Rant DAMN! Ran a red light?! Notice of Prosecution?! Help needed!!

no you have to stop at a stop sign. your describing a yield or give way sign

 

sorry posted twice

 

What I'm describing is a give way situation with a stop sign; although the letter of the law says you must stop (and in certain parts of the US I'm told you must stop for at least three seconds) but it's acceptable to give way instead, by coming to a near stop.

Or do you believe that the definition between where each sign is used is so black and white that it must be obeyed lest someone die?

 

Stop means your car must come to a complete stop i.e. 0mph before the solid white line lol.
If it is clear you can proceed

Give way means that if its clear as you are approaching the dashed white line you can continue without having to stop.

so the distinction is very clear and isnt subject to anyone own judgement

 

The distinction is where is a stop sign used and where is a give way sign used; imagine this simple hypothesis:

Your local roads department swaps all the stop and give way signs in your area. Do you:

A: Obey the new system although the roads are still as open / restricted as before.

B: Obey the old system as that worked fine for ages.

C: Use your judgment at each junction

 

hmm granted some stop signs are questionable but i will stop at a stop sign.

it may not be for long but i will stop.

i dont assume they dont know what they are doing so ill just use my own judgement instead, however strange they choice may be of placing stop and give ways signs.

for all i know they could be a lot of crashes at that junction so tey put a stop sign there to lower the risk.

 

your council decides which sign is more appriate and you just have to obey the sign

you have to stop at a stop sign, kinda where they got the name. whether or not anything is coming the letter of the law says come to a complete stop before proceding

http://www.trafficsignsandmeanings.co.uk/give-way-stop-signs-how-use-them.html

 

21 Days for a notice of intended prosecution and even then it only has to be in the post to the registered keepers last known address within those 21 days, they can actually extend it to however long a period they feel like if they cant trace the driver.

The OP mentioned the 1/2 day course that some offenders get sent on, that only applies to speeding offences and there is a very strict criteria, speed must be less than 36 in a 30 limit, driver must have 0 points and or not have any motoring offences within 3 years to qualify (probably excludes new drivers). Even then its entirely at the discretion of the local police force as to whether or not they offer the course or to offenders, some forces don't run the scheme. The course itself will cost the same as the fine and will eat up a day's holiday from work because they normally host it in the middle of nowhere, mine was at the now defunct Winfrith nuclear research site, which is now the home of our beloved plods HQ.

At the end of the day its a fine and 3 points, not the end of the world, take the hit and learn from the lesson (bloody expensive lesson admittedly).

 

The fine is Legit, it has my name and details much like the example posted in the last page - It is identicle to that.

I guess i will bite the bullet....UFK - Are you sure the driving course is only for speeding offences?

thankd for the support anyways guys...it is appreciated!

 

oh ok. out here you just have to pay a fine as they cannot prove who was driving.

 

Sounds like a scam to me, if the road traffic agency conacted you, you'd know about it! not a give us your details job as they have all the details they need.

I hate these fagots that try to play on the weak of mind or uninformed, imagin an old person recieving such letter before they know it the little S*** would have run off with there life savings as there just to trusting and feel as if they cant argue the case.

 

FFS, why would you jump to this conclusion, you haven't even seen the letter! The OP said it looks exactly like the one I posted in the last page, which also looks exactly like the one I received. It's a standard NIP letter sent out for all road traffic offences, so if you do break the law, this would be the first you knew about it.

If all they're asking for is a name and address of the driver, then I really don't see the problem. They already have that information because they've just sent you the damn letter, so I fail to see how it could be called a phishing scam.

Anyway, there's an easy way to find out - ask!

 

"If you hit me at 60mph I'll body pop"

 

I know they do this with speeding offences - your Police Borough should put a reference number on the thingy, and you can check out your actual photo on the net (I know for speeding, it's Safe Speed For Life, not sure about red lights).

Saying you don't know who was driving and not being able to prove you tried to at least find out who was (ie asking everyone who could have possibly driven the car) is a 6-pointer - you'll lose your licence, and have to sit all your tests again.

In cases of motoring offences, the letter is addressed and sent to the registered owner and keeper of the car, for them to identify the driver, who then has to fill in their name/address, if different to the owner/keeper, or just confirm if they're the same person, IIRC.

And yes, I am talking from experience - 39 in a 30, poor/next-to-no sign-posting for the speed change, me being careless... I got the speed awareness course, which, while boring, was better than points (and the speed course doesn't have to be reported to the insurance company)

 

In the UK if you cannot PROVE conclusively who it was, they fine and endorse the license of the registered keeper. They used to do it the same as you and you could get off with it but they changed it to put the onus on the keeper to either report their vehicle stolen or to take responsibility instead of worming out of it.

 

In Abu Dhabi, word on the ex-pat grapevine is you get deported for running red lights, even taxis slam on the breaks

Bristol recently put up a load of new speed / traffic light cameras, much harder to spot than the old ones cos they tend to blend in with all the other pavement clutter