Not true at all. If your light is red at any time that you are in the intersection (that would be any place past the stop bar, and the crosswalk is always past the stop bar) you are running the light and breaking the law. If you’re blocking the crosswalk, you’re blocking the intersection. You are absolutely not allowed to “finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.” If you see your light turn red at any point after you’ve crossed the stop bar, you’ve run the light, broken the law, and endangered everyone else.
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)
At a red light, you’re supposed to stay out of the pedestrian crosswalk
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
Not true at all. If your light is red at any time that you are in the intersection (that would be any place past the stop bar, and the crosswalk is always past the stop bar) you are running the light and breaking the law. If you’re blocking the crosswalk, you’re blocking the intersection. You are absolutely not allowed to “finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.” If you see your light turn red at any point after you’ve crossed the stop bar, you’ve run the light, broken the law, and endangered everyone else.
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)
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.