How many seconds after driving through a red light are you allowed before you get caught by the camera?

Question

I received a letter saying I committed the offence of failing to conform with the indication given by a red traffic signal. The time into the red was stated as being 1.5 seconds. I have been led to believe in the past that you are given 3 seconds.

Answer 1

pay the ticket, stop whinning, stop risking other lives because your in a hurry.

Answer 2

Lights are supposed to be timed so that at the speed limit, minus 5 mph, when the yellow activates, you have enough time to clear the intersection before the red light activates. I have found that in a number of times, the traffic engineer (again, another do-nothing civil servant) messing up the timing.

According to the CVC, you have the right to clear the intersection. Running a red light technically means that you pass the entrance (noted by a white line) after the red light activates. If you are in the intersection when the light changes to red, then you have not run the red light. You can be cited for blocking an intersection though. This is were officer discretion comes in - I have seen lots of officers cite for red light violations when technically it was merely blocking an intersection.

Red light cameras are set fairly conservatively. Most of the time you have to literally run the red blatantly to get caught (unless they are set wrong). The unfortunately thing is that most are set up by private companies. I know in California, they dismissed quite a few traffic camera tickets because the court found a conflict of interest as the traffic camera companies were receiving a percentage of the fines collected. The court ruled that this gave the companies the incentive to adjust the timing to their favor. Now these companies receive only a flat fee

On a side note: there is a spray that deadens the reflective properties on your license plate. I have heard this prevents traffic camera from seeing your license plate. I find nothing in the CVC which specifically prohibits its use.

Answer 3

First thing: most people who have answered this question aren't quite right. They have been saying the amber light means 'prepare to stop'. It doesn't. The amber light means 'stop if it is safe to do so'. If you ever watch TV police shows you can sometimes see them pulling over people for going through amber lights, though they rarely prosecute for that.

Given that it is illegal to through an amber light unless it is unsafe to stop, you will not be surprised to find out that it is always illegal to go through a red light. Always. The amber light gives plenty of time to stop.

Have you ever sat at a traffic lighted intersection and watched the lights before? You'll find that normally there is less than a second delay between one set of lights turning red, and the next turning to red+amber. If you go through 3 second after a red light people from the other directions are already going to be moving, some for 2 seconds. Get some sense into you and stop at amber lights, otherwise you might be in an accident.

Answer 4

no my friend you are legally commiting an offence if you drive through a red light at any time even half a second,
you are supposed to drive in a fashion and speed appropiate to the road and road conditions whilst approaching a junction and when the light changes to amber that means stop,if the light then goes red and you go through you are guilty of the offence as charged,
there is some times when special circumstances will get you of with a warning but 99 out of a hundred you are left with no option but to pay the fine and take the points on your licence that goes with it,,if you think there is a case to defend your actions you need to see a lawyer as soon as possible..
good luck

Answer 5

After the lights turn red, there is a 1 second delay before the camera will activate.

Answer 6

Red means STOP. NOT to decide to go ahead. Which part of STOP do you not underst and?

Just think how you would feel if one of your loves ones was killed or injured by someone doing just what you did?

It seems you might be making a habit of this given that you talk about what you have been led to believe in the past.

You need to learn to drive properly and with consideration or think about possibly ending up in prison for causing death by dangerous driving.

Answer 7

Most of them cameras dont work mate, i went threw a red light about 2-3 seconds after it had changed to red and nothing happened

Answer 8

Technically, the amber light means be preparied to stop, and red mean stop if doing so will not cause a collision from the rear.

If someone is tailgating you it is possible to state that if you had stopped at the red light you would have been involved in an accident. However, this will have to be backed up by evidence from the police camera.

Answer 9

youre only defence is that road conditions were unsuitable for that level of braking. look at it this way, at 60mph you cover 88 feet per second, so to stop you need atound 3 to 5 seconds (yes alright ive got a volvo) thats 264 feet - 440feet, obviously at 30 we halve the figure. (so 130 feet), thats minimum distance, but its still 3 seconds... and teh amber sequence is around three-five seconds...so really you were either speeding, or you were actually driving without due care and attention. bite the bullet, pay the fine, and pay attention to the road ahead.

theres probably a few ways around this, but, if you did it, be a man, qand take your punishment.

cautionary tale; my mate got done for D&D after evading a high speed persuit at between 70 and 90mph in a residential area. anyway to cut a long sorry tale of woe short, he crashed the car, maybe it was the 7 pints, maybe it was the cocaine, who knows.. but the fool contested it...it went from D&D and failing to give a specimen, and Due care and attention in the magistrtaes (12 month automatic ban and a fine) but oh no, dave knew better...by the time it got to crown court it was dangerous driving..blah blah blah...and he got (quite rightly) 2 year ban, and he must retake all his licences and he got 12 months in jail.. and believe me that has messed his life up beyond recognition.

pay up, and consider yourself lucky.

Answer 10

I doubt its either, but I do know in Maine if an part of your car is over a the wide white "stop" bars you can legally proceed into the through the light. Furthermore I don't know of any buffer time in red lights, that's what the yellow light is for. Either way, take it to court and have the officer or whoever wrote the ticket, prove it.

Answer 11

I would guess, then, that it is 1.5 seconds!
I didn't know there was a time limit on this at all. I thought you would have committed an offence just by going through a red light.