went through a rlc intersection

Just wondering if this is true if you were traveling in the opposite direction. I have seen timings where the morning traffic into town can travel at a constant speed but, if you happen to be going in the other direction in the morning, you always get caught.

It's both directions.

I notice from your profile you are in Illinois. Drop me a PM and I'll tell you who to contact and give you some suggestions on the better way to register your complaint about the light timings.

You will need some basic information such as timings you have made of the light cycles at different times of the day and on different days of the week to bolster your complaint. The timings don't have to be down to the tenth of a second, just a statement such as the green cycle for street A is xx seconds, while the cross street which has little traffic is xx seconds during peak traffic periods. The timing of the signals do not appear to change at other times of the day as the same periods were observed on (day of the week) at (non-peak) time.

That shows you have something other than an "opinion" about the timings being incorrect as you have provided some measurements. There are others besides the local public works people you need to copy, and I can help with that as well.

Yes, it's some work on your part but the payoff is you presented evidence rather than just an opinion. The timings will help insure your letter gets action.

Your suggestions really help. Can I get back to you on PMing you? I'm about to take a trip in the next few days, and my time is very limited at the moment. I had no idea that I could actually affect change on traffic flow. I almost can't comprehend it!

Thanks again!

Thus far, my experience has confirmed this position. I have numerous times entered upon the light being yellow--typically, the light is green and as I proceed, the light turns to yellow just before I actually enter the intersection--and I continue on as the light either continues to be yellow or actually turns red. No traffic ticket.

This suggests that the trigger is 1. the light turning red and 2. driving through the intersection at any point the light is red--the light being yellow or green at any point as one drives through the intersection does not seem to count at all for being ticketed and experience thus far seems to confirm this position

Some localities (like the District of Columbia) have different rules for yellow lights. Most are "permissive" in that is is OK to enter an intersection on yellow. DC law is the "restrictive" type where it states a vehicle may not enter an intersection on yellow. Because of the way DC's law is written they could change the trigger for their cameras from red to yellow and you would have no recourse.

Went through 2 yellows on RLC's in the last two weeks. One was in Maryland, the other in NJ.

I fully expect to get ZERO tickets.

Again, my reasoning is, I was not behind the stop line when the light turned red. As a matter of fact, the lights were yellow my entire trip through the intersection.

For either camera/video to produce an image of my vehicle behind the stop line, when the light turned red, would be impossible, or doctored.

Since the speed limit was 55 in NJ, that light stayed yellow for quite some time. This is why there is no reason to slam on your brakes at a RLC intersection when the light turns yellow.

It would be interesting for somebody here to step forward and say, "I GOT A TICKET WHEN I ENTERED ON YELLOW IN DC."

Then, they would post their violation, and it would clearly show that the vehicle entered on yellow (no pic of the vehicle behind the stop line when the light turned red), and somehow the ticket clearly stated, "YELLOW LIGHT VIOLATION."

2103.5 A STEADY YELLOW SIGNAL alone shall have the following meaning:

(a) Vehicular traffic facing a steady yellow signal is thereby warned that a related green signal is being terminated or that a red signal will be exhibited thereafter, or both; and

(b) Vehicular traffic shall stop before entering the nearest crosswalk of the intersection, unless so close to the intersection that a stop cannot safely be made.

It happened to a relative of mine in Long Island,she slow down on the intersection with a red light camera,She made a right turn while it was Red, Keep in mind the was no sign that she could not make a right turn on red,but as soon she made the right turn the camera took a picture,she could have contested the ticket but her husband decide it to pay anyway.

I guess the red light camera detected that her car moved.

I would had took a picture of the intersection that does not said you could not make a right turn on red and show it to the judge.

I like to know if anyone had the same problem.

She didn't stop completely for 2-3 seconds? Slowly rolling through a red light or stop sign is a violation. I stop behind the line and count to 3 before proceeding.

She would had stop for 3 -5 sec. or even a full minutes,I do not think it would had made any differents, if she would had Stop like you said, The camera still would had taking the picture when she made the right turn on red.like I wrote when the camera detect movement on red still will take the picture.

Is that a yes, she stopped completely or no, she didn't?

I know of an intersection where FedEx vehicles go right on red all day long. They drive for a living, they're not gonna blow a RLC and get a violation on the job. And yes, they stop fully.

I would really like to see someone post a pic showing that when the light turned red, they were already clear of the stop line, and that the infraction states they entered on yellow, and therefore are fined.

Because my attitude is I am not jamming my brakes on yellow, that makes no sense. You have to produce a pic of my car on top of or before the stop line when it turned red, for me to get a ticket. The fact that the yellow is about 1 sec per 10 mph means there is NO situation where I cannot judge whether I can make it, or not.

I am pretty sure that nobody here can produce a violation showing a yellow light infraction.

Driver 38 has a point--to a point: it makes sense that the camera would probably or perhaps even inevitably take a picture of a person turning on red at a RLC intersection. But, there are two things that probably happen after that.

1. the company for the RLC reviews the right turn and notes that the driver stopped at a red light before making the right turn--or did not stop at all--and reports or does not report the incident to the police depending on what happened

2. company for the RLC reviews the right turn as in "1" and--even if the driver stopped at the red light before making the right turn--reports the incident to the police and a ticket is issued; it is here, that the 3 seconds or more after the complete stop could be at issue IN THE PRESENCE OF A JUDGE, if the driver chooses to contest the issue.

Of course, being issued a ticket in error by the reviewing company results in one of two problems: either paying the ticket so as not to waste time on the matter or having to come up with the time to show up before a judge in court as part of contesting the ticket issued in error.

