On Friday night, i did my first ever run up the North Circular at about half eleven at night. On my way round, I came upto a set of lights which were on green, I had roughly 10 meters between me and the lights when they decided to change, having a load of about 10 tonnes on the back I knew i would not be able to stop safley in time and bearing in mind my speed was about 25mph.
As I went through they had changed to red and sure enough got the double flash as my trailer cleared the lights.
After being quite annoyed with myself seeing as I am now looking at my first set of three points and £60 fine . I decided to phone my best mate who drives for Stobarts and have a chat. he said that there may be a chance of leniancy because of the trailer already being through the lights.
If any has had a similar thing or has any knowledge of this sort of traffic offence, gimme a shout please.
I see there are quite a few rants about agency drivers at the moment, if anyone has a problem then please feel free to pm me and as an agency driver i will listen sypmathetically to whines about agency drivers and then assainate you
Thanks for the replies so far, but it still does not answer my question.
On another note, anyone who happend to be cursing and swearing that the [zb] lorry in front is only doing 30mph up the N. Circular on Friday night, i do apologise
If you have to put stars to get past the auto censor that’s the clue it’s not allowed …Denis F
IF in your opinion it was unsafe to stop,i suppose technically the prosecution has to prove otherwise,if you want to chance yor arm and plead not guilty and risk big fine costsetc or take it on the head accept the fine and points
At the end of the day I am not saying i was in the right to go through the lights but i was trying to be aware and to take into account the saftey aspects involved.
Still, if the worst comes to the worst, I will just take it on the chin and add to the learning curve I have been on since starting driving just over 5-6 weeks ago !
AFAIK if your vehicle was through the light at first flash you will be OK
BUT and some one correct me here if I am wrong (it’s not unusual according to the wife ) check your info.
Bear with me now…
you:
I had roughly 10 meters between me and the lights when they decided to change
and
you also:
bearing in mind my speed was about 25mph
25 mph = approx 40 kmh
40 kmh = 40,000 metres per hour
divide by 60 minutes = 667 metres a minute
divide by 60 seconds = 11.12 metres per second
so according to your account the lights went from green through amber onto red in less than a second as you said you were 10 metres from them when they changed. I think there is a fairly standard timing to the change
Do you think your account is accurate because based on the maths it is impossible and you are getting 3 points
of course being 1/2 bottle of red worse for wear I could have messed up the maths and will happily stand corrected.Not being smart just trying to help you recalculate your account should you need to
There is a chance they was no film in the camera, in which case you would be worrying for nothing. If you do get an NIP, ask for the photo’s and then see what they show before choosing to fight or take it on the chin.
i still think its down to hesitating to much, shall i go, shant i go, will they change, wont they .
i just decide to go and floor it , if you go through at 25 m.p.h theres a fair chance itll flash you as your trailer will be half and half , but if your doing 50 your though it in no time.
theres some at the traffic light going westbound on the a52 at radcliffe on trent and i often came through as they changed but never got done.
i made my mind up to go so booted it through.
i know a lot wont agree but i just think you can worry to much about them and end up in no mans land
Grundril:
Thanks for the lessons Montana Man Are you are sure your real name is not S. Hawkins
No but I wish I had half his IQ, half his money and all of his wife
It is tough as a newbie to balance all things like cameras etc and it certainly seem you were trying too hard to get it all right chap
Fingers crossed you don’t get nailed for it
montana man: a quick check of the maths suggests lights don’t change to red tTHAT quickly
You’d be surprised
Around near me there are 4 sets of traffic lights that change with different speeds, including one that changes between green to red within 3 seconds! I did actually time them as I had an arguement with a Police Officer over it…
montana man: a quick check of the maths suggests lights don’t change to red tTHAT quickly
You’d be surprised
Around near me there are 4 sets of traffic lights that change with different speeds, including one that changes between green to red within 3 seconds! I did actually time them as I had an arguement with a Police Officer over it…
But if you check the maths these lights would have to have changed in approx 1.1 seconds
Am I the only one that has the same problem several times a week.As you are approaching a set of lights that can be seen for some distance you think they’ve been on green so long they MUST change before you get there so you start to ease up,and ease up,and ease up,and by the time you’ve got halfway down the 'box you are only metres from the lights and they are STILL on green.At the last minute you put your foot down and the bleeders change!But by then you are committed,and if you chucked the anchors on you’d be halfway across the lights before you stopped.
A couple of years ago,I did some Saturday night work for TNT,Sunday newspapers out of Knowlesly on the East Lancs Road.Running out of the Winsford depot,we used those Iveco motors with the semi auto 'box.Now late on Saturday night to early Sunday morning,there is very little traffic on the East Lancs Road,but it could be guarranteed that every set of lights between Knowlesly and the M6 would be on red,which meant stopping at almost every set of lights.Once the lights changed to green,I would kick off.Now these Iveco’s are hardly sprinters away from the lights,and I have lost count of the number of times that as I pulled away from the lights,some late night taxi would come up to the lights intending going across the junction and trigger the lights that would change back to red before I was half way across the junction.I thought that it was inevitable that I would get done at sometime,but ,fortunately,I did not,but it did make it difficult sleeping at night during the following week and dreading the postman coming down the street.Fortunately I’ve moved on and don’t do that anymore.
In my experiance of lights are that if you pass whilst they are on the yellow then you will get away with it. If they go red as you hit the line then your knackered as the sensors are past the line & will register that you past at 1.2seconds or whatever time you did.
if the lights flashed once you will get away just as the policce need two pics to varify your speed but get flashed twice & you can expect a peice of paper in the post after its been to the employer. Grundril I would start working on those pleads, you have the right to see the evidence for yourselfe b4 you hand over your licence & even take it to court for a judge to hear, & if you get away with it then im sure we all would like to know how as its one of those split second decisions we all have to face at somepoint stop & cause an accident behind of go carry on.
I got flashed once 1.7 seconds after the red 3 points & a £40 fine I just accepted it cos i saw it change & went for it. N circ next to the Ikea building.
Nowdays If that red light comes on b4 I cross the line I just hit the anchors as the law states that if your run into the back of someone the its automaticaly your fault… I am usually generous enough to cross the line but not fully givin anyone behind that little extra time to stop & not cause an obstruction.
If the truck isn’t speeding and the unit is well past the line, then you usually will not be prosecuted.
The double flash gives two pics which are used to calculate your speed.
As you say the flashes caught the rear of your trailer, your unit was well past the line.
So, I predict no NIP.
These are supposed to be set up to catch people blatantly jumping the lights.
If the rear of a car was where the rear of your trailer was when the camera flashed to take the pics, then quite obviously they would be going through the lights another 1.5 seconds after you did (going by Montana Mans calculations), which would be blatantly jumping the lights.
Traffic lights, particularly inside the M25 are timed for cars not trucks. Really you should have been prepared to stop. Think, if the light has been green for a while as you approach, or if it’s a set of lights on green that you are unfamiliar with then, prepare to stop. Thinking distance / stopping distance shouldn’t enter the equation, because you should be thinking the lights might be about to change as you approach anyway.
as my trailer cleared the lights.
. I decided to phone my best mate who drives for Stobarts and have a chat. he said that there may be a chance of leniancy because of the trailer already being through the lights.
AFAIK if your vehicle was through the light at first flash you will be OK
I think there is a fairly standard timing to the change 
