I don’t know if anyone gets this but over the last year I’ve become hesitant on approach to traffic lights…lol
what i mean is, when driving in citys thru lights with the cameras on them…
if you are driving along and about a trucks length away the light changes to amber, do you stop or just power thru??
And for artic drivers, if you go over the line and are making a left/right turn and this takes you a little longer, then the light changes to red when the trailer wheels go over the line, is this a problem??
has anyone had a ticket from one of these cameras…
I’ve had one in my car for crossing the white line when the road was wet, tried to explain & the image clearly showed that I stopped, they didn’t want to know so I’m just as mega paranoid when driving anything bigger, it’s not easy to stop in the split second it takes to go red but the authorities don’t care, out to make a quick buck…
You’re right to be paranoid, my particular bug bear is box junctions in heavy traffic.
You’re cruising through at a sensible crawl in time with the other traffic, you have plenty of space over the other side of the crossing to land in, suddenly as you are starting to cross (committed) the bloody lights turn red and next thing two cocky bleeders have overtaken you on the lights then cut in front cos their lane is rammed solid and you’re there with half your trailer still out on the box junction.
‘Flash’-‘Kerching’, the picture won’t show those two herberts forcing in but it’ll get you, it got my lad exactly like that.
Normal lights you just have to use your noddle and be ready to stop every time.
I don’t know if anyone gets this but over the last year I’ve become hesitant on approach to traffic lights…lol
what i mean is, when driving in citys thru lights with the cameras on them…
if you are driving along and about a trucks length away the light changes to amber, do you stop or just power thru??
And for artic drivers, if you go over the line and are making a left/right turn and this takes you a little longer, then the light changes to red when the trailer wheels go over the line, is this a problem??
has anyone had a ticket from one of these cameras…
Thanks
You shouldnt hear anything if the trailer wheels go over the white line on red. and i would make a good effort to stop if it changed to amber.
On the odd occasion I’ve run through lights with cameras just as they’ve turned red and never had any flash or been fined, I think it takes a few seconds after the light going red for the camera to be switched on.
Juddian:
You’re right to be paranoid, my particular bug bear is box junctions in heavy traffic.
You’re cruising through at a sensible crawl in time with the other traffic, you have plenty of space over the other side of the crossing to land in, suddenly as you are starting to cross (committed) the bloody lights turn red and next thing two cocky bleeders have overtaken you on the lights then cut in front cos their lane is rammed solid and you’re there with half your trailer still out on the box junction.
‘Flash’-‘Kerching’, the picture won’t show those two herberts forcing in but it’ll get you, it got my lad exactly like that.
Normal lights you just have to use your noddle and be ready to stop every time.
Just argue it, be prepared to take it all the way and it’ll get dropped.
I got a ticket from a box junction in London years ago when I was on Maritime, I put a post on here with a scan of the ticket etc, but basically it was a major cross roads with a yellow box in the middle, then the other side had a pelican crossing, I was the front of the queue and my lights turned green, started to go (44t up I might add) and someone hit the button on the pelican crossing, so by time my cab was clearing the box junction, the pelican lights turned red.
I let it roll to a stop on the line for the pelican crossing, but the overhang on my trailer was still on the box junction, so I got a ticket through the post.
My reply was along the lines of ‘I’m a truck driver, not able to tell the future, there physically isn’t enough space for a HGV (and I only had a 40’ trailer on too remember) to fit between the pelican crossing and the box junction, so stuff your ticket’.
Turned out that it was a manned camera too , so a human being could actually see what had happened, and still hit the button to send a ticket out
I’ve had a few traffic light cameras flash when I’ve gone through on amber/red in artics but never heard owt. I do tend to treat them with some trepidation these days for the same reasons as yourself but generally only when driving an artic. In my car I just carry on as normal but keep an eye peeled for the ones with cameras.
We have some lights locally going into a tight road layout - when your windscreen went through they were green but by the time the barn doors passed they were always red - never got nicked.
I got done 3 years ago on the Queen Eleanor Roundabout in Northampton in a RoRo, 3 points & £60, I wasn’t even in a hurry, just thought I’d get through before it turned red.
Now I’m very careful when approaching these Poxy Revenue Grabbing Junctions.
Why not switch off traffic lights on a roundabout, during the day & night, just have them on during the Rush/School Run Mummy hours. Say 07.30-09.30 & 16.30-18.30
mickyblue:
As I get near lights I would slow down because with me there always bloody changing when I get near them.
Do you get flashed for going through a yellow? I’ve had that a few times when I felt it was unsafe to slam the brakes on
got done for that last month , coming up to lights at strathclyde park at 1-45am not going to hard got cab through lights as they went to amber and traffic cops to my right waiting to go on green , upshot is got 3 points and £60 quid , tried to explain to them that i was heavy and other truck up my nat king cole so wasnt wanting to cause any sort of drama , cop said he would have let me off but cause i was carrying haz-chems he would have to do me …im now over cautious at all sets of lights now
mickyblue:
As I get near lights I would slow down because with me there always bloody changing when I get near them.
Do you get flashed for going through a yellow? I’ve had that a few times when I felt it was unsafe to slam the brakes on
got done for that last month , coming up to lights at strathclyde park at 1-45am not going to hard got cab through lights as they went to amber and traffic cops to my right waiting to go on green , upshot is got 3 points and £60 quid , tried to explain to them that i was heavy and other truck up my nat king cole so wasnt wanting to cause any sort of drama , cop said he would have let me off but cause i was carrying haz-chems he would have to do me …im now over cautious at all sets of lights now
You could have disputed the ticket if you definently went through on amber.
a mate of mine had to do one of these red light awareness courses and he was told the camera is activated 3 seconds after the red light comes on. but hes a taxi driver so if it goes yellow just before he crosses the line he will be through before the camera turns on, not sure about anything longer though. handy to know though helps me judge weather to slam on or not, best advice i ever got was if its been green for a while slow right down because its due to change something i always take into account when i see a camera at the junction
in order to avoid getting a ticket,
you should stop at green lights
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn red
wait for them to turn amber
wait for them to turn green and go
If the lights are green a couple of hundred yards ahead when driving through town, I’ll be slowing down (easing off) as I approach them - especially in the wet.
Much to the consternation of those behind me who think I’m some kind of pillock for “playing it safe” like I do.
, so a human being could actually see what had happened, and still hit the button to send a ticket out 
Why not switch off traffic lights on a roundabout, during the day & night, just have them on during the Rush/School Run Mummy hours. Say 07.30-09.30 & 16.30-18.30 