So, it is possibly true that a picture is taken EVERY TIME a right turn on a red light happens but what happens after that is dependent on circumstances--and having to pay for a ticket issued in error is not necessarily an inevitability, particularly if a person intent on making a right turn stops for a full 3 seconds or more after the light turns red

I agree with everything you said except for the 3 seconds. If a person stops for 3 seconds, it will be obvious in the full-motion video and he will not get a ticket, but that would be a personal choice.

The 3 second stop is not a matter of law in any state. This has been discussed previously in these forums. No one to my knowledge has ever quoted a law defining "stop" as a 3 second stop. For example, New York state law defines stop as "complete cessation of movement." Time is not mentioned. This has been confirmed by checking with the customer service representatives of two different red light camera companies operating in Long Island, New York. You can call the company in your state to find out.

But the short stop is a problem for the people reviewing the video to issue a ticket. A legal stop can be so short that from the vantage point of the camera behind the car, it is not a good angle to see whether the car fully stopped or not.

dobs108

Living in a theoretical world is just fine, but again, I know of a RLC intersection where FedEx vehicles make legal rights on red all day long, 24/7/365. I don't think a FedEx driver has time to post here, but perhaps they could let us into their secret world of taking a right on red at a rlc and how it can be accomplished

It seems like many of our lights are driven by sensors detecting waiting cross traffic, I assume combined with some sort of timer. The result is that I can sometimes go a long way with no reds and other times hit every one.

I think that was accomplished in NYC with mechanical switching a very long time ago, off the top of my head 40's or 50's? I don't get what's so difficult about it. It in itself makes sense, can probably cuts down on maybe 15% of red light running....

they were timed to give you greens at a magic speed as long as there were no jams. Some streets even had signs that updated speed per traffic flow

People imho run red lights for two reasons. One, they are all out lawbreakers who do what they please, in the extreme case.

In the more moderate case, it's because running the lights adds up to minutes of time savings, i.e. run it undetected, could save 45 sec. per each ill-timed light. Sometimes there are 3-4 in a row, and so, 3-4 red lights that are run by individuals.

My friend drove from Baldwin, LI, over the 59th St. bridge, with zero red lights. That was back in the 90's.....

I definitely went through 3 yellow lights in the past month, and it's been almost 3 weeks since the most recent incident, and nothing in the mail. I believe the technology is working. You can't get a RLC violation when you go through on yellow is still my opinion.

Plus, sometimes the review process has a "grace period" of, say, .5 seconds even after the light has turned red. Most jurisdictions do not make this fact known.

I believe that the Virginia code requires a .5 second grace period. see http://progress-index.com/news/petersburg-to-get-red-light-c...

I am not refuting the law, but the law is subjective. If a yellow lasts 5 seconds, you cannot say that nobody is allowed to enter the intersection on yellow--that would cause accidents.

If you slam on your brakes in DC because you think the light is going to go to yellow, sorry, you are stupid. I don't mean you, the poster, I mean anybody who would do that.

The yellow is a buffer.

If your front tires are over the white line before the RED light comes on you are ok.
It is ok to go through the yellow.
At least that was the law a few years ago, I am assuming it still is.

again, it's like forwards waiting at the blue line in hockey, there is no gray area as to whether a player is on, or offsides. It's amazing how those who resist this technology have come up with so many reasons not to have it. It's as if Wal mart should begin to allow shoplifting again like they did when my grandpa was in college.

This is the law in Texas "If your front tires are over the white line when the light turns Red you are ok"

So what do you do when you are stopped a red light and an ambulance comes up from behind you? The only way for it to pass is to move forward out of the way, which puts you in the intersection. Do you stay put, or do you enter the intersection, triggering a camera?

Sure they do. Just like Wells Fargo manually checked all of those foreclosure documents that they robosigned causing people to lose their houses due to paperwork bank errors or when they had been negotiating with the bank in good faith. Trust the folks reviewing hundreds/thousands of tickets, everything is on the up and up.

At least around here, the law says to move to the side of the road for emergency vehicles. That is what I try to do although I have never had to do so in a red light intersection.

In your case, I would whip out my smartphone and video what I could of the emergency vehicle passing me unless I was in the vehicle that has the dash cam which would demonstrate the situation.

In another post, you are seemingly claiming that review of the pictures and video does not often take place. Since You do not give us a state in which you live, I am unable to research the information posted by the jurisdictions close to where you live and demonstrate that they claim to do reviews. Perhaps you have some published reports for the area in which you live that would support you disbelief that reviews take place.

Thanks to some joik in a Lexus, I went through a yellow in a rlc intersection today. These nervous Nellys should not be allowed to drive anywhere the population is over 500. Nuts!

But again, can't show my car behind the line on red, I do not expect a violation. It's so easy now to feel comfortable at rlc intersections. Don't run a red, don't get a violation. Only red light runners are ticketed, as it should be.

Huh? What is a joik and how did they force you to go through an intersection? (Not that there is anything wrong going through a yellow light).

Here's the definition of a joik online:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jerk

The Lexus went through on green, the light was changing, and he completely stopped in the middle of the intersection, then started again.

This is getting old I suppose, went through yet again on Fri. on yellow, no worries.....

I've gone through way too many yellows to even count, nothing in the mailbox. We even went to DC and were subjected to many rlcs and speed cams.

All in all, I think the automated enforcement works as designed.

Even on Rt. 1 in NJ I timed the yellow, it was nearly 6 seconds. That is soooooooo much time to make a decision on whether you can cross the line before red or not. Countdown timers imho are excellent. I think the time will come when the money grab argument is totally gone, perhaps, except in Calif.