Possibly Faulty Traffic Light

Rawrkun on 26/01/2024 - 00:49
Last edited 26/01/2024 - 10:14 by 2 other users

My partner and I was just driving home after dinner earlier, when we came to a red traffic light.

It's a quiet road that we are very familiar with, and normally the light wouldn't take too long to change but this time we waited for more than 7 mins and it's still stuck in red. Thinking that the light was faulty when the road is practically empty for so long, my partner decided to just drive through it and we were caught in the camera, which really suck considering that the double demerit just started.

We have video recording from our dash cam. What are the chances to contest this. Is there any way to check if there's actually something wrong with the light, otherwise we'll just cop it.

Automotive

Comments

    • Dollar General on 26/01/2024 - 09:12
      +5

      If the road was practically empty for 7 minutes should have reversed the car a bit and drove through having crossed to the other side of the road to avoid triggering the camera

  • 87percent on 26/01/2024 - 09:20
    +1

    I always thought there was no leniency with red light cameras, as it’s a clear breaking of the rule?

    Also, it wasn’t the red light camera that was (potentially) faulty, it was the traffic light

  • Hvrd on 26/01/2024 - 10:13

    7 mins isn't even that long, maybe if you waited 10

    • Domingo on 26/01/2024 - 10:38
      +6

      10 mins isn't even that long, maybe if you waited 13

      • Hvrd on 26/01/2024 - 10:52

        10 has a better ring to it

    • Alexander420 on 26/01/2024 - 11:51
      +6

      Still arguing with the mrs from the day we married 4 years 20 months ago, she said the same thing:
      “7mins isn’t even that long”

      • Aerith-Waifu on 26/01/2024 - 16:36
        +1

        Anything over 2 mins is considered superman these days.

        • John Kimble on 26/01/2024 - 16:49

          2 minutes!? Enough with the humblebrags!

        • Alexander420 on 26/01/2024 - 17:24

          Idk man, maybe it depends on your society i guess? I am in big D energy group and most able to do 15mins +

      • pjetson on 26/01/2024 - 17:34
        +3

        4 years 20 months

        Is that different to 5 years 8 months?

    • sam-1966 on 26/01/2024 - 16:05
      +1

      7 and 13 are prime numbers. That might help.

    • payless69 on 27/01/2024 - 09:43
      +1

      I thought QLD had the world record for empty intersections.
      But then again there was a time NSW had a government?

  • GordonD on 26/01/2024 - 10:24
    +2

    Been in a similar situation.

    Was first in line. Couldn't back up because a queue formed behind me. Couldn't legally turn left because there was a slip lane, couldn't legally go through the lights, plus all the other directions were getting green so they could have gotten a green when I ran the red, plus couldn't legally do a u-turn. Couldn't legally touch my phone and report the lights were faulty. Waited for 22 minutes.

    Complained to the Police Minister that all the laws telling me what I couldn't do meant there was nothing I could do except sit there and hope the traffic lights monitoring system detected the fault, and rebooted the controller. He just passed it on to the local police area commander who said the police would have had the discretion whether or not to charge me in the circumstances. But how do I prove that the lights had been red for 22 minutes, and what if I'd taken the chance and run the red and a crash had happened.

    In the OP's situation the authorities and/or magistrate would have had the discretion to drop the charge. But he would have had to prove the circumstances justified that.

    • Bren20 on 26/01/2024 - 20:23

      What state? In Vic there's a log of all traffic light operations

      • MS Paint on 26/01/2024 - 20:35
        -1

        State of Despair

  • GordonD on 26/01/2024 - 10:31
    +1

    The longest queue I've ever seen in that sort of circumstance was because it was a T-intersection of a minor and major road (Parramatta Rd), the minor road only got green if someone was there wanting to turn onto the major Rd, and the idiot at the front of the queue hadn't stopped over the sensor loop. Had to get out of my car, run down to the head of the queue, abuse the idiot causing the problem, and tell them to move forward onto the sensor, then run like hell back to my car so I wouldn't hold up everyone behind me.

    OP, you did stop immediately before the stop line, over the sensor in the road, did you?

  • bobbified on 26/01/2024 - 11:48
    +1

    which really suck considering that the double demerit just started.

    Some goòd news for you.. Red light offences don't attract double demerits!

  • ihfree on 26/01/2024 - 13:45
    +2

    Obviously, you knew the camera was there. What did you discuss after you realised it wasn't changing?

    • I'll just take the points
    • Ozbargain will know what to do
    • Should we Google how to trigger a traffic lights change?
    • WhyAmICommenting on 29/01/2024 - 01:33

      Edit: I thought she was alone. Bad team effort lol.

  • Ghost47 on 26/01/2024 - 14:47

    If you really want to get out of it just write a letter to the relevant authority and explain what happened and see what they say. Contact the road authority and ask about the light or get it rectified so it doesn't happen to other people.

  • superuser on 26/01/2024 - 16:55
    +2

    This is one if the thing i hate, 2023 and we still use the dinosaur technology, can't implement the smart camera to watch the traffic flow and change the light.

    • JediNite77 on 27/01/2024 - 08:20
      +3

      2024 even :)

  • hopper on 26/01/2024 - 18:07
    +2

    7 mins

    Shouldn't she be happy it's lasted that long

  • Eeples on 26/01/2024 - 18:36

    Your partner decided on your advice?

  • PopCounty on 26/01/2024 - 22:26

    Damn. Sorry about that OP.
    Why on earth Vicroads or so, haven't put sensor confirmation light configured. Meaning if the car has triggered the sensor, a small light should lit to affirm the sensor confirmation. This could be installed to the pole. Maybe time to petition via change.org?

