viperct2001
Viper Owner
ok, first off, let me just state that I'm not one of those people that runs red lights.
So anyway, a few days ago I'm driving home from work, and I am about the 8th car back from the stop light which intersects with Rt 1. I should point out that the road I am on unfortunately has a very short green and an even shorter yellow.
In fact, I timed the yellow and it is just less than 3 seconds. I think I may have some legal standing since the yellow is <3 seconds. If you know, let me know.
On top of that, it takes a VERY long time before this side road gets another green, so I really didn't want to wait another turn at the light.
In any event, the light turns green, about 6 cars make it through before it changes yellow. The 7th car (the one in front of me) has his right-turn signal on and appears to be going thru the yellow. Not wanting to wait 5 minutes before the next green light and knowing he has to slow down to make the sharp 90 degree turn, I decided to go around him by switching to the left lane, which is a left-turn only.
However, I should point out that there was no cars in my rear view and side mirror. So I didn't think it was a big deal to go into the "left turn only" lane just for a second to try and make it around the car in front of me which was braking to make his right turn. Sure, I probably should have stopped at the yellow, but like I said, this is a very long light, and I knew all the cars on the opposite side (Route 1) were all stopped. So there was no chance of a collision.
I don't know when it turned red, but I know I was looking at the light and it was not red until at least I was in the middle of the interestion. I may have even made it the whole way before it turned red. I don't know.
Since I knew it was a "close call", I checked my rear view mirror to make sure no cops saw me going thru the light.
Sure enough I see this car like "a bat outta hell" swoop around several other cars, nearly hitting another car, and then of course the lights came on. You'd think he was chasing some murderer or something.
Anyhoo the officer gave me 2 infractions:
1) Running a red light
2) Disobeying a traffic control signal, i.e. ignoring the white painted arrow for "Left turn only".
I told the cop it was yellow, but he wouldn't budge. Ok, I can see him giving me a ticket for running the light, even if it was a "close call". But c'mon, disobeying a traffic control signal?
So all those times that a car was broken down on my side of the road and I crossed the double-yellow lines to go around, I was also breaking the law? Or what about all the times someone is making a right hand turn, the opposite lane is clear and I went around him and quickly crossed the center divider for just a sec? Is that illegal as well?
Fine, give me the "running a red light" ticket, but I'm still peeved about the other infraction.
So any Connecticut lawyers here? I'm going to be fighting this in court. I was going to videotape the light and show that the yellow light was <3 seconds. Unfortunately, I recall the courts don't allow any videocameras into the court. So I don't know how to admit this into evidence.
Does anyone know where I can find any statutes for the minimum number of seconds a yellow light has to be? I tried the CT Transportation site. No luck.
I found this site, but it's Virginia, not Connecticut law: http://www.mcquigg.com/amber.htm
Check out the formula they use:
Yellow Light Change Interval = t + V/(2a ± 64.4g)
where:
- yellow change interval = the length of the yellow phase and is expressed in seconds.
- t = the perception reaction time expressed in seconds. This is 1 second unless the engineer responsible determines that the situation warrants increasing it to 1.5 seconds.
- V = the posted speed expressed in feet/second.
- a = the deceleration rate expressed in feet/second2. This should be 10 ft/sec2 under typical conditions. Engineers may decrease this to 8 or 9 feet/second2 if conditions warrant such as heavy truck traffic or increase to 11 or 12 feet/second2 if warranted.
- g= the grade of approach (percent/100); use + for a positive grade and – for a negative grade
- minimum yellow time should be 3 seconds and the maximum should be 6 seconds.
what do ya'll suggest to fight this? Is it worth a lawyer? I'd hate to get points for this crap and affect my insurance.
So anyway, a few days ago I'm driving home from work, and I am about the 8th car back from the stop light which intersects with Rt 1. I should point out that the road I am on unfortunately has a very short green and an even shorter yellow.
In fact, I timed the yellow and it is just less than 3 seconds. I think I may have some legal standing since the yellow is <3 seconds. If you know, let me know.
On top of that, it takes a VERY long time before this side road gets another green, so I really didn't want to wait another turn at the light.
In any event, the light turns green, about 6 cars make it through before it changes yellow. The 7th car (the one in front of me) has his right-turn signal on and appears to be going thru the yellow. Not wanting to wait 5 minutes before the next green light and knowing he has to slow down to make the sharp 90 degree turn, I decided to go around him by switching to the left lane, which is a left-turn only.
However, I should point out that there was no cars in my rear view and side mirror. So I didn't think it was a big deal to go into the "left turn only" lane just for a second to try and make it around the car in front of me which was braking to make his right turn. Sure, I probably should have stopped at the yellow, but like I said, this is a very long light, and I knew all the cars on the opposite side (Route 1) were all stopped. So there was no chance of a collision.
I don't know when it turned red, but I know I was looking at the light and it was not red until at least I was in the middle of the interestion. I may have even made it the whole way before it turned red. I don't know.
Since I knew it was a "close call", I checked my rear view mirror to make sure no cops saw me going thru the light.
Sure enough I see this car like "a bat outta hell" swoop around several other cars, nearly hitting another car, and then of course the lights came on. You'd think he was chasing some murderer or something.
Anyhoo the officer gave me 2 infractions:
1) Running a red light
2) Disobeying a traffic control signal, i.e. ignoring the white painted arrow for "Left turn only".
I told the cop it was yellow, but he wouldn't budge. Ok, I can see him giving me a ticket for running the light, even if it was a "close call". But c'mon, disobeying a traffic control signal?
So all those times that a car was broken down on my side of the road and I crossed the double-yellow lines to go around, I was also breaking the law? Or what about all the times someone is making a right hand turn, the opposite lane is clear and I went around him and quickly crossed the center divider for just a sec? Is that illegal as well?
Fine, give me the "running a red light" ticket, but I'm still peeved about the other infraction.
So any Connecticut lawyers here? I'm going to be fighting this in court. I was going to videotape the light and show that the yellow light was <3 seconds. Unfortunately, I recall the courts don't allow any videocameras into the court. So I don't know how to admit this into evidence.
Does anyone know where I can find any statutes for the minimum number of seconds a yellow light has to be? I tried the CT Transportation site. No luck.
I found this site, but it's Virginia, not Connecticut law: http://www.mcquigg.com/amber.htm
Check out the formula they use:
Yellow Light Change Interval = t + V/(2a ± 64.4g)
where:
- yellow change interval = the length of the yellow phase and is expressed in seconds.
- t = the perception reaction time expressed in seconds. This is 1 second unless the engineer responsible determines that the situation warrants increasing it to 1.5 seconds.
- V = the posted speed expressed in feet/second.
- a = the deceleration rate expressed in feet/second2. This should be 10 ft/sec2 under typical conditions. Engineers may decrease this to 8 or 9 feet/second2 if conditions warrant such as heavy truck traffic or increase to 11 or 12 feet/second2 if warranted.
- g= the grade of approach (percent/100); use + for a positive grade and – for a negative grade
- minimum yellow time should be 3 seconds and the maximum should be 6 seconds.
what do ya'll suggest to fight this? Is it worth a lawyer? I'd hate to get points for this crap and affect my insurance.
