On Tue, 13 May 2008 16:55:01 +0100, Ian Jackson
wrote:
>In message , Cynic
> writes
>>On Mon, 12 May 2008 19:52:36 +0100, Ian Jackson
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>I would not cross a red light or drive in a bus lane that was
>>>>protected by cameras in order to get out of the way of an emergency
>>>>vehicle. I'd mount a pavement, as that has an extremely low
>>>>probability of resulting in a FPN arriving in the post.
>>
>>>What happens at a crossroads if the traffic lights fail, and are all on
>>>red? A policeman, stands in the centre of the crossroads doing 'point
>>>duty', and directs alternate streams of traffic to proceed (despite what
>>>the lights say). In the meantime, the cameras are flashing away merrily.
>>>Would any automatic FPN notice stand up in court?
>>
>>Firstly, if the lights have failed or been switched off, the camera
>>would not be operating either.
>Wouldn't it?
Not impossible, but unlikely.
>>Secondly, there would be *many*
>>drivers that apparently did the same thing, providing lots of
>>corroborative evidence that I was legitimately following the
>>directions of a police officer.
>Surely a police car sitting behind you with the twos and blues going is
>tantamount to being given a direction by a police officer.
Absolutely not. Whatever makes you think it would be?
> But it seemed
>to carry no weight when that driver got nicked for driving through the
>lights so he could move out of the way.
In fact, in the case in question, the police car behind the defendant
did *not* have blues & twos switched on. A different police car that
did have its emergency lights on had gone past moments before, and the
driver said that he had *assumed* that the other police car would want
to do the same.
>>Thirdly, the copper on point duty
>>would be clearly visible in the photographs.
>Undoubtedly indisputable evidence. Were the police in the car with the
>twos and blues going never asked to confirm that they did want the
>driver to move out of the way?
If they had been asked whether they specifically instructed him to
procede against a red light, their answer would almost certainly have
been, "No".
--
Cynic
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