Anbody fight a ticket due to following a semi through a Red Light

But I believe you'll still pay the ticket. Somewhere in the law, it probably says not to enter the intersection until you can see the traffic light.

but you are probably toast. You know they are there only for safety and not to generate income for the city/county.

For some it is damn if you do or damn if you don't.

True, not advancing until you see the traffic lights is the right thing to do.

If drivers would do that, then there would be a lot less grid lock due to vehicles stuck at intersections .

In the real world, because of slow traffic and fast light changes, there are too many drivers that are in too great a rush. They keep pushing/creeping and trying to keep ahead of the next driver to keep their place at the top of the line, again causing backups.

One more thing , ill timed Pedestrian lights at right/left turn intersections that allow the keep walking light on at the same time as the green drive is on and you have to nudge your way through or your are stuck/caught.

Patience and courtesy is a vertue and I am slowly losing it.

Like a classic case of tailgating to me.
A safe distance would allow someone to see the traffic light and not have it blocked by the truck. If it's the same course time and time again, the traffic light never moves locations and you would think the person would know it's there, and would let someone push/creep and pass if needed just to get a look at the light.

I'm sure some high school kid with algerbra could figure out how far back you need to be to see a traffic light behind a trailer. The complication is speed and length across the intersection. Local yellow lights are about 3.5 seconds.

you ran the light, pay the fine. That's a pretty poor excuse.

Your not going to win it, like the others said, it's YOUR responsibility to see the light before entering the intersection. If you can't see it, your following too close.

I know this from experience, when in my younger days, I got burned for exactly that, tried the same excuse and failed miserably.

I learned from that mistake, and never let it happen again.

It's cheaper than what it could cost. I've been there done that.

I have a little more sympathy for the OP.... I agree it can be very hard to determine what to do. If traffic is flowing on a busy street, you slowing down to see if the light is still green may very well get you rear ended. Yes,it would be the other person's fault, but still you now have a damaged car. This would especially sting if the light is indeed still green. I'm assuming you can't use this for an excuse however.

There should be a chance to use the "extenuating circumstances" defense. Ask if there is a way for a 10-12 foot high semi truck to block the lights enough so that even several car lengths and a safe distance back it is impossible to see the light.

If you are lucky the police cam will show that maybe 2-3 cars back it was blocking the light...

worse comes to worse you add $26.50 in court fees.

If you go to court with this one, be sure to bring a toothbrush with you. or at least your wallet.

Sounds like an opportunity to plead guilty with an explanation if your court permits that. Showing some contrition along with describing why you made the mistake could reduce the fine/reduce the points.

It depends on you circumstances and how much time you want to invest.

Good luck.

Depends on your region and situation. I've fought it and got away with it twice now.

The first time the backup light was malfunctioning (no lights were on). So the one directly above my lane was blocked. I argued that I was within the view of the truck's mirrors and that if the secondary light was working, I would of made the stop.

The second time the cop pulled me over on a yellow. He said "Yellow equals red". So I bought the driver's manual in to court and showed the judge that yellow equals yellow. That you can still pass throught the intersection when there is a yellow.

Both times I've made the argument that if the city would invest in the horizontal lights instead of the verticle lights, these problems could be avoided. I was asked to not voice that opinion or they would hold me in comtempt.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
The fine here is $287 for running a red light, so going to court, using extenuating circumstances and not speeding at the time can't hurt.
Depending on the mood of the court that day , one may catch a break.

If you happen to get caught speeding and running the Red at one of the Red light/speed on greeen Cameras, the fine can double. Then the operator of the vehicle is at fault.

Thanks for all the input

$26.50 court costs, where might that be?

I can sympathize with the OP. If you haven't driven through or lived in a very congested city like NYC, then you may not understand. I am always cautious about how I enter the intersection, especially with the knowledge of the Red Traffic Cameras. A hurried pedestrian darting out in front of you can stop you dead in your tracks when you clearly had the right judgment to have entered the intersection. You have now been stopped.

This does not dismiss the fact that one should not tailgate, speed, enter the intersection if you know that you will probably be stuck. Those will make you guilty! The reality is that in NYC, especially with heavy traffic- vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian, that to sit at a green light and not enter the (large) intersection until the vehicle in front of you has fully cleared it (right or wrong) simply won't work most of the time. Although not acceptable, I imagine that you would open yourself up to a bit of road rage too.
You can anticipate that as the intersection is in the process of being cleared by the vehicle in front of you that you can start into the intersection but if those hurried and darting cyclist or pedestrians jump into the intersection against their red signal you may likely be stuck anyway.

Would you still be guilty? If you read the letter of the law, it would appear so. A clash between what is real (and perhaps safe at times) and ideal may not always match.

kb2psm, tell it to the judge. It's his/her decision. A lenient one would probably say "Innocent." A strict one would likely say "Guilty!"

This isn't a red light camera issue but still a pain... Local laws say you can't pass a cross walk if the ped. is approaching from anywhere on the far side, or has not cleared all the lanes on your side. I sat through about five light cycles waiting to get a right turn through the intersection, all the while with a gov't car behind me providing directions (I think that's what the gestures were...) Oh, by the way is was Christmas season shopping.