yellow light turns red halfway through intersection, should i have gotten a ticket?

Question

also it was raining and on a cement road.

its in Colorado and it was raining on a cement intersection.

CO law is stop unless you are in the intersection.

Answer 1

Look in your DMV hand book. The answer is yes. It does not matter, if you contest the ticket and the cop shows up in court, the judge will believe him.

Answer 2

Generally, yes.

While the phrasing varies, the common standard meaning for a yellow light is "stop if it is safe to do so".

You can try arguing that the speed you were going made it unsafe to try and stop, but that begs the question of why you were driving so fast in the rain. Also, unless the light was somehow covered or blocked right up until you got to the intersection, you should have seen it being yellow far enough back to stop safely.

I'm not making moral judgments. That's just an interpretation of the law, the way the prosecutor is going to argue it.

Answer 3

In many states the law is written such that you ENTIRE car must CLEAR the intersection before the light turns red. The purpose of the yellow light is to allow time for vehicles the cannot stop before the intersection to clear the intersection before the red light. If the light does not allow enough time, you could try to make that case.

Answer 4

A blinking yellow light means "proceed with caution". However, a steady yellow light on a traffic light means "prepare to stop". Once the light goes from green to yellow, if you have time to stop safely before entering the intersection, then you should stop. The fact that it was raining only means that while you may not have been driving in excess of the speed limit, you may have been driving faster than the road conditions would warrant. Pay the ticket.

Answer 5

Depends on the law of your state. In some states, you are legally in the intersection only if your entire car was in the intersection when the light went red. Other states require only that you have the front tires in the intersection to be legal. I don;t know of any personally, but it's reasonable to assume that some states would require you to have front tires moving out of the intersection on red, or some other permutation.

Once you are legally in the intersection, you are allowed all the time you need to clear it - without stopping of course.

Answer 6

No, you won't get a ticket. At least you won't get one from a red light camera. But you should never get stuck in a left turn lane because the law is that you don't enter the intersection unless and until you can safely complete your turn. The exception to the rule would be a controlled left turn where you have a green arrow.

Answer 7

Absolutely. Green means go. Red means you must not be in the interesection. Yellow does NOT mean go for it. It is a warning that the light is about to turn red and you need to stop unless you are too close to the intersection to do it safely.

Answer 8

Why did you enter the intersection on a yellow light? Either you ran the yellow, or you were speeding to stop in

Answer 9

There is some rule about where your tires are and where the line for the light is on the road, and a ticket depends on how far over it you are when the light is red...something like that. So maybe you should have gotten a ticket and maybe not.

Answer 10

I'm assuming that you had a ticket ! You could argue it in court, in a case like, if it was a big truck or a garbage truck behind you, specially coming in high speed you see it in your mirror to close to you, obviously its isn't safe for you to stop, so you had to move on or pass the intersection to avoid an unnecessary accident.

Answer 11

In CA, that'll get you a ticket. Dude, yellow means slow down and prepare to stop, not speed up to beat the light. In the rain, that's even more important!