pulled over (question)

[Raven]

attention: SWIMMER or other peace officers on the board

as i was leaving the providence AREA after work (4:30 pm)

i was cruising along and the light changed to yellow as i crossed the stop line and then quickly changed to red (within or ) at the intersection
and i figured i had just barely made the light...

my work van is loaded with equipment...ladders, compressor
and stacked boxes of tools ect... and i didn't want to have to
slam on the brakes and have EVERYTHING come Crashing forward
including Lumber... so i was trying to just make it and i did...

several minutes later the Rhody cop i had just passed....throws on the blues and i instantly pulled over and had both my hands out the window including my registration and drivers license to indicate
full compliance... no concealed weaponry (no threat) ect... before he could even step out of his vehicle.

he said: the reason i stopped you was because you went through
the red light back there... and i politely explained that when i crossed the stop line it had just turned to yellow ..and if you'll notice
in the back of my vehicle....if i had stopped abruptly all my equipment would have come crashing forward including the lumber.

he shined his flashlight in the back... agreed with my reasoning
and sent me on my merry way saying: "drive carefully"

and i replied :yes sir ,and thank you...

with that being said... what is the exact letter of the law regarding a drivers responsibility in that scenario...?

[Slingah]

yellow= stop if safe to do so

[BigFish]

Raven....are you sure you didn't goose it a bit to make the light???

[Adam_777]

I got a ticket in North Kingstown a few years back for that.He pulled me over a week before xmas,Pregnant wife in passenger seat,I did the same was past stop line on yellow and deep in the intersection on red.Did the whole nice guy sir thing.What a bunch of crap got me nowhere but traffic court.I was hoping a car would hit him on his way back to his car.Rookie kid was younger than me.I beleive at that point it's in the officers hands.You lucked out and had a good guy.

[Raven]

Originally Posted by BigFish

Raven....are you sure you didn't goose it a bit to make the light???

but only because stopping might have made a two by four smash my dash... and yeah i had a really nice officer...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
note:BF if you have time .....i asked you a question on hook placement
on the new lures in 08 thread.

[BigFish]

I thought I responded in the thread Raven.....check it lead foot!

[Swimmer]

Raven my criteria for this violation has always been the same. If I am sitting at/on an interection watching for this violation I would never stop someone if the light was red and the front tires of the vehicle I was watching was beyond the stop line, which in some cases is the crosswalk, into the intersection. In other words for me to stop a vehicle/operator for the red light violation the tires of the vehicle had to be on or behind the stop line/crosswalk, and not in the intersection. As we all know the yellow lights tells us to come to a stop and you have to be stopped when the light turns red. (O.K. insert jokes here) But there is also a margin of safety that covers what you relayed to us as your particular circumstances Raven. There are other circumstances when a vehicle and driver might get stopped, such as; flooring it to get through the intersection, coming up behind someone whose chose to stop in one lane and then switch lanes to go around the "safe driver" and go through the intersection. If the first car had the time and common sense then the second one should have, yada, yada, yada.

In Massachusetts the legal speed through any intersection, with or without traffic controls, is 20 m.p.h. No it has never been changed.

How many people turning left in an intersection do you see turn left in front of traffic as opposed to waiting and turning when thier view is clear after the traffic coming in the opposite direction passes by. Somebody does that in front of you and then it starts in both directions. Nobody can see clealyeither way. When you arrived at the crash that will inevitably occur, the first thing someone says to you is "I couldn't see", well ya, no chit, you turned left in front of a tri-axle dump truck. Why do you think you couldn't see? This is why MikeP and Bronko are so busy and the motoring public will always need us.

[Swimmer]

Originally Posted by #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

Law says I believe you must be 2/3 of the way through the intersection to avoid a ticket. Also if commercial I think you are required to have a partition behind the seats when carrying stuff like that...may be wrong on this but you may want to look into that partition if nothing else for safety reasons. A skil saw is WAY more than enough to kill you in an accident..even something as simple as a screwdriver could come forward..it's not the hitting in the back of the head you have to worry about it's the bouncing off the dash

Arrived at a crash one morning about two a.m. Whole back of the guys head was missing, because the do it yourselfer car mechanic that was driving the car that hit the tree didn't put his tools in a more appropriate place. I don't think he would have survive the tree/car impact anyways. But the tools made his death a certainty. Salty that brought back memories of about thirty years ago.

