Red Lights & Emergency Vehicles

"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

Is this fair? What should a motorist do if he has to choose between
jumping a red light and not getting out of the way of an emergency
vehicle? There is not always anything that the motorist can do in the
first place to prevent the situation from arising.

On 2008-04-15, Nuxx Bar wrote:
"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

Is this fair?

It depends.

What should a motorist do if he has to choose between jumping a red
light and not getting out of the way of an emergency vehicle?

If you're ever in that situation don't think about the fine and do
whatever seems like the right thing to do.

If there's nowhere else to go, you're really in the way, and going
through the red light isn't dangerous (no point causing another
accident) then do it.

If you get a ticket take it to court. If you get fined anyway console
yourself with the thought that you paid a fine you didn't deserve but
might have saved someone's life by letting the ambulance through.

Nuxx Bar wrote:
"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

Is this fair? What should a motorist do if he has to choose between
jumping a red light and not getting out of the way of an emergency
vehicle? There is not always anything that the motorist can do in the
first place to prevent the situation from arising.
I'm more familiar with N. American jurisdictions than UK. In Canada,
and much of US, if it is safe to do so, it is permissible to run a red
light in order to allow an emergency vehicle to pass. That caveat does
loom large but common sense actually exists (that law is sure to be
changed very soon - cannot have common sense in the legal system).

On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:32:55 -0700 (PDT), Nuxx Bar
said in
:

"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

uk.rec.driving is thataway ----

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Nuxx Bar wrote:
"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

Easy, get off your bike, push it onto the foot path, then when the
nee-nar has passed, pick up your bike, place it back in the road, and
pedal away once the light is green.

Quoting Ben C :
On 2008-04-15, Nuxx Bar wrote:
"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.
Is this fair?
It depends.

Note that in the case widely quoted by the Paul Smith cabal, what actually
happened is that the cager tailed the first set of blues through the red
light, "because he thought there might be another one coming". If only
they made some sort of loud noise and were highly visible...
--
David Damerell Oil is for sissies
Today is Sunday, April - a weekend.

On Apr 15, 11:45*pm, "Just zis Guy, you know?" wrote:
On Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:32:55 -0700 (PDT), Nuxx Bar
said in
:

"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.

uk.rec.driving is thataway ----

But there are far more motorist-hating scumbags (like you) in this
group, and I want them to admit that they're perfectly happy with
things like this, despite them being obviously unfair.

You obviously are perfectly happy with it, otherwise you would have
answered the question. You've answered other posts of mine that have
been about driving.

On Apr 16, 5:25*am, David Damerell
wrote:
Quoting *Ben C :

On 2008-04-15, Nuxx Bar wrote:
"Letting an emergency vehicle through" is not a valid defence to a
charge of jumping a red light when driving.
Is this fair?
It depends.

Note that in the case widely quoted by the Paul Smith cabal, what actually
happened is that the cager tailed the first set of blues through the red
light, "because he thought there might be another one coming". If only
they made some sort of loud noise and were highly visible...

I have no idea what case you refer to. Are you suggesting that
there's never been an incidence of someone having been convicted just
for going over a red light-related white line far enough to let an
emergency vehicle through? If so, you're wrong. As I said, such
convictions are guaranteed as there is no legal defence to the charge.

(Of course, this has been the case for a long time, but it's only a
widespread problem now that we have red light cameras, since any
police officer would use their discretion (something that the motorist-
haters don't like) and not give a ticket in such a situation.)

On Apr 15, 11:56*pm, Martin Dann wrote:

Easy, get off your bike, push it onto the foot path, then when the
nee-nar has passed, pick up your bike, place it back in the road, and
pedal away once the light is green.

Tee hee. :-)

--
Dave...

On Apr 16, 9:38*am, Nuxx Bar wrote:

"Are you suggesting that there's never been an incidence of someone
having been convicted just
for going over a red light-related white line far enough to let an
emergency vehicle through? If so, you're wrong"

If that's true, the driver has my sympathy.
Could you cite the case? I'd be interested in reading that.

Calum