red light cameras

Right on red is commonly allowed most places if there's no cross-traffic flowing. The most common thing is going thru an intersection just as the light goes red. Mass (80,000 lbs) and inertia have alot to do with this; it takes a whoooole lot more real estate to stop a big rig.

You'll hear about "stale green". That means that if you did not see that green light up ahead come on you treat it as if it was about to turn red.... start slowing down way back there.

 

Any time I see one of those ####### cameras, I stop at the intersection, green or not, and wait for it to turn green again. It's especially fun on US-78 coming out of Memphis... the truck traffic is so high.

"Hey ____, the light is green..."

No ####, Sherlock... What was your first clue?

 

Most states you can, unless it is marked.

But getting an 80,000 lb, 53' trailer with another 30' or more tractor attached to it that goes from 0 to 60 in 5 minutes? Most automobile drivers (fourwheelers) do not understand this! Until there job as a shadow maker gets off shored and they have to learn to drive a truck for a living.

The lights are set up for cars, not 18 wheelers. There are places where you can't get a rig across the intersection BEFORE it turns red without abusing the heck out of the truck! You become a bit of a opportunist as a trucker and you take every break you can get. You just can't run over the light pole as you do it. If you are sticking out in the intersection trying to get across, you have to clear it when it turns red.

Nothing is clockwork in trucking.

 

As a Professional Driver you have to allow for the camera, slow down earlier than a car would. Drive just under the speed limit thru towns.

I here a lot of excuse's but bottom line if you choose to drive for a living learn how to adjust for these things.

You always have to assume its going to turn red and adjust your approach accordingly.

And the short answer is yes we get the tickets in the mail, just like the local 4 wheelers, and Our employers will rat us out and tell the police who was driving the truck.

 

As a Professional Driver, I do allow for the camera. It's just too bad I wasn't "allowed" to use my 12 gauge on the camera.

Check the timing on one of those lights with a stopwatch sometime... Safety my ###.

 

My brother is a Missouri Trooper. He told me something I find interesting about these cameras. I don't know if it's true, and I sure don't want to be the guinea pig to test it out. However...
Red light cameras take three photos. The first is a full shot of the front as the vehicle enters the intersection. This is used to ID the vehicle and any license plate. Normally, there isn't a good picture of the driver.
The second is a closer shot thru the windshield to ID the driver.
the third is a rear shot to catch the plate and to ID the car.
Now here's the rub...
A camera will catch the first shot of a truck. Normally can't see the driver.
The second is aimed for a car or pickup truck. It turns out a beautiful shot of the truck's grill. Windshield is too high.
The third usually catches the trailer somewhere between the front and the middle.
They can't use the cameras to ID the driver or truck properly, so they're just tossed aside.
I asked my brother in law, a county mountie from Portland OR and he told me they just toss the pics of big rigs thru intersections because the judges won't convict since the lights are tuned for autos, not trucks.
So there ya go.

 

As long as you did not run a red light you should have no trouble. The light "knows" that the moving vehicle in the intersection entered before the light changed.

But, more prudently, "Predict" the light and set up for a stop just in case.

 

Run one in Hanibal, Mo and you get a very nice picture of a truck driver! Ask Cotton Candy about that! She'll be glad to tell you and what she was doing when she had her picture taken!

EVERY town is different! They have their own laws! Some don't even worry about the drivers picture as the OWNER of the vehicle is responsible for the thing! They can not say, when they get to court "Golly Gee your honor I'm a moron and lent my $15,000 or $40,000 auto to someone and I don't know who I lent it to knowing full well that I paid for the cheap insurance and that they will drop me like a hot rock if I let some drunk drive my car" They ticket the vehicle and the owner gets to pick up the bill! The excuse of I don't know who, is BS and that judge knows it and you get a ticket unless you really have more money that sence and hire a lawyer on this no brainer ticket!

Yes, some toss it but, companies who get the summons will let the court know who they signed the truck to and yeah try to tell a judge that you weren't driving at that time, as the company will fire your stupid arse in a heartbeat! They aren't paying for some drivers lack of judgment!

I'll put it this way! And I AM an ARSE when it comes to certain things! First I NEVER got a ticket I didn't deserve! I earned them all! If I was so stupid as to run a red light with that monster camera sitting up there and viewable from 1/2 mile away then oh HELLO YES I earned that one for being stupid enough for thinking the 35 MPH meant even approaching an intersection with the freaking camera taking pictures!

AS I am saying they put them there for a reason. For people who took a test and read a book on the rules of the road to follow those rules and EVERY SINGLE Divers manual I've seen have ALL said the same thing. To SLOW down approaching an intersection! That is NOT a raceway you're driving on! If some MORON hits you in the rear because you see the light starting a cycle and stop then it's HIS ticketand front end If he opens that blowhole under his nose on the CB, I WILL and HAVE told him 1)where to put it. 2)That he should have left earlier and planned his day a little better. 3) to KMA! IDC what the problem is!

