Red light camera flash.

[ringway]

In rush-hour on Friday.

As the traffic slowed after the lights had changed from amber to red (dual carriageway), and the first two vehicles in the queue slowly drew up to the white line the "red light camera" flashed twice!

Will the two vehicles get a ticket and have a dispute on their hands?

Or was the camera just testing/warning?

 

[PXW]

So they were moving across the junction in a slow moving queue and the light changed whilst they were 'in transit'? Was it a box junction? Or was the junction left clear and the two vehicles didn't cross the stop line? If the latter, I can't see how they would get done as the photo evidence would prove they didn't cross the junction. Could anything else have triggered the camera? Was it a white flash facing you - in which case was it perhaps photographing a vehicle crossing the red light on the other carriageway?

 

[BTB 500]

Like a speed camera they take two pictures to prove the car was moving. If the car wasn't, that will be clear.

As mentioned though they don't trigger unless you cross the line on red.

 

[Beetnik]

To be across the line when the lights are red is an absolute offence, moving or not. So ticket - quite possible.

The ticket will contain the usual offer to pay and points on licence or go to court and dispute.

Happened to me and I didn't dispute it due to the 'absolute offence' aspect - if any part of the vehicle is across the line then you've committed an offence.

Happened two years ago and still makes me boil when I think about it.

 

[ringway]

So they were moving across the junction in a slow moving queue and the light changed whilst they were 'in transit'? Was it a box junction? Or was the junction left clear and the two vehicles didn't cross the stop line? If the latter, I can't see how they would get done as the photo evidence would prove they didn't cross the junction. Could anything else have triggered the camera? Was it a white flash facing you - in which case was it perhaps photographing a vehicle crossing the red light on the other carriageway?

All traffic in front had crossed in good time.

Junction was clear.

The two cars were slowing down to the white stop line at the traffic lights and didn't cross the line. This is why I'm puzzled by the flash.


The camera was facing behind us and couldn't be triggered by the two cars approaching the stop line.

 

[Barbanasos]

As per Beetnik apparently if your front wheels have crossed the white line and triggerred the camera the offence is committed.

However it does take two shots to ascertain the speed of the vehicle. I was coming back late from Manchester on the A580 East Lancs one night and sitting on a light with a camera as I was getting ready for the change I released the brake and the car moved inches ahead and as I was early stopped again, that however triggerred the camera.

I did panic went to Pepipoo for free legal advice etc and was waiting for it. Luckily nothing ever came through, and this is months ago. I am very careful with traffic light cameras. I guess it took a photo of a car with the brake lights on.

 

[flango]

I'm baffled as to exactly what happened here. Red light offence cameras energise 2 seconds after the ATL turns red. To be photgraphed you have to be well over the line (there is a set distance just like GATSO but I cant remember what it is, will check tomorrow.) Also some red light cameras now also act as speed camera's these are energised all the time just like GATSO's sure the flash wasn't for the cars in front that had maybe sped through the lights before they changed red?

 

[Barbanasos]

Not sure, as I said it was late and we were already stopped for a while. That did not have any speed camera markings down. I am just glad it never came through as the car was still nowhere out ahead of the junction.

 

[219]

I'm baffled as to exactly what happened here. Red light offence cameras energise 2 seconds after the ATL turns red. To be photgraphed you have to be well over the line (there is a set distance just like GATSO but I cant remember what it is, will check tomorrow.) Also some red light cameras now also act as speed camera's these are energised all the time just like GATSO's sure the flash wasn't for the cars in front that had maybe sped through the lights before they changed red?

yes , any pictures I've seen from red light cameras normally show vehicles more than halfway across junctions - I'd doubt that cameras located next to the traffic lights would even have a car with bumper a few inches over the line in their field of view , even though an offence would technically have been comitted , I suspect they are only really after people who brazenly go right through on red ; not those who 'overshoot' by a few inches .

 

[Beetnik]

My mistake was to have had cruise control on (it was a mile long stretch of dual carriageway) but then using the accelerator to speed up above the point I'd set it. The CC stays active in these circumstances. Approaching traffic lights I took my foot of the accelerator and the car started to slow down but when it reached the CC setting it stopped deccelerating and continued on for a second or two until I realised what was happening and reacted. By this time I was close to the lights which were changing.

I braked hard to stop and ended up straddled across the line. When I got the NIP I asked for the photographs. It was evident that I had stopped and I could have gone to court but in view of the 'absolute offense' nature of the law - if your over the line it matters not whether you are moving or stationary - I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

3 points, £60 and an increased insurance premium - insurance co's take a dimmer view of 'going through a red light' than they do of speeding, apparently.

I'm a little more judicious now in using CC but still feel somewhat hard done by.

 

[flango]

My mistake was to have had cruise control on (it was a mile long stretch of dual carriageway) but then using the accelerator to speed up above the point I'd set it. The CC stays active in these circumstances. Approaching traffic lights I took my foot of the accelerator and the car started to slow down but when it reached the CC setting it stopped deccelerating and continued on for a second or two until I realised what was happening and reacted. By this time I was close to the lights which were changing.

I braked hard to stop and ended up straddled across the line. When I got the NIP I asked for the photographs. It was evident that I had stopped and I could have gone to court but in view of the 'absolute offense' nature of the law - if your over the line it matters not whether you are moving or stationary - I decided it wasn't worth the risk.

3 points, £60 and an increased insurance premium - insurance co's take a dimmer view of 'going through a red light' than they do of speeding, apparently.

I'm a little more judicious now in using CC but still feel somewhat hard done by.

Was this a forward facing camera or a rear facing one?

 

[Beetnik]

Rear facing - i.e. I had a picture of the back of the car - with brake lights on and me stopped and the car straddling the line, half the car on either side.

I considered the court route but as I live in Yorkshire and the offence was in Leicester and I had technically committed an offence I took the points and fine option.

 

[BTB 500]

Interesting. I slid gently across the line at a junction with a live traffic light camera (wet & greasy road, skinny tyres, no ABS) and it didn't go off. This was late at night without another vehicle in sight ... in the end I decided to reverse back over the line and wait till the lights changed.