Question about traffic lights?

Question

some cities put cameras on traffic ligths to catch people from running red lights,and they take a picture of your car tag after running the red light and send you a ticket in the mail.what do think about that. is that fair.what if the light turns red when you are about to go under it,and there is a car behind you really going fast if you slam on your brakes the car behind you might hit the back of your car.so what should you do.go through the light or stop

Answer 1

Try driving at a SAFE speed, like at or under the speed limit, and this will never happen. WORKS FOR ME!

Answer 2

In the UK the cameras take two pictures, one before the car crosses the stop line and one after it has crossed the line. There is no excuse for crossing a red light as there has been an amber for some time before and you should stop for an amber.

Answer 3

You should stop.  The guy behind you would be the one at fault because you stopped at the light which was turning red, so he'd have to pay for the damage to your car (provided you live in a state where it's required to have insurance), not you.  I've seen people get ticketed at those things for going through yellows that then turned red even when they were 3/4 of the way through the intersection.  I don't think that's fair, but they send tickets for them anyway.

Answer 4

All that I can say is that you should never assume that the light will stay green, you should start to slow down and expect the unexpected......................

Answer 5

Yes, the red light camera is a "police" activity to encourage people to stop if they can when approaching an amber/red light.

Of course, if you have the habit of checking your rear view mirror often, and whenever you brake, then you would know whether you could safely stop at a "stale" amber light, especially if roads were slippery. If road conditions were slippery and there was a vehicle following closely behind me, I know I would proceed through that amber/red light with caution. If I got a ticket in the mail afterwards, I would go to court and use the poor weather argument (with the vehicle following closely behind me, and not being certain as to whether I would be rearended, therefore proceeding through the intersection with caution).

Other than special circumstances, I would indeed attempt to stop my vehicle. I also try to anticipate the light ahead. Although not all pedestrian crossing lights are the same, some do flash with the red hand and time out, go to solid red mode, and this is followed by the amber, then red traffic light.

The object of driving a vehicle is to arrive safely at your destination, not to run amber/red lights just to see whether you can beat the system put in place to help  keep you (and other drivers) safe on the roads. I hope this answers your question.