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Red-Light Camera Ticket Revenue and Short Yellows
NicknamesAreStupid writes "A Fort Meyers news station reports a nerdy husband getting his wife out of a red-light camera ticket by proving the light was set with too short of a yellow. Then he goes out and proves that nearly 90% of the lights are set an average of about 20% too short. Is this a local incident, or have local governments nationwide found a new revenue source? What puzzles me is how a single picture can tell if you ran a light. If you are in the intersection before the light turns red, you have not run it, even if it takes a little while to clear it (say to yield to an unexpected obstacle). Wouldn't you need two pictures — one just before the light went red showing you are not in the intersection, and another after the light went red showing you in the intersection?"
No, it's not. I understand your point about needing to run a red light to get anywhere in a lot of places (and I've been in that situation myself, much to my frustration), and the police may well ignore such cases because of it, but the fact remains that being in the intersection when the light turns red is technically illegal in every state in the nation. You may want to read your state's driver's manual to educate yourself on this point.
Canada probably has national traffic laws; the US does not. In the US, each state has its own traffic laws, although they are mostly similar. Being in the intersection when your light turns red is illegal in all of them.
What about in freezing rain or when the ground is covered in ice?
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