I just double checked in the Highway Code and an amber light on a traffic light does mean “you may go on only if you have already crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to stop might cause a collision”. I was starting to think it meant you had to speed up to nip through before the red light apeared (or just after), so that you can get to the next traffic queue a bit faster.

175 You MUST stop behind the white ‘Stop’ line across your side of the road unless the light is green. If the amber light appears you may go on only if you have already crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to stop might cause a collision.

Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/DG_070332

In Manchester, even a recently turned red light is considered an invitation to speed up and nip through, particularly if you’re employed as a bus or taxi driver.

And the f***ers would be the first to complain if I did it on my bike.

Theres 3 sets of lights on my commute where every morning and evening I will see 3 cars go through after red let alone amber.

There are a few sets on my commute where I can tell my lights are about to go green by the speed at which cars come out of the side road.

There is a differnt law in London

Green = Go
Amber = Keep going, nothing to worry about
Red = Oh **** it, just another 5 then

I’m never sure how good the brakes are on the vehicle behind, so erring on the side of caution I always follow that instruction by going through amber lights, since stopping might cause a collision. By extension, if I think the lights are about to change I’ll boot it to get through, as by that stage the car behind might not be able to stop before the line.

why do they have an orange light at all?

Because people are stupid.

I’ll never forget that this happened to me years ago, driving through the town centre where I live, approaching a set of traffic lights, I take a look in rear view mirror and see a police car following me very close, the car must have been only a five or six feet off my rear bumper. Just as I’m about ten feet away from the lights it changes from green to amber, so I check the rear view mirror again, the car is still there, I’m doing about 15-20 mph so I drive through. Low and behold surprise surprise once the other side of the junction Mr. Plod puts his blue light on. I pull over at the side of the road and the policeman walks up to the car and says to me…

Mr. P. What does a red light mean ?
Me. Stop
Mr. P. So why didn’t you then ?
Me. Because it was amber and it would have been dangerous for me to put my brakes on with you driving so close behind me
Mr. P. Out the car, yours is it etc etc etc….

He then proceeds to check every inch of the car looking for some thing to pull me up on and then gives me a producer.

???????????

I got bored of waiting at red lights so I floor it through every set now.

going through red lights is a big issue here in auckland. the trouble is each traffic direction is phased individually including the filter for each direction if there is one and then once it’s green you have to give way to pedestrians if there are any. so people know if it’s going to amber then the wait for when they can go again is a bloody long one. so you always get people speeding up to get through, then you get people not paying attention because it’s taken so long to go green that they’ve fallen asleep, are chatting on phone etc (no law here about using mobiles in the car)

While he was there Keva you should have warned him about driving with due care and attention and then reported him to the chief constable. Traffic police tend to forget they have to uphold not just enforce the law.