Just wondering - was with a friend who was stopped by the Guards last month for going thro on red light. I honestly thought he was right as he just could not have stopped in time safely IMO. Anyway Guards took his details, warned him and let him go. They never said anything about what they were going to do so does this mean he won't hear anything or is there still time for them to follow it up?
stopped by guards
- Thread starter tomthumb
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Brendan Burgess
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Hi Tom
I know how you feel, but it is against the law to go through a red light. As far as I know, there are no exceptions.
The amber light means that you must stop unless it is unsafe to stop.
Unfortunately, most of us speed up when we see amber lights and very occasionally we get stopped by the Gardai.
Brendan
I know how you feel, but it is against the law to go through a red light. As far as I know, there are no exceptions.
The amber light means that you must stop unless it is unsafe to stop.
Unfortunately, most of us speed up when we see amber lights and very occasionally we get stopped by the Gardai.
Brendan
Hi, I see people drive through the red all the time. When drivers see an orange light from the distance ,they put the foot down hard on the accelerator and fly throught on red, but when stopped on a green light ,they hesitate to move just in case their eyes are playing tricks on them and the light is not really green. I guess we Irish do things the opposite to other nations. Just heard on radio this morning that another 15 or 16 offences will be added to list of offences (traffic) in April
Thanks - amber came on as he approached but by the time he cleared the junction, a big one, it had gone red. He was below the speed limit approaching and if he had stopped, he would have been bang in the centre of the junction - even more dangerous? I have seen plenty of drivers go thro on red deliberately but he did not do it deliberately.
Got done for this about 18 months ago myself - it was a fair cop, I had done the usual of giving it a bit of welly upon seeing Amber come on. The cop was ok but gave me a ticket - think the bill was c. €65 at the time. However he told me I was lucky cos at that stage anyway points did not apply - every cloud and all that.......
To be honest I can't imagine not being able to brake without going through the red light if I was under the speed limit.
Roy
To be honest I can't imagine not being able to brake without going through the red light if I was under the speed limit.
Roy
He was doing just under 50 km which means stopping would have pushed him about 30 metres out into the junction at a halt? So approaching this junction a driver should reduce to maybe at least 40 km in order to stop more efficiently? Obviously reduce speed more on a wet road! If thats the case every car should be reducing their speed by at least 10 km approaching lights - not something I personally have ever seen. In fact acceleration is the norm nor deceleration. I have travelled thro this same junction several times since on amber only to have at least two or three cars behind me come thro blatantly on red only no Gardai waiting.
tom-your friend was breaking the law (stop on amber unless it is unsafe to do so, and yes, you really should be slowing up coming to lights that are changing). You can argue it's unfortunate that he/she was caught, but that's life. Whatever you have seen people doing in the past (and getting away with it) is pretty much irrelevant. P.S., I'm not saying I don't go through amber lights myself, but have not been caught (yet). If I am, I don't think I would expect to get away with it.
As to your original question-I would imagine that the Garda took your friend's details for a reason (i.e. to issue fine or whatever the penalty is for such an offence).
As to your original question-I would imagine that the Garda took your friend's details for a reason (i.e. to issue fine or whatever the penalty is for such an offence).
When you're in a hole, stop digging. He should have stopped on amber. When the lights were green, he should have been prepared for the possibility that they would go amber/red. It shouldn't have been a huge surprise for him that they went amber. It's hard to picture any scenario where breaking a red light was the safe thing to do.tomthumb said:
Show me one junction in the Dublin area where drivers actually "prepare" for stopping when approaching a junction cos I have never come across one. Acceleration to beat the lights is the norm or do you live in somewhere blessed? I won't bore myself repeating what is already stated. A total stopping distance from sight of the amber to complete stop, would have taken the length of an average swimming pool no? 25 metres at least? I simply asked a question about the Garda and their policy having stopped someone. Thanks to those of you who answered the point I asked. This guy was simply giving me a lift home and I would personally hate to see him done for this when others are blatantly doing worse, intentionally, and getting away scot free. Anyway its party time (nearly) and hope the same Gardai are out there tonight catching the drunks!
podgerodge
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if you end up in court, that will be a RAINYDAY ......hehe
G
Guest127
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does anyone know how long the lights go amber for before changing to red? as I approached lights on the dundalk by pass yesterday ( after reading this thread) and well within the speed limits the lights changed to amber when I was approx 5 yards from them. I stopped but just about before the lights. I don't have a rules of the road book but I would be interested to know the stopping distance for a vehicle doing 50kph under normal conditions. Suspect that if all cars tried to stop when lights turned amber there would be an awful lot of cars in the middle of junctions.