Safe Speed Forums

I was driving yesterday through a unfamiliar town and came to a junction where I thought I only had to give way. (In the far left lane) So I gave way and then saw the red light !
It occurred to me - what do red lights with camera's on look like ?

Thanks.

These are the camera's close up.

Thgere's no point in showing a close up of the lights; the cameras wouldn't be on the lights themselves. The photos from red light cameras must show the vehicle past the stop line, and the lights themselves at the red phase (in the same photo).

This site will probably give you your answer: http://www.speedcameramap.co.uk/

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Views expressed are personal opinions and are not necessarily shared by the Safe Speed campaign

Thanks for the link.

I can see it easy now, but when I go to unfamiliar places then sometimes I get confused with different lights, lanes and whatever.

well i'm confused.... where's the stop line for the lights ?
is that it beyond the first light & give way line ?
what's the give way line for giving way to ??

Yeah that's it.

ah found it on the maps.....
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 3&t=k&z=19

you obviously were confused.... you were in a bus lane, of which the give way appears to be part of a traffic light controlled bus gate.

Not to sure. I'll post a better picture in a minute.

Ok. Feel dumb now. My excuse is I only passed my test a year ago lol

these things happen.
just worth reviewing in your head how you ended up there without noticing.

I don't know why I did it. I just got in the lane without thinking. At the time I thought it was just the left hand lane, even though it's a different color

I'm not a reckless driver or anything. I do try my best. I Just get confused sometimes with places that I haven't been before.

Plus I worry about getting 6 points and having to do both tests again, so that adds a bit of pressure too. Probably sounds stupid to experienced drivers.

Plus I think having to do both tests is a bit of a scam.

How long have they been doing that? What do you guys think about it?

I realise new drivers must be safe on the roads but I still think it's a money thing more than anything else. Maybe I'm wrong.

It depends on your penalty and what the Court rules if it goes that far but the Government site here & Here or this site (drivingban) have a few pointers for you here.

I agree I think it is completely un-necessary - I do think that the reminders of the rules however is potentially good, but this could easily be achieved if you attended a How to Drive Better Attendance Session (type of program). However will it truly help the problem that you got into ? Talking it over with others like on here will help you figure out what went wrong and then how to be a better driver thereafter - lesson learned. You are conscientious enough to seek help, and what better driver can there be than one that wants to do better and to learn !

I was on a lane once that was red and I was spending un-necessary time looking for bus lane times when there were non - it was 'just' the colour of the road and I was all fine & legal, - I assume left over from a previous scheme ! So all that time I spent looking was time that I could have spent on looking out for real and important dangers and potential hazards.
The distraction to driving in favour compliance of rules and regulations shows just how far Road Safety has fallen, it is appalling as that un-necessary distraction may cause an accident or stop you from an earlier / early warning of a genuine problem.
Previous road safety messages like "Keep Your Eyes on the Road" has been dropped for make sure you comply with everything then look at the road - type of non-sense.

You will have mistaken a feature for something else either through lack of thought about it when that happened, failed to think about it at all and 'were in automatic mode' and by the time you 'realised' that something was 'wrong' and 'confusing' you were already in an un-usual position and so spending time trying to process the forward route as well as analyse the path just taken and try to recall any information that you had missed to make sense of your mistake. While doing all that, you were not thinking or concentrating about the next part of the route, as well, and that is when you can easily miss vital clues to the next furnishings or instructions that might be right in front of you. Your brain was simply doing something else or possibly even thinking about something else altogether of course !
By the time your brain was processing that feature, you were likely in top of it, or in it, or passed it.

There seems to be an almost unwritten 'rule' that making mistakes is somehow unforgivable, but this is wrong, we learn by mistakes. Some of the very best drivers that I know still make mistakes albeit small precision ones, but when they were younger they too made big mistakes.
Mistakes are not bad. What the Authorities have to try and work towards is that your 'default driving ' (automatic driving) is a default to safety than one of inability well below the general safety level. hence why we have Driving Tests and 'standards' to try to achieve this level of minimal acceptable level of 'safe driving'.
Plus I worry about getting 6 points and having to do both tests again, so that adds a bit of pressure too. Probably sounds stupid to experienced drivers.[/quote]You are rightly horrified at the mistake - it is highly unlikely in the rest of your driving career that you will never forget this and that alone will keep you safe.
Ask yourself this, had a car been pulling out of the junction or a 40 ton lorry was oncoming, would you have not stopped and considered their action, before proceeding though the narrowing gap in the road?
In which case you were only momentarily 'distracted' not totally in cloud ( and miles away for ages, it was a moment and then, your safety driving instincts kicked in as you needed to pay attention to the road ahead - now, - and you did. You immediately processed the new information and later came on here to learn and discuss. That is excellent and good. Well Done A good driver in the making ...

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Certainly seems like a confusing junction where traffic in the right lane goes to a stop line and traffic in the left lane has to give way...to what? Might be worth writing to your local highways dept and see if anyone can explain it...my money is on that they can't and will probaly change it in a few years, when they get a "round toit"

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.

it's a bus gate.... when detected the earlier set of lights will go red allowing the bus to pass through the give way unhindered to the main lights.
not really designed for a car.... (taxi maybe?) or in my experience a bicycle either!

Please note that some posts have been edited in this tread inc title.

When we make a mistake on the road apart, from the immediate requirement to reduce risk, the later action is to analyse what happened, why it happened and how to learn from that experience.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Bearing in mind the physics of the location, the red lights might well be somewhat back lit by the sun (esp in winter) too making it possibly harder to see the lights at times.
Perhaps too with so many designated lanes these days the left lane for going left and the right lane for straight on, especially with only a left / straight option.
One big disadvantage to lane specifications, control the traffic too much and they stop choosing the best & safest options but 'go sheep fashion'.

I cannot say that I can see the 'red' on the Google maps either ... although the previous photos show a hint of it.

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Safe Speed for Intelligent Road Safety through proper research, experience & guidance.

Thanks for the replies everyone. This is a great forum and very helpful. Thanks.

The lane lettering is a giveaway: BUS LANE.
The sign indicates it is without time limits.
It is however virtually unenforceable, there is no sign at the road junction at Garfield Avenue.#
I believe that the New Drivers Act came into force in 1997.
It requires that if you collect six or more penalty points within the next two years after passing your test (from the date/time of same) then your driving licence is revoked.
You have to apply for a new provisional licence and take the full test (theory/hazard/practical).
On passing the test again your licence will be marked with 6 points, which, I understand, will have the effect of one point.
Until 3 years have passed.

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56 years after it was decided it was needed, the Bedford Bypass is nearing completion. The last single carriageway length of it.We have the most photogenic mayor though, always being photographed doing nothing