So what if it's a "money maker?"

It's a money maker because that intersection is known for idiots running the lights and that maybe there have been a higher average of accidents there due to these idiots! Now, if I offended anyone who got a ticket from a red light camera...TOUGH! SLOW YOU ARSE DOWN! Take the punishment for doing something stupid and getting caught for it!


What if some moron, who, oh say raped your daughter, had his picture taken as he did it and screamed "you can't do that" and the court says "Oh, you're right " and let him go! Would you be screaming the woe is me song now? No someone will still argue the point! OR that this is not a proper analogy! Watch they will! I can't use RAPE to running a red light? OK run the red light and KILL someone! is that still wrong?
SHOW ME what the difference is? Please I'm just a truck driver here with no intelligence to see right from wrong when you get caught for doing something wrong!

What? just because you're in a car and breaking the law and got caught is different? HMMM Just grow a pair, admit you did something dumb and got caught and pay the stupid ticket! It's a punishment even if the city makes a few extra bucks off of it.

They're betting on two things here. One, that you DID learn a lesson and never run a red light anywhere in the world again as the loss of money taught you a lesson! OR Two, that you run the stupid thing again, don't have an accident and kill someone and they'll make more money off of you because you didn't learn that a red light does cycle

It would also help if you paid more attention to what you are doing by first hanging up that stupid cell as we all know men and some women can NOT drive and talk on a cell at the same time and do it safely! They can talk on a CB and drive safely but why who knows why? it a mystery that man will never know! Don't believe me? Watch a driver try to back up or back up while talking on a CB or a cell! The one on the CB will turn on flashes, turn off his head lights when dark, maybe make 1 pull up and tell a great joke all at the same time. The cell user... naah I aint going there!

If you've been driving longer than a teeny bopper with a learners permit we ALL know that city lights almost always have a cross walk and know that when those "walk" lights start to flash and that by number 10 that light is starting a new cycle! JUST FREAKING STOP! You'll lose how much time out of you life that I just KNOW any halfway GOOD driver actually planned into his driving time for the day! I KNOW you did! And don't try that excuse of "they dispatched me late!" You're STILL in charge of the truck! As my dad and commanding officers and Sargent's in the Army used to say "there are NO excuses!" Especially if you're in charge!

Also if you entered that intersection when or soon after that thing changed into that pretty yellow colored light expect a ticket in the mail! We are NOT talking rocker science here but for some it is! It's to hard for them to remember they aren't in the Vett running a red light but a slow truck!

As far as I'm concerned if you get the ticket you earned it! Make all the excuses you want about them being unconstitutional or whatever you want! Driving is not a right! It's a privilege! More than a month behind the wheel and you should know all the rules and have figured out how red lights work and the warning signs as to when they are cycling!

Go back and reread that AUTOMOBILE handbook! It still applies to a person who holds a CDL even though some of us seem to think it has nothing to do with trucks! It does! If it didn't then we would have ANOTHER CLASS or endorsement to add to the CDL called the "F" class! That would really set everyone off as well you know the gooberment if they can charge a trucker for something this would be where they stat! It's great that I don't have to pay for the M but add the car and they'll, try to get something out of us!

Approach the intersection with caution or like it could cost you a days pay because it could!

This town I live in has these nice expensive signs set up on every road and street coming into town and then all through town that make it so only the morons out there can't figure out what the letters grouped in certain patterns say which is really simple 1st grade level. They read "Run Red pay $100" and it has a picture of a red light on it! You've been warned! We also have the big signs warning those not to bright that the upcoming intersection has camera!

Guess what? A retired MISSOURI STATE TROOPER ran one, got his ticket and took it to the MO State supreme court and actually won for being a moron! The reason being is that Springfield didn't follow the rules or that he was not ticketed by a union member and that only the car got the ticket! No Really! The car got the ticket. He would not have received any points or MVR write up and he went to the state about it! OK, He won, our cameras don't work right now BUT the city if fixing a few "legal" issues and when they turn them back on I bet this officer is going to have a ton of people camped out on his front lawn! You have got to love the working of the human mind!

Just pay attention to your surroundings! It's not hard to look past an up coming traffic light and see a "Red Light Camera" sitting in the air! It's also not hard to watch the cross walk lights or lights facing in the opposite direction and watch for the changing of the lights and get ready to stop! That's life in the fast lane. Life has to stop! Live with it! And keep your money in your pocket and your truck OFF that family of four in the intersection!

OH God I really need a job as my rants get longer and longer! But they're good rants and not like Castro could do!
Just be safe and watch those lights as the life you save could be yours!