red light offence

[loublou]

No, not the kerb crawler kind!

I'm trying to find out how come the law can fine you for passing through a red light without sending you a copying of the photo?

They say it will be provided in court, when you are being done for it proper, but how is this really possible? How can they keep the evidence from you?

Is this legal?

They frighten you off so you pay the £60 (but it's the three points that hurt) and you never really know if you actually did go through or not.

 

[Big_Spark]

Sadly, as it is a mororing offence, it not up to them to prove you guilty, but rather for you to prove your not.

I had one similar several years ago in the city. I would check to see if the lights in question actually have a camera on them, the ones in my case did not, I had been reported by a walking Policeman..it later turned out he had repeated the vehicle registration wrong from his notes the plonker!!

 

[pipme]

Do not hold your breath but there is a tenuous association with this :-
Link to Right to Silence

I believe traffic Wardens now have increased powers to hand out spot fines .. entering a 'yellow box' is a contentious one.... In Bath, there are several boxes thoughtlessly extended around corners .. You really should never enter, as you cannot see a clear exit - can see no bl##dy exit !! These boxes have worked pretty well with common sense prevailing . the odd tourist gets stranded .. but then, in the wet the lines are invisible also at late afternoon .. New Labour overkill trying to tie everything down .. creating more problems than they solve -- then rushing into something new - Jacks of all trades masters of SFA .. We'll all feel like criminals before too much longer .. I guess some may feel "In for a penny in for a pound and move to real crime." That unblemished record, a proud accolade for very many, is soon be a thing of the past .....

 

[masona]

At end of the day the government just want your money and don't care how they get it.

I noticed the other day that the traffic warden has a digital camera and took a picture of the car & number plate on the yellow line against the shop window to prove the car was there!

 

[nstreet]

Sadly, as it is a mororing offence, it not up to them to prove you guilty, but rather for you to prove your not.

Whatever happened to 'innocent until proven guilty' seems its just been switched around when it suits the powers that be.

 

[andy]

around the area i work there is a crossroads with lights. it is a main road going straight over and minor roads to building sites either side. the main road is closed at 1 side so there is very little traffic. some dips**t still left the lights on so you have to wait for nothin to get past. they are also set up wrong, i.e the first light changes 20M ahead of you, then the red light stoppin you changes 5 seconds after the first. pretty pointless

 

[AdamW]

There is a great set of traffic lights on the A308 from Sunbury Cross to Staines (anyone who has gone to Heathrow via the M3 has probably seen this). If you get it at just the right time, and drive dead on the speed limit (50), you go through several miles of traffic lights on green. Nice. But if you mess it up, or end up behind a slowcoach then you get stopped at each one.

I nearly got caught by a traffic light camera on the above road. The lights started changing for a filter lane, but in a dozy state I started to pull away. Luckily realised after I had gone about 10 feet, felt like such a wally having to sit there

Am I the only one who derives some sort of sadistic pleasure when they see someone jump a red light and get flashed?

 

[securespark]

Yeah, Adam! Until it happens to you!!!

 

[TexMex]

We have a weird set of lights around here. Where a minor road meets the A12. At night, (I don't know what time it kicks in), the lights are permanently green for the A12. (and therefore red for the side turning). When a vehicle aproaches from the side turning, it triggers the lights to change to red for the A12, and the side turning gets a green light. This is fine, unless you ride a motorcycle.

My brother, on his way to work as a baker on his bike, had learned that they never change to green for him, and therefore, the only option is to go through them very carefully on red. One night seeing a police car sitting in a layby, he waited for about 10 minutes before finally carefully venturing out. Although the police were aware of the problem, he still got charged. Their argument, "you should have turned around and found an alternative route".

b'stds!

This was some years ago, so I'm not sure if they still behave this way.

 

[pipme]

Are our roads and signage not just an almost complete pile of c rap ?
Nearby there is light controled 'T' Junction, two strides from one of the halt lines, on the main road, are pedestrian lights called by button - linked ? No sir... How dangerous is that ? Being local, I pull away slowwly on green, how many behind expect to stop immediate following green traffic light ?
A relative from Singapore laughed at the number of, position of and difference in shape of road signs -- 'Where do you begin looking ?' He asked ..... Isn't all this rubbish happening since traffic (mis)management has been subbed out ? No firm culprit with resposibility.

 

[AdamW]

I experienced one of those traffic-controlled lights on my Aprilia, sat there for a good five minutes wondering why it wasn't changing. Luckily no police there so I crept through, but the voice of my driving instructor was in my head saying "Find an alternative route, ALTERNATIVE ROUTE!"

I have a quibble related to road signage: places with similar names in similar places. I was visiting a friend in Hazlemere, Bucks. The directions I had been sent told me to go via "Chalfont". So, at a roundabout I see a sign for "Chalfont St Giles" and head that way. I ended up doing a 6-mile circle (lovely place, by the way) and being dumped back on to the main road about 100 yards further on! Thank cripes for GPS!

I was trying to find my way back to London once, and ended up driving in circles for ages because of signs for "London Colney". They had written it on two lines so it looked like it was saying "this way for London and for Colney!"

I am sure I am not the only one who gets caught out by such things. The Italians, for all their driving and signage strangeness, have a good system: Because their roads generally radiate from population centres in straight lines, places along that road have a postcode which tells you how far along the road it is. So you can look at your odometer and know roughly when you are there, rather than trying to follow house numbers for 50 kilometres

 

[big-all]

We have a weird set of lights around here. Where a minor road meets the A12. At night, (I don't know what time it kicks in), the lights are permanently green for the A12. (and therefore red for the side turning). When a vehicle aproaches from the side turning, it triggers the lights to change to red for the A12, and the side turning gets a green light. This is fine, unless you ride a motorcycle.

My brother, on his way to work as a baker on his bike, had learned that they never change to green for him, and therefore, the only option is to go through them very carefully on red. One night seeing a police car sitting in a layby, he waited for about 10 minutes before finally carefully venturing out. Although the police were aware of the problem, he still got charged. Their argument, "you should have turned around and found an alternative route".

b'stds!

This was some years ago, so I'm not sure if they still behave this way.

surely the police are guilty

the lights are "faulty stuck on red"causing a traffic hazzard.

surely there dutyas they are aware of the problem is to remove the hazard and direct the traffic manualy

i think the police should be brought to book for being devious antisocial pathetic analy retentive in this instance

 

[nstreet]

So, at a roundabout I see a sign for "Chalfont St Giles"

I bet it was up the backend of nowhere . Isn't that a slang term for piles.

 

[AdamW]

. Isn't that a slang term for piles.

Half the reason I went that way! I think it was subliminal. I'll probably drop a lung if I should ever go to the Orkney Islands (look where the A967 is joined by the A986)

 

[breezer]

regarding traffic lights you may find this interesting, then again you may not