Ticket for running a YELLOW light?
 

So the other day I was driving back from Whistler on Granville.

I ran a yellow light and I got pulled over by the cop right before the next intersection. He said "You didn't make an attempt to slow down."

I thought I had plenty of time to go, and I thought it was safe to do so. The signal turned red maybe 80% into the intersection, so it wasn't exactly last minute. Personally I think it's BS.

I expressed my frustration and he said "Well I could just give you a ticket for speeding." Frick, I wasn't speeding at all.. .

it's very frustrating
the ticket is $167

I'll be disputing it, and I need some help on determining what to say
or if anyone can share their experiece, that'd be good too

thanks in advance

If you weren't speeding, and the light turned red while you were still in the intersection, then you obviously made no attempt to prevent running a stale yellow... resulting with you running a red light. QED.

Good luck disputing that...

Contrary to popular belief, yellow means slow down, not speed up.

well, I didn't speed up
I didn't "gun-it" because I saw the yellow

I just cruised along at 60

if it turned red 80percent into the intersection... is 70percent into it ok? what about 60... oh 50? 40 30....

bottom line is there are a ton of people out there gunning the light that its getting freaking ridiculous.

at least now that you get this ticket hopefully it will stop you from running those stale yellows...

yea I agree, gunning the light is ridiculous
but I tapped the breaks once, thought I could make it, so I went

Correct me if I'm wrong but enterring an intersection on a yellow is not illegal

i completely agree, more and more people are running yellows. and then this causes the left turners to have less time to turn, which in turn increases the queue and sometimes they even get honked as the light has already turned red and the perpendicular flow of traffic gets antsy


i think overall people are less patient driving.

It is if, and only if, it turns yellow and you don't have enough time to come to a stop. If you honestly were going the speed limit and it turned red while you were still in the intersection, you would have had enough time to stop back at the light. Yellow lights are timed this way.

forgot to mention that it was on a downhill, at night, and raining
roads were slick, so I didn't want to slide into the intersection or get rear-ended

Yellow light means you have to STOP unless it is unsafe to do so.....perhaps it was apparent to the officer that you could have stopped in a safe manner but didn't.

should've slowed down

Same rules apply. If that was the case, you should have been going slower than the speed limit if you felt your car was incapable of stopping at the normal distance.

how about you slow down next time?

:rolleyes:

^ LAWYERED!

you shouldn't have mentioned that you were going 60, that is speeding on Granville (some sections).

I have gotten a "running yellow" warning ticket before for making a left in Richmond. The cop stopped me after half a block later and asked me "Do you know what you did wrong?". At the time, i was very confused because I wasn't speeding, of course I didn't talk back.


the cop said "yellow means slow down, not go".

I'd say dispute it, but you just caught the cop in a bad mood. since you talked back, i'm sure he can ding you for other stuff like "speeding relative to condition", etc. haha

lol jigga what?

you could dispute it... give your side of the story about the conditions and the fact you didn't increase your speed (also because of the conditions) and it was in your opinion unsafe to attempt a stop given the situation

just don't display yourself as a jackass and you may even see the ticket disappear

those tickets are hard to dispute mainly becuz the cop will say every yellow light takes 4 secs to change into red .......i suggest u just get a fine reduction to 65 dollars

you should have tried to stop.

these are the lights that causes accidents.

Consider this scenario:

you are heading northbound w/ 1 car in front of you
heading southbound are 2 cars wanting to make a left turn

1 car makes the left turn while light is green
car in front of you passes as orange light appears
2nd car makes the left turn doing that orange/red light
if you continued moving, you could potentially hit the 2nd car making the left turn.

^ too true.. I saw two accidents a couple of days ago. My guess on what happened was the scenario you just described.
On top of that I see a lot of people running reds lately. I sometimes just wish I was a cop so i could bust them for it.

Yellow light

128 (1) When a yellow light alone is exhibited at an intersection by a traffic control signal, following the exhibition of a green light,

(a) the driver of a vehicle approaching the intersection and facing the yellow light must cause it to stop before entering the marked crosswalk on the near side of the intersection, or if there is no marked crosswalk, before entering the intersection, unless the stop cannot be made in safety,
----------------------------------------------------

Were you in the wrong? Yes
Is it disputable? Yes

"...unless the stop cannot be made in safety" Seems to me you should be able to dispute this. Maybe you didnt notice the yellow right away, maybe you were unsure of your speed and thought it was safer to proceed through the intersection because of the rain, etc... The ticket is ONLY for running the yellow, the cop didnt ticket you for speeding or driving without due care...so i think you can use that in your defense. To my knowledge they cant give you further tickets while disputing an offense in a courtroom, so I would give it a try. All you have to prove is that in your opinion it was safer to go through the intersection than stop.

J

You ran a yellow light and got a ticket for running a yellow light, so what's the problem?
Suck it up and pay the ticket, stop wasting tax payers money and play games with the stupid court system we have here in Canada.

Indeed, make sure you pay attention to the light for pedestrians next time, if you see the flashing hand from far away, then you better slow the fuck down and get ready to stop in time!

[/rant]

Telling the JP that you were speeding on a rainy night going downhill and couldn't stop in time ...or chose to not stop in time, is really going to help you get off. There are so many things you did wrong. If you are traveling at the limit...or a safe speed below the limit because of the weather and the downhill grade, the approx 3-4 seconds time would have given you plenty of time to stop. The fact that the light turned red before the intersection proves that...you said you didn't even attempt to slow down. The only defence to this charge is that (obeying all traffic laws, which you told us you were not) you were so close that it was physically unable to stop. You are convicting yourself on your own testimony. I probably wouldn't even bother to cross examine you if I was prosecuting. You have just proved the Crown's case.

The moment your light turns red you are NOT permitted to be in the intersection and traffic coming from the green lane area IS. You would have crashed into any vehicles there at the time. Just some thoughts on your choice of defence tactics to beat a VT that you told us you deserve to get. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.