Breaking 'pointless' red lights

steviec

Just reading the 'careless driving' thread about breaking a red light and it got me wondering about something I see all the time.

I'm a fairly inexperienced driver and stick to the rules of the road to a tee at all times, but I also do a lot of my driving late at night(that is 3-4am) and something I see time and time again, usually from taxi drivers because they're all thats on the road at that time, is people blatantly breaking red lights, not just failing to stop as they turn red, but breaking lights that have been red for a long time too.

This is in a situation when there's no other cars around and its obviously 100% safe to do so, sometimes I might be stopped at a red light behind another car, then after the one or two cars that were going accross the junction have passed, the car in front of me will just pull out regardless of the lights situation because they know its safe to do so.

I was wondering if people think this sort of thing is acceptable? I wouldn't have the confidence in my driving to do it myself and wouldn't break the law to save myself half a minute anyway, but I do see the logic in it, when you know theres nothing around isn't it a fairly pointless excercise to just sit waiting for a timer to tick down.

fletch

I think this situation is acceptable but then again I ain't a copper. If you come to a complete stop & can see clearly in either direction I really don't see a problem.

mike65

*boring mode*

Acceptable is'nt the issue though, if you're caught breaking the law a "well it was 3 am and there was nothing else in sight, your honour" line of defence wont carry much weight.

You'll just have to sit there cos the moment you're tempted is when you dont spot the Garda car parked up across the street.

Mike.

kdevitt

Wouldn't do it myself no matter how clear the junction is, get caught and you'll be done for it. Although I know in some other countries you can take a left turn at a junction if the lights are red and the way is clear which is sensible enough, but given how bad Irish drivers are in general I'd imagine there'd be a few hundred more accidents per year..

ando

There was a set of new traffic lights installed around a year ago coming out of my estate. For some stupid reason the lights were set red for what felt like 5 minutes. Everyone used to break them, and if you didn’t you'd get a beep from the cars behind :rolleyes: Luckily now its a more sensible 1 minute at red so there's no excuse anymore

Balfa

This brings to mind one of the most sensible things about american roads, even more sensible than the right-on-red rule. Any traffic lights at lesser juctions here, after a specific time (depends on the junction) change so that the minor road is always flashing red (which means exactly the same thing as a stop sign) and the major route is always flashing amber (which just means that the other lights are flashing red and you should maybe slow down and be aware of people on the cross road. It's an absolutely brilliant idea, because at night when there's little traffic about, no-one's ever held up by pointless red lights.

As for in Ireland, when driving at night, i wouldn't break a red light, but i would, on occasion, use a left turn yield-sign sliproad (think Dean's Grange) to bypass the lights, u-turn on the cross road, and then turn left again to continue the way i was headed without having to stop at the lights. Debateably even more dangerous than breaking the red light, i know, but if done without driving carelessly, it's within the law.

mike65

Here in Waterford the lights work on some sort of fuzzy logic type system, which, during quiet times works very well as the main roads have green until traffic triggers red from a side street.

Mike.

Imposter

Here is austria it's a flashing amber light on all roads. The side roads will have a yield sign too so the lights are basically ignored. Different lights are timed to kick-in as flahing amber at different times.

RicardoSmith

Is it worth getting caught and getting shafted by a cop who is in a bad mood?

The alternative is "knowing" someone.

cormie

Balfa wrote:

but i would, on occasion, use a left turn yield-sign sliproad (think Dean's Grange) to bypass the lights, u-turn on the cross road, and then turn left again to continue the way i was headed without having to stop at the lights. Debateably even more dangerous than breaking the red light, i know, but if done without driving carelessly, it's within the law.

Are you talking about the N11 just at the bride to Dunnes Stores? Them little tricks can be done so many places. They are legal and are safe if done with care. Would you think the police would have a problem if they saw you do it though?

Also, how about in rush hour approaching Dunnes and the Deans Grange left turn, going into the bus lane and indicating left, skipping loads of cars and then doing it..

Our man in Havana

mike65 wrote:

Here in Waterford the lights work on some sort of fuzzy logic type system, which, during quiet times works very well as the main roads have green until traffic triggers red from a side street.

Mike.

Mike you jest surely I refer you the lights on military road and military road/sleivekeale road. Those things just sit on red regardless of time of day/traffic flow.

PhoenixRising

My job sometimes requires me to leave the house for work between 4-5am in the morning, and I'll freely admit that I break most of the lights between my house and the M50. There is almost zero traffic on the road at that hour of the morning, and I'll always slow down at each set of lights and make sure it's ok to proceed. At these early hours of the morning I see nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

You'd want to be either extremely disciplined or extremely paranoid to wait at a red light when there is not a car in sight anywhere in the wee hours of the morning.

cormie

That would be me then. I just don't want to risk my clean license for the sake of a few more seconds. There should be some level of understanding but I'm guessing they'd be more understanding of the "older" driver.

mike65

Bond-007 wrote:

Mike you jest surely I refer you the lights on military road and military road/sleivekeale road. Those things just sit on red regardless of time of day/traffic flow.

I almost never use those lights, maybe the fuzzy logic is an N25 thing only. When I go to work, esp on Thurdsay 6.30 am the lights are always on green unless prompted to change by side road traffic. And I know its true cos the lights will change back quickly if only one car wants to get out but takes longer if its several.

Those lights know!

Mike.

Balfa

mike65 wrote:

Here in Waterford the lights work on some sort of fuzzy logic type system, which, during quiet times works very well as the main roads have green until traffic triggers red from a side street.

Again, the US is superb in this area. 90% of the junctions around here have pressure pads under the road in every lane in every direction. They can tell not only if people are waiting at a red light, but also if people are in the left turn only lanes, and use the appropriate filter timings.

And since i'm in the mood for raving about sensible roads here, another thing i think is brilliant is that every traffic light has infrared receivers, and every fire truck has infrared transmitters. You'll never see a fire truck reach a red light here