[leptar]

Where abouts?
Pawtucket/Rumford?

Newman street/Pawtucket ave intersection?

If so you were your lucky... No Ticket and No Accident...

[Hooper]

Originally Posted by Adam_777

I was hoping a car would hit him on his way back to his car.Rookie kid was younger than me.I beleive at that point it's in the officers hands.You lucked out and had a good guy.

Hey Adam,

Let me take you to task for this remark you wrote....but before I do, let me make sure I have the scenario correct. You may or may not have violated a traffic law a non-criminal civil fine, you had your wife with you, she's pregnant, and it's 7 days before Christmas. Am I right so far?

OK, here's where you lose me and you really piss me off.

You say that you were hoping this young police officer, who is doing the job he is being PAID to do, is hit by A CAR????????!

Let me tell you something, Adam. That young officer probably has parents who are proud of him, who love and care about him, like you do for your child I m sure. He may even have a family, a young wife, maybe pregnant, maybe they have a child or two already. They all hope and pray that their father comes home every night safe and in one piece, and you are wishing him struck, possibly killed by a moving motor vehicle??? Because you got a traffic fine that can be heard on appeal in a magistrates hearing?

What do you do for work Adam? Do you put on a bullet resistent vest each day, an semi-automatic handgun with 46 rounds of ammunition, drive a cruiser that has a patrol shotgun, and a patrol rifl, lifesaving AED and answer calls, without hesitation, no matter how scary they may be?

I doubt it. Who the %^*&#! do you think you are Adam?

Let's see if you have the balls to reply to this. But I seriously doubt you do. And you're damn right, I am a police officer.

[riverrat55]

Have to agree with Hooper!!!
My son in-law is a policeman and I worry about him every day he goes out on patrol!!! I pray he makes it back safely!!!
It is not an easy job in this day and age when anything can happen!!!
God Bless all those Police Officers out there every day risking it all for us!!!

[spence]

All lights are not created equal.

I was ticketed running a red as my wheels were entering the intersection on West Main Road in Middletown just north of the Stop N Shop where the lights change very fast. I was in 5th gear in my 4cyl Audi going the speed limit (35) and when I stepped on it she didn't accelerate all that fast.

What ticked me off was that the officer was way behind me, and given his position there's no way he could have a good fix on where exactly I was when the light changed. He even remarked I should just tell the judge I got stuck in the light change to try to get off.

Well WTF??? If it was that much of a non issue why give me a freaking ticket in the first place?

-spence

[mackenzie]

I certainly don't try to run lights. On more than one occasion I've looked it the rear view mirror after stopping on a yellow and seen the driver behind me flailing away. If I would have gone through a yellow they obviously would have gone through a red. When put in the situation of not being able to stop I usually tap the brakes to at least give the illusion that I tried.

[Slipknot]

Originally Posted by Hooper

Hey Adam,

Let me take you to task for this remark you wrote....but before I do, let me make sure I have the scenario correct. You may or may not have violated a traffic law a non-criminal civil fine, you had your wife with you, she's pregnant, and it's 7 days before Christmas. Am I right so far?

OK, here's where you lose me and you really piss me off.

You say that you were hoping this young police officer, who is doing the job he is being PAID to do, is hit by A CAR????????!

Let me tell you something, Adam. That young officer probably has parents who are proud of him, who love and care about him, like you do for your child I m sure. He may even have a family, a young wife, maybe pregnant, maybe they have a child or two already. They all hope and pray that their father comes home every night safe and in one piece, and you are wishing him struck, possibly killed by a moving motor vehicle??? Because you got a traffic fine that can be heard on appeal in a magistrates hearing?

What do you do for work Adam? Do you put on a bullet resistent vest each day, an semi-automatic handgun with 46 rounds of ammunition, drive a cruiser that has a patrol shotgun, and a patrol rifl, lifesaving AED and answer calls, without hesitation, no matter how scary they may be?

I doubt it. Who the %^*&#! do you think you are Adam?

Let's see if you have the balls to reply to this. But I seriously doubt you do. And you're damn right, I am a police officer.

