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[bluephoenix]

I would prefer if people from australia that live in queensland would answer this but any comment is welcome.

I was driving along towards a green traffic light, I got close to it and it turned amber. My first reaction was to hit the breaks so I did however I was allready too close to the traffic light so I was sliding onto the middle of the intersection and the light was already red so I quickly went into second gear and quickly drove off (btw there was a police station next to the traffic light ).

My question is, can I get a criminal record for that?
I really can't allow myself to get even a minor one, you would understand if you were in my position.

Thanks in advance to anyone who answeres.

[Retro]

A criminal record? Not that I'm aware of, though I'm Canadian. Ought to just be a fine and possibly a demerit, depending on your driving license system. Running a red because you don't have enough time to stop is very different from just running a red, anyhow.

[Blargityblarg]

I'm down in Victoria, but I don't think you'd get a criminal record for a traffic offense like this. You can ask the Queensland Police yourself at the bottom of this page; If you have actually done something wrong, you can cast yourself in a good light, as well. Furthermore, I'm not even sure this is a traffic offense, and finally, if nobody noticed, you'll be fine.

[bluephoenix]

There were a lot of cars around I'm just gonna hope for the best and thank you all for the help.

[Pillow_Killer]

You finished an inavoidable maneuver, avoiding stopping at intersection. It's the right thing to do. Stopping at it would be the wrong thing to do.

[Astral]

Orange lights are still not red.

If it's going to be more of a hazard to slam your brakes than it would be to simply cruise through the intersection, by all means, keep cruising (especially applicable in rain or snow conditions, or if someone is directly behind you).

[tHe_silent_H]

I live in QLD, and I recently got my P's, from what i remember from what my instructor told me, amber means: Stop, if safe to do so". i.e. if you can't safely stop at an amber light, then you must keep driving through the intersection.

Edit: Also, if you had of stopped and then reversed back to the line, that is illegal, what you did is what the law states you must do in that situation.

[malimbar04]

In the US we had a huge court case over "amber" lights a while ago. Basically it comes down to whether or not you had enough time to stop. If you don't, you have to go through. If you do, you should have stopped. If you hit the breaks and stopped in the middle of the intersection, then you have no choice but to continue.

[nenjin]

We have cameras set up in the intersections here in my town, pretty much all the major ones.

Basically, the law doesn't care if you ran a yellow light. The law doesn't care if you locked up your brakes to avoid running a yellow light. The law cares if you just blew through a red light without trying to stop, or if you hit someone in the intersection.

Using the videos, they can calculate the speed of your vehicle as it passes through the intersection. If the camera shoots a photo of your car, it means you were in the intersection when it was red. They then calculate how fast your car was moving to determine what you were thinking. If you were photographed doing 50 in a 35 mile per hour zone, going through a red light, they assumed you raced to beat it and you get a ticket.

If you're photographed doing 40 in 35 and the photo was snapped with you in the middle of the intersection, they assumed you "rolled through on the yellow" and don't give you a ticket.

[Zrk2]

In Canada you are supposed to stop at orange lights if possible, if not you are supposed to continue through, that is why they have them.

[Blargityblarg]

Yeah, I think the meaning of orange lights is pretty universal.

[Grakelin]

This isn't even a traffic violation, except for the part where you nearly stopped in the middle of the intersection.

[Nikov]

I ran a red once in the middle of the night at the intersection next to city hall with two cops leaning on their cruiser watching me. We waved.

Trust me, your future career won't suffer.

[Grakelin]

True, but he was asking for advice from people in Australia, not from people who live in Hazzard.