Whaaat

Driving along just under the limit of 25, light turns yellow, don't have the time to stop, proceed through the intersection and let off the accelerator to "proceed with caution", moving slower now through the intersection, light turns red just as im reaching the other side, flashing blue lights, citation for operating the vehicle through a steady red light. i think this ticket is ridiculous and im going to fight it but what do you guys think? this is in pennsylvania btw...

thats horrible.. i was with my buddy one time and he ran a red light (seriously, the light turned red like 10 seconds before we even got to it..) and he got pulled over, and the cop just let him off with a warning.. cops in PA must be dicks..

i've had infractions already and i've always paid my fines because i know when im wrong, im just a little disappointed at this because i had just left college around 8pm and i was trying to drive slowly (main street roads in reading are not the best) so when i saw this light turn from green to yellow i didn't want to slam my brakes as i was right in front of the intersection, so i let off the gas and for atleast half of the intersection its yellow, then it turns to red and i still get in trouble. you'd think that such caution would be rewarded, and i know better than to run right through a red light so i dunno what else to say ya know?

It isn't illegal to run a yellow light, you would have to try to loose the fight. If your car is over the white line while the light is still yellow, your legal. Would help if someone was in the car with you.

well thats the real problem isn't it? i could stand tall before the man and give him my word that what im saying is the gods honest truth and i could still lose to an officer since it might be my word against his. if he really believes in what he saw and i believe in what happened since i was facing the light and driving the car then i guess its out of both our hands. im wondering if im allowed to see any kind of proof, or if it truly comes down to my word against his. you would think that if someone is going to be charged for something there should be some kind of proof, atleast in these types of matters.

comes down to the cops word over yours. also, i dont know about other areas, but atleast in Va the general concensus is that you have to be completely out of the intersection before the light turns red. its not a matter of crossing the line, you can not be in the intersection during a red light.

red means stop

here in ky alot of the time the cops that gave the tickets dont even show up for court unless they r a rookie and make sure all the charges stick, here if they dont show and u try and fight it the shariff comes and usually unless its serious they will let u off, but some cops do show for about an hour but court goes in alphabetical order and if ur names at the end (mines a s) u usually can get lucky. but if u do try and fight and dont get off u will get stuck w/ the court cost!!

yeah cops are dick i remember when i was about 19 and it was thanksgiving and a cop gave me a ticket for doing 42 in a 40, this cop was a dick i told him i was in the navy and he did not give a shit he used to be a ex marine and they don't like navy

i can address all of these replies...red means stop, but in the middle of an intersection if you were traveling through a yellow light? also there is the issue of whether or not i had a chance to stop. these lights are in the inner city and change quickly, when it came to yellow i decreased acceleration and caught the beginning of the red as i was leaving the intersection. thats interesting about a red catching you after youve started moving through the yellow, all i can say to that is from my drivers ed and the pa motor vehicle code it appears that if one is caught in a yellow light they are to proceed with caution knowing that the red is coming next. i dont know, im confident that if nothing else i can go in and tell everyone the truth and what really happened. im really wondering how things might go now i mean what if there is a reduction in the fine if i admit guilt, but i didnt do it so you see my problem. the money here isn't the biggest issue to me, it's just the fact that i was caught in a yellow light and i even slowed down to go through.

if it turned yellow before you crossed the white line, then you might as well not bother trying to fight it, they'll also tell you that you should have let off the gas and been coasting before you even reached the intersection rather than just coasting thru it. This is just from personal experience tho, so who knows in your case.

well i hate to beat a dead horse and i know you guys dont have all the details but the light turned green to yellow directly before i entered the intersection, at that point i let off the gas. obviously i wasnt going fast enough to make it through but i didnt want to nail the brakes either. see what im sayin? there has to be some point at which you dont exactly have the time to stop but you aren't just gonna fly through so you can get stuck with a red as you're about to leave the intersection, and that all had to do with how close i was and the speed i was moving at, like i said around 25, right in front of the intersection, and the funny thing is about two hours ago i was coming back from picking up my girl at college and a 350z (no lie) did the exact same thing and went through the yellow only to catch the beginning of the red as he left the intersection, but of course noone pulled him over. LOL

If I were you I would have kept the same speed through, think about it you get out of the intersection and into safety quicker. Good luck with this, if the law wasnt corrupt ud be fine but unfortunately thats not the case

tell the cop to go suck a lemon and go arrest some drug dealers

i would fight it, but do this, the instant you get a court date, call and reschedule.

also, did you have any witnesses? was there more than one cop? all these factors play a roll in fighting a ticket.

if the cop don't show up to court, your home free.

well to be honest he was polite and professional, but one thing i know for sure is i wouldn't run straight through a red light, so im wondering if he thinks im just going to pay it without telling the DJ what happened or what..maybe i can just tell the judge to give me a lie detector ;-)

plea not guilty, go to court, tell the cop what the deal was. say you ment no harm. say you didnt want to hit your breaks b/c blah blah blah, same you tell us. he should drop it. or lower ing. when you bring them to court, thats what they do, they drop it or lower it. dont get into laws telling him that yoru car was past the white line therefore you should get not ticket, they dont like that. be cool, and not an ass. if he dont drop it or lowers it, then you tell him what the deal is and when you go to the judge, you tell him. make sure you sound like you kinda did wrong, but were still in the clear. i have been in some many court rooms b.c of tickets its not funny. i also trying become a NYstate trooper andkinda know how cops work

Here in Mississippi you have to literally brake while going through an intersection that has a yellow light. Maybe thats how it is where you are from? I was coming home around 2am one morning and just as I was passing the "white line" the light turned yellow. I was clearly WAY past the intersection before the light turned red but I was pulled over anyway. The cop told me I had to show caution while going through an intersection with a yellow light and the way to "show caution" is by riding your breaks through the intersection (not hard, just enough for your brake lights to come on). He let me off because it was 2am, but It sounds like your in a similar position that I was in. I say fight it and try to get the ticket lowered at the very least.

Rob

It's hurting my head to listen to you people.....