jon_bousfield Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Hi folks, To cut a long story short I got snapped going through a red light and got the NIP form on the doormat other day. I am considering going to court on it as the light changed very quickly and I believe the traffic light wasn't calibrated to stay on amber for a sufficient period of time to allow me to stop before the line when the lights changed from green. Local plod have confirmed amber period was 2.9s on the day in question. What I'm after basically is a manufacturers quoted stopping distance in dry conditions for an A5 from 40mph. With a quick bit of maths this would let me calculate whether the 2.9s is sufficient time to stop. Are there performance tables of such things I could refer to? Any help much appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eldavo69 Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 I'd look at the stopping distances given in the highway code and use these. It's well established that modern cars can stop a lot quicker than the highway code stated distances but the code is the rule of the road. Might as well make your job easier and choose the more generous distances/times. This site: http://www.ukspeedtraps.co.uk/stopping.htm Suggests a stopping time of 3 secs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 I'm surprised there are traffic lights on a 40mph road tbh, for that reason alone ... especially as some people would go over this limit and therefore not have enough braking time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 eh? Either i'm up too late or you are ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 It's the witching hour .... or something! Woke back up at 2am, usually awake now til 4ish before I have to wake up, feeling like I've not had much sleep Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 I went to bed at 03:15 and woke at 06:45. That's not good either. Anyway, why can't you have traffic lights on 40mph roads. I know lots of 70mph roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuprabob Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 You should always drive in such a manner that you can anticipate incidents and come to a stop safely. It's a long time since I read the highway code but doesn't it say you should always approach traffic with caution and with the expectation that they will change and you have to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon_bousfield Posted March 22, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Thanks eldavo69 I did write a letter to the nice folks at the local 'safety' camera patnership attaching my calc which used the 36m distance quoted in the highway code and got a fairly short response confirming that camera was set to 2.9s which was within government guidelines. Dont agree with it but might just take this one on the chin as I've got no faith in local magistrates to understand the logic of the argument and not just take the easy out and decide that if government guidance says it was calibrated within the stated range then it must be right. The 3 points and £60 is hard enough to swallow without running the risk of them topping it up! Understand your point Cuprabob but all I'm asking for is to be given a reasonable chance to stop at the lights when travelling within the posted seed limit for the road rather than it being a lottery every time you approach a set of lights. If these things really are 'safety' cameras and not just money makers for the local plod then they should be catching people who knowingly and willfully decide to drive through on red not people who don't phyically have enough time to react and stop and so have to continue on through. Irony of all this is its a dual speed/red light camera and they confirmed I was only doing 37mph as they snapped me. Had I decided to give it a bit more loud pedal to beat the red light and got a speeding ticket instead I would have been offered a speed awareness course as alternative to the points and fine!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cuprabob Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 I know what you're saying but it doesn't even look like you tried to slow down as you were clocked at 37mph and the speed limit is 40 mph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted March 22, 2012 Report Share Posted March 22, 2012 Depends what speed he was doing before he spotted the amber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now