when traffic lights are going amber but u dont have alot of space to brake smoothly..

should you still break? say your goin 30mph and your close to the traffic lights, they go amber, u can probably go through without them turning to red, but officially, and when in my practical exam, am i expected to stop even if it means braking instantly as soon as it gets to amber and the car jumps??

will i fail my practical if i go through an amber light?

thx

Reply 1

Advisor

The Highway Code says:

"AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident."

So,

•

You must make effective use of your mirrors well before arriving at any traffic light.

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You must anticipate that a light that has been green for some time is now increasingly likely to change to amber.

•

You must adjust your speed in anticipation of this happening, with due regard to what is in your mirrors.

•

You must now judge your distance from the first stop line and decide in advance the "point of no return". It's not as far away from the line as you think.

•

If the amber light shows, then having regard for all of the above, you MUST make every reasonable effort to stop at the first stop line, even if you have to brake firmer than usual, but this should not mean a sharp emergency stop.

Even firm braking can be smoothed out at the very end, so your passengers aren't shaken.

Where there are two stop lines at a cycle refuge area, then if you consider that you cannot reasonably stop at the first stop line, then you MUST still make every effort to stop before the second, even if this means you will stop within the cycle box. This is simply an unfortunate circumstance, but you cannot use the "point of no return" as an excuse to continue travelling across a lengthy junction against the lights. You MUST NOT enter a cycle box after the red light shows.

Following the above advice, by the time the red light shows, you will either be long gone across the junction, or already stopped at either one of the lines. After the red light has appeared, you MUST NOT cross either of the lines if you have not yet reached them.

In summary, crossing a stop line on amber will be assessed (both by driving examiners and the police) according to whether you ran a "fresh" amber or a "stale" amber.

(edited 9 years ago)

Reply 2

rickfloss

A tip- before you reach the lights, check left right for people standing buy, and also accelerate to 30mph 100m or so before the traffic lights and carry on keeping your foot hovering on the brake, that way your car slows down to like 25mph and you can stop w/o worrying about too sharp a stop

Reply 3

wrenny

I had this scenario in a lesson once. The light was amber and if I had braked I would have ended up performing an emergency stop, so I carried on.

Reply 4

tígertíger

I went through an amber light in my practical test which I probably should have stopped for. I did have the time to stop but chose to maintain my speed as I believed I'd make it through before it changed to red (I did, but it was still a gamble that I shouldn't have taken). It was noted down as something I needed to work on, it might actually have been a minor, but I wasn't failed for it. Had the situation been even a tiny bit different I'm sure the examiner would have been harsher about it, so it's not a good habit to get into. Don't try to rush through traffic lights so that you don't have to stop. If you're too close to the junction to do anything without slamming on your brakes then carry on and don't worry about it, but if it's feasible for you to stop, then stop.

Reply 5

lombardo

Original post by BarBar-John

I failed my practical on this. The light had just turned amber as i was approaching the lights, i didn't think i had enough time to stop infront of the stop line so kept going, and this is how i failed. The examiner said as there was no vehicle behind me then i should have stopped, if there was a vehicle behind me then it was fine to go, as stopping would have affected the driver behind.

On my next lesson i told my instructor where and when i failed and he said 'if i had time to think of stopping or going, i should have stopped'.

Hope the above will help