Was doing some collections in Worcester today and upon taking slip road to St Nicholas St found that the red light was apparently frozen.
After what must’ve been close to five mins I decided to just drive through it as there was no traffic whatsoever in front. What’s the legal stance on this in the unlikely event I happened to get caught on camera?
Road behind me (which I’d turned off onto slip road) was fairly busy so it would’ve certainly been more dangerous to back onto it (and possibly illegal).
Generally speaking, all electronic equipment and road signs have to conform to standards in order to be used for a prosecution. In the case of red lights that means that they have to be functioning. Bizarrely, you could be prosecuted for Due Care / Careless!! The changes of that are non existent.
If you are concerned there is this site that you can check.
If traffic lights have frozen then you have the legal right to treat them as a give way - that is the law which is a little obvious really because lets say it takes hours to get them fixed - would traffic be expected to wait there that long …
ROG:
If traffic lights have frozen then you have the legal right to treat them as a give way - that is the law which is a little obvious really because lets say it takes hours to get them fixed - would traffic be expected to wait there that long …
I’d be interested to see the legal basis on which that assertion is made.
The legal position is that you must not pass a red light unless directed to do so by a uniformed Constable or traffic warden…
Legal position as far as I’m aware is that you cannot go through a red light under any circumstances, faulty or not , unless directed by a police officer or warden as pointed out
Your supposed to sit there and report it as faulty!!
Police then send someone to control traffic- we all know that won’t happen anytime soon so that’s why people creep through them
I’ve done it myself tbh ( thankfully extremely rare occurrence) but luckily I’ve not had to do it with a camera on the lights and think I’d be ringing police and let them decide how long I block a junction for in that situation especially given that this day and age of camera technology it’s prosecute no matter what
ROG:
Phone local traffic cops in advance and ask them what is allowed in this sort of situation should a driver come across it in the future - I did
To be honest the last person I would ask for legal advice would be a copper, generally they’ll express an opinion but proclaim it to be law or simply make something up.
Try asking them where you can find what they say in a legal document and listen to the bull[zb] they come out with.
Try asking DVSA or VOSA for a legal definition, they wont give you one, they always counter that argument by saying that “a court of law may interpret my answer differently”.
I have several letters from Marsham Street and the former Minister of, for Transports. Who is Boris’s choice this week?
ROG:
Phone local traffic cops in advance and ask them what is allowed in this sort of situation should a driver come across it in the future - I did
To be honest the last person I would ask for legal advice would be a copper, generally they’ll express an opinion but proclaim it to be law or simply make something up.
Try asking them where you can find what they say in a legal document and listen to the bull[zb] they come out with.
Sent from my mobile.
Absolutely! Anything to get the enquirer off the phone/out of the office…
ROG:
Phone local traffic cops in advance and ask them what is allowed in this sort of situation should a driver come across it in the future - I did
To be honest the last person I would ask for legal advice would be a copper, generally they’ll express an opinion but proclaim it to be law or simply make something up.
Try asking them where you can find what they say in a legal document and listen to the bull[zb] they come out with.
once again it’s something that’s down to that increasingly rarer commodity called common sense.
If you have been sat at those lights for a good 5mins+ and they haven’t changed (for any of the directions of traffic) or they continually miss you out of the cycle (the latter happens regularly in Newport for some reason) and the road contra to your direction or flow is quiet then indeed proceed with caution and treat it as a regular give way.
If it’s as above and the contra traffic is busy and continuous then handbrake on engine off and phone 101 and explain the situation.
As I mentioned above the missing out of my direction is quite common at one particular set of lights in Newport and as some may know I work nights, so the one time they did this and after 3 or 4 minutes I thought [zb] it I’m going, as I went (other direction was clear of traffic the whole time I’d sat there btw) two things happened 1) the bloody lights then decided to actually change and 2) a police car came out from behind me and came past me (dual carriageway) I honestly didn’t spot the bugger tucked in behind me at the lights, so I thought oh [zb] here we go, but as it passed the copper in the passenger seat gave me a thumbs up to say you’re ok mate we understand why, no problem… Bet they both laughed about the initial look of panic on my face though.
I would phone 101 and report it, ask if you should wait for a patrol or go through the light cautiously making sure you will not cause a danger to other road users, all 101 calls are recorded ask for the name of the call handler and if you get a ticket you can request the call recording as evidence.
