Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus
If you're approaching an icy intersection like many of us have this week and the choice is to enter through a yellow or slam on the brakes and risk a crash behind you, there is certainly a grey area that is open to interpretation. A good driver needs to make these decisions based on the conditions and what is going on around them.
It doesn't give a person a carte blanche to go around and abuse yellow lights, but just like the OP driving too fast for the conditions, it all needs to be assessed by the driver at that given time. Any decent cop or judge is going to take things like this into account.
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This is exactly what happened to me almost 5 years ago. I was driving on a Sunday morning with my wife and 6 month old in a boring van. This was in Okotoks and the town cops turned behind me just outside of town. I was actually driving a bit under the speed limit because it was icy. I got to the intersection that I have literally driven through 1000 times. The intersection was very quiet, but a person spun out as they were making a turn, so I was watching their vehicle to see if I needed to stop. As I was watching, I saw the light turn yellow, but I was passed the point of being able to stop safely in my mind and it was icy. I slowly go through the intersection and the blue and red lights go on behind me. My wife was as confused as I was as the red light had not changed while we were in the intersection. Cop comes out, gives me “failure to stop at yellow” ticket and away he goes. Didn’t even let me explain about the conditions, etc. I do some research and figure I’m a bit hooped, but decided to fight it anyways. Of course, on the court date I got sent out of town for an urgent work issue, so my wife with an infant goes to fight it for me. Should be a slam dunk right? Nope, ticket stuck.