The comment I left t here no longer relevant because parent and child revised their comments after the fact. This is not a healthy way to have a discourse people.
EDIT it seems to be a misunderstanding based on the misinterpretation of original statement. It was edited since then to clarify, rendering the original discussion obsolete.
Cars should NOT stay on the crosswalk when the red light is on. You should only drive through the crosswalk if the light is green and there is space behind the crosswalk enough to fit your car. If you stay there, blocking the crosswalk - you are in the wrong.
Pedestrians, however, can enter the crosswalk on green and continue crossing the road even if the traffic light turns red. It’s still a good tone, however, to plan ahead and not make drivers wait.
Original comment preserved:
A Wikipedia piece on that very issue to hopefully settle us:
Red light prohibits entering the junction, not staying there. There are some rare regional deviations, such as in New York City, but generally staying after red is not a violation - at least as long as the junction is not specially marked by yellow grid.
Red light prohibits entering the junction, not staying there.
While true, That kind of talk leads to gridlock as more people enter the intersection expecting to go after the light is red. It also leads to more “stretching the yellow” well into red lights.
People don’t seem to get the distinction that it’s to allow getting unstuck. It’s not to encourage entering the intersection when you can’t go anywhere (welll … except for some poorly implemented intersections where that’s the only way to turn left)
When waiting at a red light, cars are supposed to stay out of the pedestrian crosswalk
Stopping in the crosswalk screws both pedestrians and people trying to see to safely make a right on red.
The red light cameras here will call that running a red light, you have to leave it clear by law. That’s a spoken rule.
It’s a written rule, but where I live no one seems to pay any attention to it.
EDIT: Comment below is a product of misunderstanding of the original statement. I thought it was about pedestrians.
To be fair, at a red light you are legally expected to not initiate the crossing. You can finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.
But a polite thing to do is to not enter the crosswalk if you can’t cross it before red turns on.
Sorry I wasn’t clear, I meant cars should stay out of the pedestrian crosswalk. Editted
Oh, then that’s true! And that’s their legal obligation
The comment I left t here no longer relevant because parent and child revised their comments after the fact. This is not a healthy way to have a discourse people.
EDIT it seems to be a misunderstanding based on the misinterpretation of original statement. It was edited since then to clarify, rendering the original discussion obsolete.
Cars should NOT stay on the crosswalk when the red light is on. You should only drive through the crosswalk if the light is green and there is space behind the crosswalk enough to fit your car. If you stay there, blocking the crosswalk - you are in the wrong.
Pedestrians, however, can enter the crosswalk on green and continue crossing the road even if the traffic light turns red. It’s still a good tone, however, to plan ahead and not make drivers wait.
Original comment preserved:
A Wikipedia piece on that very issue to hopefully settle us:
Red light prohibits entering the junction, not staying there. There are some rare regional deviations, such as in New York City, but generally staying after red is not a violation - at least as long as the junction is not specially marked by yellow grid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_traffic_lights
While true, That kind of talk leads to gridlock as more people enter the intersection expecting to go after the light is red. It also leads to more “stretching the yellow” well into red lights.
People don’t seem to get the distinction that it’s to allow getting unstuck. It’s not to encourage entering the intersection when you can’t go anywhere (welll … except for some poorly implemented intersections where that’s the only way to turn left)