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Re: Yellow Lights

To: spitfires@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Yellow Lights
From: Flinthoof Ponypal <Flinters@picarefy.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 10:11:32 -0700
At 09:37 PM 6/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
>
>
>In California (the last time I read the Vehicle Code), you have no obligation
>to stop at a yellow light.  You just can't go through it if it is red.
>But .0.001 millisecond before is OK.
>


        Washington State declares that you cannot enter an intersection if the
light is yellow.  If you are already in the intersection at such time as
the light changes, then you will proceed through the intersection without
stopping.  Where this fails is that a person always races to the light in
hopes it won't change before they get there, but it often does just before
they do and are therefore illegally running the light.  If an officer sees
you enter the intersection while the light is yellow, then you'll get a
nasty ticket.  The reasoning is that the yellow light is long enough for a
driver to make a safe stop >IF< they were traveling at or below the posted
speed limit.  

        The only exemption to this law deals with commercial heavy trucks and
busses where the sheer mass and weight of these vehicles does not allow for
a making a safe stop at an intersection with the light turning yellow as
they approach.  If the driver does attempt to make a sudden stop to comply,
they are creating an even more unsafe condition as the vehicle isn't
designed for sudden stops, especially with a load on board.  Truck and bus
drivers instead will creep up to an intersection based on experience
knowing just about when the light will change to yellow and stop beforehand.


-Vegaman Dan
-66/69 Spitui!
-Out of work truck driver
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