant do so safely, Isnt it?

Yep, I guess it comes down to your judgement whether its safe or not, which is why its probably not as common to get booked for running yellow, since it would be discretionary on the cop's behalf?

If you have crap judgement then its probably good you get booked as you probably do a lot of other dangerous stuff too using said crap judgement (generalising)

Rodp · 01-05-2008, 05:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam_Boss260

Has anybody on here ever been fined for going through a yellow light? Not red, but yellow?

A mate a work just got fined $225 and 3 points for going through a yellow light. I thought that wa sa bit rich.

If it was deemed safe to stop then it's an offense. Amber light doesn't mean floor it.

FordACE · 01-05-2008, 05:39 PM

I think the most important thing they should do is put a standard time across all intersections for how long orange should stay on before it turns to red. The differences I have seen is phenominal.

ubute · 01-05-2008, 05:44 PM

That's probably more do do with the size of the intersection and speed limits than anything

i.e. the time it stays amber is somewhat proportional to the time it takes to be able to slow to a stop from posted speed limit as well as the time it takes to cross the intersection based on the posted speed limit.

ILLaViTaR · 01-05-2008, 05:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam_Boss260

Personally, I think that slamming on the breaks for a yellow light will cause more accidents.

Dude it's got nothing to do with slamming on the brakes.

I see shitloads of people who attempt to run the orange light when they could easily stop.

Those are the people who will be getting booked.

**Mechan1k** · 01-05-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TZENU

A mate got done for the same thing; apparently it's up to the discretion of the police officer..

He was also told that if there is time to stop then you must stop and not speed up to get through the intersection

(That's what he was told by the officer when we got pulled up)

That's pretty much it ... it will be rare to get done for it.
It comes down to the Officer at the time ... and the driver going through the Amber.

If a cop sees a driver that has absolutely punched it to get through an Amber ... they will go after them (especially if the driver has been monitored for some time due to erratic/hoon driving behaviour).

If the driver was driving sensibly prior and not suspiciously ... the officer may do nothing.

Yes unlucky to be caught I guess ... but with the amount of people running reds that I see in Sydney ... i think sometimes there are different taskforces in place (see the "Targeting" signs) during different periods.

FordACE · 01-05-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ubute

That's probably more do do with the size of the intersection and speed limits than anything

i.e. the time it stays amber is somewhat proportional to the time it takes to be able to slow to a stop from posted speed limit as well as the time it takes to cross the intersection based on the posted speed limit.

I know what your saying in that regard. However, from my experience, same size intersections with the same posted speed limit there are differences between amber-red times. I don't think it's very hard for them to get some form of uniformity.

**Falcon Coupe** · 01-05-2008, 06:03 PM

Plenty of advice from those who do not even know what color they are talking about.

:

OLDFORDNUT · 01-05-2008, 06:59 PM

same thing happened to me several years ago,lights went orange when i was in intersection already.then my number plates obscured by tow ball(i was towing a trailer at time)then doing burnouts near home,cop even had photo's of rubber on road (local hoon house was on same corner)where pics were taken,id never done any burnouts there , all this after belting an off duty cop the week before my drama's started to happen each time he saw me he or his mates would get me for anything,,none of his mates seemed to mind the fact i only gave him a hiding after he grabbed my girlfriends boobs on dance floor, only way it ended was i rang the commisioner of Police office and made a complaint.didnot give me my liscence back or reimburse me for the $1800 in fines i had gotten over previous month which also meant i lost my job as i lived 20km's from work with no public transport available.

Mickxr8 · 01-05-2008, 07:07 PM

as far as i know in wa you can enter an intersection even when the light is orange even if the light goes red by the time you are through. iknow for a fact that red light cameras only shoot you if the light is red when you cross that white line. this is why there is a time delay on the green light going across you. it allows time for morons to get through

Yaw · 01-05-2008, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by futura888

agreed,i almost had a crash the other day because of this idiot slamming his brakes on 5 or so metres before the intersection as soon as it turned orange(and i wasn't tailgating either),some people have no idea:togo:

if the car in front of you was able to stop before the intersection you must have been travelling too close behind him, otherwise you would have had plenty of time to pull up. And if an accident did occur as a result , and you went up his rear...you would be 100% liable.
I am not trying to oint the finger, but tailgating does not need to be up someones clakcker,,,,it is not being able to stop safley in an emergency.

FordACE · 01-05-2008, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yaw

I am not trying to oint the finger, but tailgating does not need to be up someones clakcker,,,,it is not being able to stop safley in an emergency.

Without trying to argue against you here, the law says 2 seconds behind. If i'm 2 seconds behind another car, and they're car is equiped with brembo 6 pots and pulls up quicker than my 1 pot POS brakes and I smash into them, I know I'm liable, but is it fair?

Yaw · 01-05-2008, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FordACE

Without trying to argue against you here, the law says 2 seconds behind. If i'm 2 seconds behind another car, and they're car is equiped with brembo 6 pots and pulls up quicker than my 1 pot POS brakes and I smash into them, I know I'm liable, but is it fair?

The law does not state 2 seconds behind...that is a guideline given in the learners guide.
what the law states is:
126 Keeping a safe distance behind vehicles
A driver must drive a sufficient distance behind a vehicle
travelling in front of the driver so the driver can, if necessary,
stop safely to avoid a collision with the vehicle.
Maximum penalty—20 penalty units.

Source;
http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LE...ntOpRURR99.pdf