Driving in my Class 1 I went through a bloody red light cam on amber (in my opinion I wouldn’t have stopped in time). I know you could say I should have anticipated the amber light but in truth its hard to judge (especially since I did not see the last time it changed).
I went through less than 30 mph and it hit red probably half way down my trailer, but whats the crack? Is there leeway for us big uns? In a car i’m completely through easily, in somethin 55ft long, well you could in theory go through on green it catch the back of you on red?!
Bricking it now, I’m already on 6pts.
Any advice would be highly appreciated, as I’m gonna have to go court if this comes back.
I was always under the impression that if the front of your vehicles passes the lights before they’ve turned red, then that is legal. It only becomes illegal if the front of your vehicles goes through the lights when they’re red…thats what I thought, sure someone will be along to prove me wrong
Adam_Mc:
I was always under the impression that if the front of your vehicles passes the lights before they’ve turned red, then that is legal. It only becomes illegal if the front of your vehicles goes through the lights when they’re red…thats what I thought, sure someone will be along to prove me wrong
They take two pictures to prove you were crossing the line, if you cross the sensor and you are in a different place in each photo it shows that you did not stop, if you stopped on top of the sensor both photos show you in exactly the same place they cannot prosecute you. I don’t know what they would do in this case, i would personally forget about it, if a letter turns up then I would start finding out what to do.
I drive an articulated vehicle. Quite often, when I approach the lights they are green, but by the time by vehicle is through, they have changed to red. There is nothing I can do because of the length of the vehicle. Why should I be prosecuted? If the red light is not showing when the front of the vehicle crosses the line, but is illuminated before the rest of the vehicle has passed, an offence is committed. The rules state that it is your obligation as a driver to ensure that the whole of the vehicle can pass on green. If it cannot, you should not proceed.
I reckon the last bit can be played two ways, both with the HGV driver losing…I bet you If you waited until there was enough room in front of you and then the lights changed red, a copper would have you done for slowing traffic down and blocking the road by not ‘going for it’.
Driving in my Class 1 I went through a bloody red light cam on amber (in my opinion I wouldn’t have stopped in time). I know you could say I should have anticipated the amber light but in truth its hard to judge (especially since I did not see the last time it changed).
I went through less than 30 mph and it hit red probably half way down my trailer, but whats the crack? Is there leeway for us big uns? In a car i’m completely through easily, in somethin 55ft long, well you could in theory go through on green it catch the back of you on red?!
Bricking it now, I’m already on 6pts.
Any advice would be highly appreciated, as I’m gonna have to go court if this comes back.
Dave
It can be difficult sometimes with an artic, however, the bit I’ve highlighted is your clue.
Known as a “stale” green light & therefor you should always expect it to change soon.
I drive an articulated vehicle. Quite often, when I approach the lights they are green, but by the time by vehicle is through, they have changed to red. There is nothing I can do because of the length of the vehicle. Why should I be prosecuted? If the red light is not showing when the front of the vehicle crosses the line, but is illuminated before the rest of the vehicle has passed, an offence is committed. The rules state that it is your obligation as a driver to ensure that the whole of the vehicle can pass on green. If it cannot, you should not proceed.
Then the law is an ■■■. if this is the case then there are many sets of lights that it would be impossible to pass through with a fully laden 44 tonner as they change too quick
I tend to agree annitram. There’s a set on A5036 on the way out from Seaforth docks, Liverpool towards the M58 where if you are number 1 at the line, heavy, & start from rest, if cars approach the lights on the other road, they change again immediately. Its virtually impossible to get the back end of the trailer clear before they are red again. However, from memory, there is no camera there.
Been looking for a while first post hope it helps.
The cameras are far more than a basic camera they record the time each light is displayed and how long it was on for when the front of a vehicle passes the white line by the lights and finally it takes a picture of the rear number plate. Its 3 points and £60 FNP thats what my son got hope this helps.
I drive an articulated vehicle. Quite often, when I approach the lights they are green, but by the time by vehicle is through, they have changed to red. There is nothing I can do because of the length of the vehicle. Why should I be prosecuted? If the red light is not showing when the front of the vehicle crosses the line, but is illuminated before the rest of the vehicle has passed, an offence is committed. The rules state that it is your obligation as a driver to ensure that the whole of the vehicle can pass on green. If it cannot, you should not proceed.
Then the law is an ■■■. if this is the case then there are many sets of lights that it would be impossible to pass through with a fully laden 44 tonner as they change too quick
Not only that you’d need to be a Psychic or a clairvoyant to know wether there’s time for the whole wagon length to get through before the light changes.So in that case the only chance you’ve got is to stop on green and then wait to start off from a new green light but suppose you’re driving a heavy special types which takes all day to accelerate.I think common sense actually says if the front of the vehicle passes the line on green and your exit is clear enough for the whole length of the wagon then it’s ok to go.If not just stop on green then when it’s safe to do so measure the distance across the junction and then time the light over it’s green cycle and measure that against the time it takes to accelerate the truck across the distance of the junction against the distance and time chart which you’re given for such circumstances
If your lucky it will have taken 2 photos of the side of your trailer, depends how fast you were going.
The induction loop in the road becomes active shortly after the lights turn red so the 1st axle on your trailer would trigger the scamera… 2 pics like a Gatso (0.5 secs apart if I remember right).
Something else to note… as they are basically Gatsos some have been adapted for use as speed scameras as well
just had the same thing happen to me, half way through the lights they changed to red i reckon over half of the trailer was
through, i expect to get points and a fine, a bit unfair really i have had a clean license for thirty years…
Driveroneuk:
I’d be interested in your ideas on that one Rog, especially with specific regard to the junction i described above.
That one is a little unique as the driver starts going over the stop line whilst the lights are on green and not amber.
The law states that if the stop line has been crossed then a driver can proceed if safe to do so.
The other cases refer to crossing the stop line when the lights are on amber.
Back in 1988 when I was doing my HGV artic class 1 (now C+E) training my instructor had some advice for me on this issue -
Pretend there is no amber phase, only green and red - now pretend every amber IS a red.
That sorted me out
Until I got a TS10 on the A12 in Essex (1990s)
My fault, I forgot that when carrying slippy sheet steel, it is not a good idea to stop too quickly so I had no option but to keep going… lesson learned - slow down more when lights have been on green a while…
One of our trucks got done for doing 0mph through one of them, it caught the backend of the trailer swinging around as he was turning a very sharp left, 3 points and a £60 fine. Just another way for the government to screw a few more pennies out of haulage.
ROG:
There must be many LGV artic drivers that do not get into this situation so the question to them is -
How do you avoid it
The way to avoid it is to use the extra sensory perception which everyone has to control the length of time of the green light phasing by thought power alone.If you think that the thing is going to change to amber/red while you’re getting across the junction it probably will.It’s just a matter of positive thinking.
