would I get a ticket?

[daves100]

What was the right choice.


Last night when stopped at a red light on a one way street a ambulance was coming up from behind us lights and siren on.

with being stopped at the red light and a car next to us there was no where for the ambulance to go or get around us.

So I turned on my hazard lights to, checked to make sure the cross traffic was stopped and decided I need to go thought the red light.

wife said if I cop were to see that I would get a ticket, told her I would rather get a ticket then hold up an ambulance.


question would I have been given a ticket or not?

[retired]

It sounds like the road you have described is a two lane, one way road and both lanes were full. If that was the case and I saw you do what you did, if I stopped you at all, it would be to congratulate you for having the common sense to do what you did. I would not have given you a ticket.

[RickD427]

I would have done pretty much the same thing that you did. Sounds like very good judgement under the circumstances.

LEO's are trained to use, and are expected to use, equally sound judgement when enforcing the law.

I don't see a citation in that picture.

[IrishJoe3]

Absolutly what retired said. I would never cite you

[kjv146]

It sounds like the road you have described is a two lane, one way road and both lanes were full. If that was the case and I saw you do what you did, if I stopped you at all, it would be to congratulate you for having the common sense to do what you did. I would not have given you a ticket.

Exactly. Observed common sense is often very much appreciated by LE.

[A-J]

While you *did* violate one traffic law (going through the red), it was to not violate another (impeding emergency vehicle). You'd have to get the douchiest LEO on the planet to get a ticket for getting the F out the way, since most people do their best to NOT get out of the way 99% of the time (and then they scream WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG TO GET HERE!!!!).

[rcslotcar]

You did right, I would not have issued a cite.

[CBR_rider]

If someone issued you a cite for that (provided you did it safely, as you described), I would be pretty surprised if it held up in traffic court. I wouldn't have cited you either under such circumstances.

[Steve G]

What if running the red caused an accident. Who's at fault?

[P5Ret]

It depends on more than one factor, but if you aren't running the light with some amount of caution, no matter the circumstances it's going to be tough to not find you at fault. You did fine with the way you presented the original situation, sometimes your just going to have to let the emergency vehicle driver behind you make the decision on what he/she is going to do, when cross traffic won't stop.

[tyrist]

What if running the red caused an accident. Who's at fault?

The person running the red tri light.

[KD714]

I'd probably have to pull myself over and try to recover from the shock of witnessing someone use actual common sense when an emergency vehicle rolled up behind them.

Lights and sirens seem to drain the commonsense gene's ability to function in people the closer it gets to them.

[SMarquez]

My departments (retired) policy was to shut down the reds and siren if there was no way around a red light. Specifically stated not to push vehicles through red lights.

[SVT-40]

I'd probably have to pull myself over and try to recover from the shock of witnessing someone use actual common sense when an emergency vehicle rolled up behind them.

Lights and sirens seem to drain the commonsense gene's ability to function in people the closer it gets to them.

This!!!!!

[jmatt511]

It sounds like the road you have described is a two lane, one way road and both lanes were full. If that was the case and I saw you do what you did, if I stopped you at all, it would be to congratulate you for having the common sense to do what you did. I would not have given you a ticket.

+1 He said it.