Quote:
Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
You should never need to speed up to clear the intersection safely. Plus, I heard awhile back that you are more likely to get a red light ticket if you speed up to get through the light.
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From a purely legal standpoint- you are correct. However we have all been in a situation where we have misjudged the distance; which is where the speeding up is needed.
The current setting on red light cameras is that you have to be enter the intersection on red doing the speed limit to get a ticket. So if you are in a mis-judgement like above and you speed up to clear the intersection it won't issue a ticket.
There's also the scenario that you are doing the speed limit going straight, and opposing traffic is waiting to turn left. The light turns amber just as you are about to hit the stop line. At that point speeding up slightly allows the opposing left turners to turn safer; as they will also have more of the yellow to turn on.
Speed on green- I don't like it but only because I speed. But I can respect that law. Speed on amber or red- to me that is a pure cash grab that doesn't take allow for the objectivity that a human police officer can offer to determine if the crime warrants a fine.
For me the law is not black and white. Like the officer in 2004 on the Red Mile who told me to dump my beer; sometimes it's a judgement call to decide if a ticket is in the best interest of public safety.