  • digitalbath on 26/01/2024 - 23:56
    -4

    Your partner broke the law, was given a fine. Pay it.

  • mitt on 27/01/2024 - 00:42
    +2

    Had this happen a lot when I used to ride a motorbike.

    A few times I had to get off & hit a pedestrian button to cycle the lights.

    • superuser on 28/01/2024 - 09:54
      +1

      I know I'm not the only one doing it, even when driving a car!

  • DiscoJango on 27/01/2024 - 08:27
    +2

    Ozmoron member: yes, ill happily sit at a red light for over 10-30 minutes in the middle of the night, because thats the right thing to do!

    Regular human being: nah screw that im going.

    • TEER3X on 27/01/2024 - 08:54
      +1

      Those weren't the only two options, most regular people would either drive a little more forward or more back, push a pedestrian crossing light, some might choose to drive on the wrong side of the road or even cover their license plate, etc.

  • THICKnSLOW on 27/01/2024 - 09:36
    +1

    You might find that there's a closed loop traffic monitoring camera located at that intersection, and someone in the control center was having a laugh at the time.

  • Oz em on 27/01/2024 - 10:24
    +2

    Sometimes they are changed for emergency vehicles.
    What if a fire truck had come flying through and hit you?
    They may maintain the fine.
    Pressing the pedestrian crossing or turning around would have been safer options.

    • heysoph9 on 27/01/2024 - 22:03

      This is what I was thinking, maybe it was held red to clear the way for an emergency response vehicle.

  • pandawelch on 27/01/2024 - 15:45

    It's a quiet road that we are very familiar with

    we were caught in the camera

    You know the road and forgot there is a camera? Oh no

  • baaatender on 27/01/2024 - 17:39

    I wonder how the camera would register the event if you drive over the lines with a 7 minute interval between front and rear tires touching it?

  • Logical on 27/01/2024 - 18:11
    +2

    Next time please hop out and push the car through the intersection.

  • viper8548 on 27/01/2024 - 18:41

    100% too bar behind the sensor? please
    post footage.

  • Aust on 27/01/2024 - 19:08
    +1

    Please keep us informed of how you go contesting OP.

  • EBC on 27/01/2024 - 19:24

    If you are correct that it was faulty the red light camera will say it was 420+ seconds since the light turned red. Generally tickets will have this information on them. It should be easy to demonstrate with this and the dash cam footage whether the light was faulty. Then it should just be a matter of showing that it was done safely and I think a judge with common sense would let you off. And to those saying you should troubleshoot a faulty light, there is no way everyone is expected to know the intricacies of red light technology and how to overcome them.

    • MS Paint on 27/01/2024 - 19:56

      there is no way everyone is expected to know the intricacies of red light technology

      So the thousands of times drivers sit at red lights not once have they thought "I wonder what triggers that I'm here".

      Then they go home and spend mindless hours scrolling Facebook bullshit. A 20 second Google search could have satisfied their curiosity and taught them something.

      FFS.

      • EBC on 27/01/2024 - 20:01
        +2

        They could have, but curiosity isn't a prerequisite of driving.

  • SpendLess on 28/01/2024 - 01:52
    -1

    Tell them you are a sovereign citizen and these road rules dont apply to you

    • TEER3X on 28/01/2024 - 11:16

      I feel sorry for the cops having to deal with all these Facebook educated lawyers

  • Lockieasy on 28/01/2024 - 13:22
    +1

    I would probably duck out and hit the pedestrian crossing button if waiting that long and faced with a red light camera. Or just U-turn outta there. Not worth the hassle.

  • Steampunk on 28/01/2024 - 16:46

    I've had this happen only a couple of times and both times there were adjacent pedestrian crossings so a passenger hopped out and pressed it just in case there was a camera.

    There's a train crossing (Bonemill Rd for those on Brisbane Southside) where it's only one lane and unless your front tyres are about 1.5 from the solid line, it wont detect the car. Many times I've run out to the front car telling them to move close. So there are some crossings which have poor detection.

  • bmerigan on 28/01/2024 - 22:44

    I've had this happen on a turning lane red arrow near me. Lights which I use very regularly didn't detect me. Sat there for a long time with cars queueing behind me. Eventually I just went through. It seemed to detect cars after I moved off, took a long time to clear the queue though.

  • stewy on 28/01/2024 - 23:02

    There was an issue with a one of the sensor loops for the traffic lights in my town in NSW recently and from what I read on the local FB page, someone that was stuck rang 131700 and the operator was able to remotely reconfigure the traffic lights onto a timer sequence until the loop was repaired. Whilst what I read on FB is akin to chinese whispers, I had personally noticed something seemed amiss at the lights and then afterwards it was on an auto sequence, so I assume there is some truth to it.

    I'm not sure if TFNSW can access lights if they are on a council road, but given it has a red light speed camera, I'd imagine they would have remote access to the ones you were stuck at.

  • kaleidoscope on 29/01/2024 - 09:16

    I think for whatever reason your car failed to trigger the sensor on the road because from my experience at night times on quiet roads it changes quite fast with lack of traffic. You should write letter explaining the situation with video evidence from your camera. In the case they deny, I'd personally go to court because 7 minutes is way to long and it's reasonable to assume the traffic are faulty. Given you'd taken necessary precautions to enter the intersection safely while it is red, the judge might revoke the notice.

    Good luck!

  • WhatWouldBiggieDo on 29/01/2024 - 11:46

    Should've removed your number plates before driving through the intersection :)

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