Did I run a red light?

[DSORB]

So as I was going to work I was coming upon an intersection when its lights turned yellow, I thought I could still make it so I kept going, then right after I entered the intersection the light turned red. Would I get ticketed for running a red light or did I cross the intersection at the very latest time possible?

 

[zzzz]

Technically, if you can come to a safe stop when it turns yellow you are supposed to. But as long as you have entered the intersection before the light turned red you have not violated the law.

 

[DSORB]

it was hard to tell but I thought I had entered the intersection just before it turned red

 

[accuratehorn]

What a traffic ticket lawyer told me: you are legal if any part of your car, i.e. one inch of the front bumper, has passed the white painted stripe behind which you are supposed to stop prior to the light turning red, not yellow, but red.

 

[halsteadfrost]

As ZZZ said I believe it has to do with how safely you could stop, not if you could make the light. And I drive with this belief, and treat yellow lights differently in my Suburban (harder to stop) than my Maxima (easy to stop). I guess I could be wrong, though...

 

[grinder]

What accurate said. If you are fully behind the stop bar when it turns red and you don't stop, then you ran the red light. Any part of your car is beyond the stop bar, then you're in the clear.

 

[BigWill]

so I just spent 30 minutes on the googles looking for Larry David's red light ticket with jeff's mom's butt in the picture.

 

[accuratehorn]

Of course, there is a difference between "did I legally run the light," and "could I have come to a stop safely," and "did I endanger anyone by what I did?"

 

[Doughbroz]

Avoid this situation in the future by flooring the gas the instant the light goes yellow, regardless of how far from the intersection you may be. This also reduces the odds of getting rearended by someone else who is determined to make it through the intersection.

 

[accuratehorn]

Despite being facestious, there is a lot of truth in what the previous poster said, and this is the reason accident rates have gone up at many intersections where red light cameras have been placed.