Red Light Violation Traffic Ticket

There are two types of red light violations. You can either receive a ticket at the scene of the incident by an officer or you can receive a photo enforcement ticket in the mail. The tickets that officers personally serve upon you are the more serious of the two.

Those are the tickets that actually go on your record and are reported to the Department of Licensing. Instead, camera tickets do not get reported to the DOL because they do not actually know who was driving the vehicle. They know who the car was registered to but not who was the actual driver so it is treated like a parking violation.

Similar to a stop sign, there are requirements as to where exactly you are supposed to stop when coming to a red light. If there is a stop line, you must stop behind it. If there is no stop sign, you must stop at the first edge of the cross walk. If there is neither a stop line nor a cross walk, then you must stop at the nearest point where you can visibly view traffic. Obviously, this point should not put you into the intersection where you would impact the passing of traffic.

The reality when it comes to red light tickets is that very few people actually blow right through a stop light. The most common ways people violate the statute is by trying to beat the light before it changes from yellow to red. Technically, it is legal for you to enter into an intersection on yellow but not on red. However, yellow does not mean speed up. The second and most common way that people violate the statute is during right hand turns on red. Most people know it is legal to make a right hand turn on a red light (assuming there are no signs present to the contrary). However, what people are careless about is making a complete stop prior to making that right turn. You cannot just slow, roll through the red, and make the turn. You first must completely stop like you were intending to go straight and then, if traffic is clear, make your right turn.

Give us a call at the Law Offices of Jason Newcombe to discuss your options on how to protect your record and your insurance rates.

Our Olympia criminal lawyers serve all of Thurston County. Call now for help and real answers.