Hi guys,

 

If you cross a red light because you are moving out of the way of an emergency vehicle with full blues and twos on, are you breaking the law?

 

Hope not!

no as long as you go through and dont proceed till the light's change to green, its an area that is overlooked by the law

If there aint a camera on them, who's to know

If there was a camera there and it photo'd you going through and the emergency vehicle was not in shot, why would the courts believe you had got out of the way for it to go and save a life

Depends whether the emergency vehicle was in the same county!

 

If I see blue lights in my rear view mirror my natural reaction is to put my foot down anyway :whistling:

If there aint a camera on them, who's to know

If there was a camera there and it photo'd you going through and the emergency vehicle was not in shot, why would the courts believe you had got out of the way for it to go and save a life

 

Even if the emergancy vehicle wasnt in the same shot, it would take one of it as it passed thro and therefore proof of why you had moved would be available as the time stamp would show it.

The law on lights are abit unsure because it is possible to go thro a red light and not get done, its just hard to prove why you did it.

The law states that you must stop for a red light IF SAFE to do so.

There was a patrol car on the right hand side waiting to go through. He has pulled me over and given me a ticket the :censored:.

I have elected to go to court and I managed to collar a witness to the event so I should be OK. I think the fact that I said "you've got to be f*c*i*g kidding me" bruised his ego

 

You know what some of them are like if you don't kiss thier :censored:

There was a patrol car on the right hand side waiting to go through. He has pulled me over and given me a ticket the :censored:.

I have elected to go to court and I managed to collar a witness to the event so I should be OK. I think the fact that I said "you've got to be f*c*i*g kidding me" bruised his ego

 

You know what some of them are like if you don't kiss thier :censored:

 

If he was there and had seen it all, why the flips as he bothered you at all

 

He sounds like a right conducting good quality police work....yeh :mad2:

 

Next minute the plod want help with something,,,,,,really gets my goat that :no:

I would say there's no chance you'll get done - and it's unlikely it'll get to court... especially as you have a witness, although they would probably just drop it on the day! Technically, there is no allowance for you to go through a red light - but it has always been 'assumed' that, provided it is safe to do so, you can go over the line... the 'if safe to do so' referred to above is for amber lights only.

 

AFAIK there has never been a test case, and all of the reports I've read have been in connection with Traffic Light Cameras rather than in person penalty notices!

 

Was it fire or Ambulance going through - don't suppose you got the reg? I'd write to the Chief Constable explaining what has happened, asking how it is in the public interest to prosecute you when you were potentially saving someone's life, the fact that you've got a witness to corroborate and request an explanation as to why, in the current climate, the force's officers are wasting public money on pointless prosecutions like this.

 

No harm in sending a copy to local rag too - and there's a good chance a tabloid may pick it up too... good bit of anti-police reporting!

 

The ultimate decision lies with the CPS, although the Chief Constable could obviously add his weight to the decision... given the negative impact a failed prosecution would cause!

this is an interesting read

http://forums.pepipoo.com/index.php?showtopic=56277&st=20

If there aint a camera on them, who's to know

If there was a camera there and it photo'd you going through and the emergency vehicle was not in shot, why would the courts believe you had got out of the way for it to go and save a life

 

This happened before, and the person who moved out of the way of the emergency car still got the ticket. It was all over the news.

Ridiculous though really isnt it. Again, some plod not showing 'common sense'. :sleep1:

 

If you wouldnt have moved out of the way he would have probably booked you for that too! :blink:

If I had to move out of the way of an emergency vehicle with its blues and two's going, I wouldn't think twice about going through a red, so long as I edged out carefully with my hazards on. Even if I got done for it and couldn't defend myself, it could have saved someone's life. But yeah, in all fairness of course you shouldn't get a ticket for it!

Yes, it's illegal.

 

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.

[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36]

 

Emergency vehicle drivers have no right to expect you to move out of the way. Whether you get done or not is at the discretion of the court.

Yes, it's illegal.

 

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.

[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36]

 

Emergency vehicle drivers have no right to expect you to move out of the way. Whether you get done or not is at the discretion of the court.

 

Wasn't there a national advert about moving out of the way safely for blue lights, you could be saving a life?

 

It's a joke, another way to get money!

i dont think any emergency vehicle has the right to speed, go through light's and so forth, but it is overlooked by the law, i would have went over the line and would take to court if need be, also contact the local rag as said, or even the sun as they love stuff like this

dad in laws a traffic cop he said its illegal because you dont have flashing lights and a siren so if theres anyone going throgh the lights on green they might not see you. stupid really i doubt the fella havin a heart attack in the ambulance would agree

As a side note, not even police ambulance or fire trucks can go through a pedestrian crossing on red. Most do though!

Just a point no one has mentioned. By law, you must move out of the way of an emergency vehicle with blue lights flashing and sirens blaring, unless it is the police and they indicate that you must pull over for them to stop you instead. The copper is out of order and you should not be prosecuted.

 

I once had a copper follow me for 4 miles, an inch off my bumper, he also broke the speed limit to actually get that close to my bumper, as I drove past the side road he was in at 30mph in a 30mph limit, 200 yards later he was on my arse......... his lights weren't flashing either. Anyway, after the 4th mile, he decides to flash his blue lights, so I did what the highway code said to do at the time (Baring in mind I had passed my test about 3 weeks before, I knew it inside out at the time), I found a safe convenient place to pull over, where I would not obstruct other traffic or cause a dangerous hazard, this meant not pulling over immediately, because of traffic islands and pedestrian crossing, etc. He didn't like it and went into this whole speech about how blue lights in your mirror mean you should stop immediately!!!!! I pulled the highway code book out of my glove box, flicked through and passed him the page, he then stripped most of my car, harassed my girlfriend and was in general a ****! Found nothing wrong of course, I was 17, just passed my test etc. so the car was spotless and 100% road legal. I reported him to the local police station and received a letter a few weeks later, informing me he had been suspended for a month without pay and they were very sorry. Didn't stop every copper I saw pulling me over for the next two years though, and I'm talking up and down the country too, so it wasn't just the local police holding a grudge, I was 17, driving relatively nice cars for my age and I had this thing about looking them in the eye as I drove past, they don't like that, lol.

Don't think you are on your own and also don't think the police did hold a grudge from your 'behaviour' that day, as when I was 17 I got stopped all the time for no reason.

Yes I did have far better cars than my chums but the fuzz think that's a good enough reason to stop you.

Got to the stage I carried all my documents with me as I was sick of going to the plod centre with them after they give you a 'producer', back in the day

Don't think you are on your own and also don't think the police did hold a grudge from your 'behaviour' that day, as when I was 17 I got stopped all the time for no reason.

Yes I did have far better cars than my chums but the fuzz think that's a good enough reason to stop you.

Got to the stage I carried all my documents with me as I was sick of going to the plod centre with them after they give you a 'producer', back in the day

 

Yeah I did the same thing, that particular incident resulted in a producer, which was produced, with the complaint letter :D

 

I don't know why, but when I switched from driving cars like a Ford Orion (The car involved in this particular incident) to a 2.8i V6 Ford Capri, the police just left me alone, same kid, same license, WAY more powerful car, but the police just suddenly stopped pulling me over, was a bit weird to be honest.