Wow I didn't see his post before

Hooper, maybe we should email this to Adam ? that way he might respond I bet he is a young guy too. Maybe it was just internet beer muscles speaking

[Adam_777]

I havent seen this post in a while.No internet beer muscles.I don't need balls either.It's my opinion and I'm not sorry you don't like it.I was mad at the time of the ticket being handed to me and I used that scenario to explain how angry I was.He made it off the quiet country road unscathed without another car passing and we all lived to see another day.Maybe I should have said " I was so mad that I got a ticket for nothing that I saw red but I continued to to be polite and curteous until the fine young officer pulled out of sight".My way of explaining the experience in here was taken personal.Thats why I was called out.Now others want to run with it....If your a police officer then hey man thats what you chose to be.I don't feel bad for you.I don't care what you do to be honest with you.You should feel the same about me.You should have read my post a few more times,sucked it up and just turned the page instead of trying to start some drama and draw some atention to yourself and your job.I mean Who the %^*&#! do you think you are ?Like I said earlier I'm not sorry for the way you took it.I don't feel bad for you for being a cop.I don't need balls to reply to the comments you made or the other guy.

[riverrat55]

Adam
Let me clarify that I only agree with Hooper that being a Police officer is a tough job nowadays!!!
Everyone has a right to express their views and all may not agree!!!

[Slipknot]

It's winter, where would we be without drama ?

It's pretty sorry to hope harm to someone that pissed you off, that is what is sorry in my opinion. We all mature as we get older , I think you would have felt pretty bad for that officer if he happened to get hit walking back to his car on the quiet country road. Hey you mentioned it.

[Hooper]

Hey Adam, Get a clue you here. I am not asking for sympathy for being a cop, it's a great job, I get paid very well, I own a nice home that I can afford and I fish when ever I want. It sucks at times, mostly dealing with idiots, but the good far outweighs the bad and I still enjoy my work, for the most part 13+ years later.

Thank you Adam, for being polite to the officer, you're a better person than most. And you know what, for me, most of the time if someone is at least polite, yeah, I do consider that in whether or not I'll write them up. Unless what they did was really dangerous, then all bets are off. But sometimes, no matter what, you're getting whacked. So, life goes on, appeal it, continue to be personable and polite to the magistrate and you'll probably do fine.

Get my point Adam, every other day a cop dies in the line of duty, about 150 or so each year. Again, not searching for sympathy, I don't want it or need it, just a fact. Not to mention the 500 or so that take their own lives each year but that is another topic for another time.

I think your comment in a very open forum needed to be addressed. In the same way that I would expect to be challenged if I made a comment hoping my realtor was run over because they didn't sell my home, or my waiter gets beaten up because my eggs were served cold.... get it? It's a stupid comment, enough said.

Thank you for having the balls to reply. I am sure you are a good guy, hell, I'd probably love to have a coffee with you and throw some plugs for bass some night. Almost everyone here on S-B is, that's why I keep it in my favorties. But wishing ill on anyone is harsh, on cops, my close-knit family, that hits too close to home. And I was pissed off, now I'm not.

And in your next post, if you're looking for tips on how to catch bass, and I can help, I'll certainly chime in.

[Duke41]

Hooper you are a class guy. Stay safe and thanks.

[Adam_777]

The whole moral of the story behind the original post is that in my case it could have gone either way and even being polite as a man can be the officer still decided to ticket me.So it is up to the officer to give the ticket or not.The guy was an arse so I got upset considering the arrangement.I'm not mad at anyone here or have anything against police.I'm glad you officers all consider eachother family.In my trade we are not so loving of the guy next to us.Even being in the Union.I'm sure we would get along fine in the log run no problems.Slipknot on the whole felt bad for the guy if he got hit.I would have got out and helped the man even after costing me money.I was also a certified combat lifesaver when I was in the Military.Hope you guys have a good day today and the Pats take another win!I think it's time to put this post to rest.

[Hooper]

Originally Posted by Adam_777

The whole moral of the story behind the original post is that in my case it could have gone either way and even being polite as a man can be the officer still decided to ticket me.So it is up to the officer to give the ticket or not.The guy was an arse so I got upset considering the arrangement.I'm not mad at anyone here or have anything against police.I'm glad you officers all consider eachother family.In my trade we are not so loving of the guy next to us.Even being in the Union.I'm sure we would get along fine in the log run no problems.Slipknot on the whole felt bad for the guy if he got hit.I would have got out and helped the man even after costing me money.I was also a certified combat lifesaver when I was in the Military.Hope you guys have a good day today and the Pats take another win!I think it's time to put this post to rest.

I hear ya Adam, glad we were able to work it out! :-)