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Re: Running a red light
In article <41ajk8$7i0@mark.ucdavis.edu> Tak Auyeung wrote:
>
>Does anyone knows what exactly is running a red light? According to
>"Fight your ticket and win", if the car is already in the intersection
>when the light turns red, it is not "running a red light". I was
>already 2/3 through the intersection when the light turns red, was that
>still running a red light? BTW, it happened in SF.
>
>Thanks!
>
>--Tak
>
Tak---
As much as I respect David Brown and his book (and often
suggest it to people), here, we differ.
CVC 21453(a)'s KEY provision...the one that gets the MOST people
hearing the world GUILTY is this: the word "FACING".
If you are caught FACING a solid red signal, then they can cite you
for running the light. This virtually means that if your car hsa NOT
exited the intersection, and you are left facing the signal, THAT will
get you the ticket. There is NO LAW in California against goint
through a yellow light...it's just that most people think a yellow light
means SPEED UP!!!! (see my t-shirt with THAT design on my homepage).
Is it defensible? Sure, but you MUST know how to present the case!!!
Here is how it is enforced in a practical sense....if the cop thinks you could
have stopped in time for the light, and you didn't, you're gonna get
the ticket. If your FRONT TIRES have passed the limit line of the
intersection when the light was GREEN or GREEN CHANGING TO
YELLOW, you have broken NO law. BUT.....if you enter when it is
YELLOW and it changes to RED before you cleared the intersection,
then you might get 21453(a).
Hope this helped.
Kenny Morse
Mr. Traffic
http://www.usbusiness.com/mr_traffic.html
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