Stopped at a Red Light @ Night

**Kool** · 07-13-2010, 01:56 PM

Originally Posted by paulf2k

"For getting off his bike and pushing the button?

-Jamie M. "

no, for turning left at a red light at like 1am. He proceeded safely seeing as there were no cars around and waited for 13mins. Also, edit my previous statement. He wasn't charged with careless. He was originally charged with stunting and dangerous driving. The stunting got dropped by the cops but the dangerous is still pending. He is hoping to have it brought down to careless or dropped altogether.

Holy crap..your kidding? That is ridiculous. I have to do it every night at the bottom of our driveway at work ...gotta make a left...lights at Yonge St. I have ran the light but most of the time now I make a right then a U turn in a car dealership driveway and on my way. Cops sometimes just watch me...once I explained to a cop sitting there ...he said no problem.

**jibbijib** · 07-13-2010, 06:32 PM

Turn your bike into a car. Problem solved.

**Marbleboy** · 07-14-2010, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by jibbijib

Turn your bike into a car. Problem solved.

umm.. are you just joking?

**bobjohnson** · 07-14-2010, 10:47 PM

Originally Posted by paulf2k

"For getting off his bike and pushing the button?

-Jamie M. "

no, for turning left at a red light at like 1am. He proceeded safely seeing as there were no cars around and waited for 13mins. Also, edit my previous statement. He wasn't charged with careless. He was originally charged with stunting and dangerous driving. The stunting got dropped by the cops but the dangerous is still pending. He is hoping to have it brought down to careless or dropped altogether.

I dont believe this ever happened. Theres no way the cop saw him waiting for 13 minutes, and then he went through the red and the cop hit him with stunting and dangerous driving. MAYBE failure to obey signal but no way did he get a stunting charge out of it. And your friend waited at a light for 13 minutes but didnt see the cop??? How well was he looking at his surroundings before he ran that light???

I hate traffic cops as much as the next guy, but i cant believe this outrageous "my friend..." story, its too ridiculous.

**OverDrive** · 07-14-2010, 11:39 PM

"And if it doesn't make sense, it isn't true" (Judge Judy)

**Akshun** · 07-15-2010, 12:08 AM

I agree.. too much BS in this thread lol.
You wait it out, and treat light as a malfunctioning light, treat it as a stop sign. proceed with caution, simple.
Getting off bike with get you something along the lines of abandoning a vehicle.
hahha stunting and guns searches.. such BS

Originally Posted by bobjohnson

I dont believe this ever happened. Theres no way the cop saw him waiting for 13 minutes, and then he went through the red and the cop hit him with stunting and dangerous driving. MAYBE failure to obey signal but no way did he get a stunting charge out of it. And your friend waited at a light for 13 minutes but didnt see the cop??? How well was he looking at his surroundings before he ran that light???

I hate traffic cops as much as the next guy, but i cant believe this outrageous "my friend..." story, its too ridiculous.

**-Sunny-** · 07-15-2010, 12:08 AM

haha judge judy is a smart women... but someone needs to slap her upside the head, just so she knows how it feels to be on the other end. :P

**paulf2k** · 07-15-2010, 08:44 AM

Originally Posted by bobjohnson

I dont believe this ever happened. Theres no way the cop saw him waiting for 13 minutes, and then he went through the red and the cop hit him with stunting and dangerous driving. MAYBE failure to obey signal but no way did he get a stunting charge out of it. And your friend waited at a light for 13 minutes but didnt see the cop??? How well was he looking at his surroundings before he ran that light???

I hate traffic cops as much as the next guy, but i cant believe this outrageous "my friend..." story, its too ridiculous.

I, too, questioned the event. I mean, if a cop, sees you waiting for 13mins at a light that wont change, in the middle of the night when there is no traffic, and you proceed cautiously, it is pretty outrageous to ticket a guy with such BS. Maybe he omitted certain details, like doing a wheelie, I don't know. But regardless, if anything can be said,you are breaking the law when you do it, so do proceed at your own risk and make the necessary checks for police and other vehicles.

**jibbijib** · 07-15-2010, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by Marbleboy

umm.. are you just joking?

Nope. Totally serious. All the time. Just like the guy in your avatar.

**bobjohnson** · 07-15-2010, 04:03 PM

Originally Posted by paulf2k

I, too, questioned the event. I mean, if a cop, sees you waiting for 13mins at a light that wont change, in the middle of the night when there is no traffic, and you proceed cautiously, it is pretty outrageous to ticket a guy with such BS. Maybe he omitted certain details, like doing a wheelie, I don't know. But regardless, if anything can be said,you are breaking the law when you do it, so do proceed at your own risk and make the necessary checks for police and other vehicles.

Nope, there are provisions in the law for running a malfunctioning red light. A red light that never changes can be classified as "malfunctioning" (in fact, as mentioned earlier, 3 minutes of solid red, or the walk signal counts down and then turns back into a walk signal qualify the light as "malfunctioning").

**Salos Dafee** · 07-15-2010, 07:27 PM

I think it has been established that a stoplight that never changes for you is malfunctioning,
and that a malfunctioning stoplight is properly treated as a four-way stop.

So you stop, stay stopped, satisfy yourself that the light is truly ignoring you, and then you yield to all competing traffic, then you go through the intersection in the direction in which you would go if the light were green.

The above has been the conclusion, and is supported by lots of laws.
(This thread has appeared often, and always gets lots of traffic.)

Here's an important issue. Imagine a cop arrives as you go through the red light,
stops you, listens to your explanation, then orders (or requests) you to move
your motorcycle onto the place where the light did not notice the bike,
just to verify that the stoplight is malfunctioning.

DO NOT CO-OPERATE. DO NOT PERFORM THIS EXPERIMENT.

You do not need to perform any experiments for the cop,
and nothing good can come of the experiment, no matter its outcome.

If the light notices your bike this time, you are going to get a ticket,
and you will have the dickens of a time persuading the court that
the stoplight malfunctioned.

If the light again fails to notice your bike, you gain nothing,
except perhaps the cop will consider believing your story.

If you do not perform this experiment, and eventually find yourself in court
defending the charge of entering an intersection contrary to a red light,
you will testify that the light malfunctioned, and you waited long enough
to be sure that no green light was coming. The prosecution will not have
any evidence that your testimony is false, so the case will be dismissed.

**toysareforboys** · 07-15-2010, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by Salos Dafee

DO NOT CO-OPERATE. DO NOT PERFORM THIS EXPERIMENT.

I remember reading something, like if the officer thought your exhaust was loud, but by the time he catches up to you, you're already pulled over and the bike is off... if he asks you to start the bike so he can hear the exhaust, you have to legally comply right?? If that's true, isn't it very similar if he asks you to demonstrate the malfunctioning light?

-Jamie M.

**bobjohnson** · 07-15-2010, 07:42 PM

Yep im pretty sure if the cop asks you to do something during a stop, you have to do it. Theres a law like failure to obey a peace officer or something. Now, whether or not it holds up in court (Police officer tells you to take off your pants and leaves you naked on the side of the road) is another story, but at the side of the road its pretty much the cops discretion and its a pretty bad idea to argue with him.

Thats what you always actually wait for the light. Wait 3 minutes. Then if the cop comes by and asks you to wait again, just wait. It wont turn faster than 3 minutes unless you just happened to cross over period from night time to day time stop light timing.