Contesting "Failure to Obey Traffic Control Signal (red light)"

[safemomma]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Colorado

I received a ticket for running a red light at 7:00am on a Saturday. I was approaching an unconventional four way intersection of double lanes. I was turning right from a right turn lane to the adjacent road, which is set at about a 120 degree turn. The turn arrow was yellow when I crossed the solid line, as well as the crosswalk. By the time I reached the next crosswalk, the light was red.

Do I have a case? Also, I yielded before turning and there were no cars at the opposite light, which was momentarily turning green. In addition, the only car at the intersection was the police officer next to me, whom I saw.

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Colorado

I received a ticket for running a red light at 7:00am on a Saturday. I was approaching an unconventional four way intersection of double lanes. I was turning right from a right turn lane to the adjacent road, which is set at about a 120 degree turn. The turn arrow was yellow when I crossed the solid line, as well as the crosswalk. By the time I reached the next crosswalk, the light was red.

Do I have a case? Also, I yielded before turning and there were no cars at the opposite light, which was momentarily turning green. In addition, the only car at the intersection was the police officer next to me, whom I saw.

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

I really don't think so. Last time I checked, a yellow light is a warning to slow down, not speed up and go before the light turns red. Clearly, there wasn't enough time to round the corner before the light changed, despite your thinking there was.

You really need to pay the ticket and take this as a lesson for what NOT to do next time.

 

[Proseguru]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Colorado

I received a ticket for running a red light at 7:00am on a Saturday. I was approaching an unconventional four way intersection of double lanes. I was turning right from a right turn lane to the adjacent road, which is set at about a 120 degree turn. The turn arrow was yellow when I crossed the solid line, as well as the crosswalk. By the time I reached the next crosswalk, the light was red.

Do I have a case? Also, I yielded before turning and there were no cars at the opposite light, which was momentarily turning green. In addition, the only car at the intersection was the police officer next to me, whom I saw.

Thank you, in advance, for your suggestions.

Interested in knowing what the officer said to you? He gave you a ticket for running a red light, not a yellow light. Cop car next to you and cutting it so close? Not wise. The officer likely thinks you went through w/o stopping when it was red. And that's enough for a conviction, regardless of your testimony.

 

[Zigner]

I really don't think so. Last time I checked, a yellow light is a warning to slow down, not speed up and go before the light turns red. Clearly, there wasn't enough time to round the corner before the light changed, despite your thinking there was.

You really need to pay the ticket and take this as a lesson for what NOT to do next time.

If the OP entered crossed the stop line, or the crosswalk on the nearside (if no stop line is present,) then the OP did NOT disobey the signal. He didn't have to get all the way around the corner before the light turned red.

 

[Cali408nia]

I really don't think so. Last time I checked, a yellow light is a warning to slow down, not speed up and go before the light turns red. Clearly, there wasn't enough time to round the corner before the light changed, despite your thinking there was.

You really need to pay the ticket and take this as a lesson for what NOT to do next time.

I disagree. The OP had to be slowing down to approach a right hand turn (although he didn't specifically state so I don't know of too many people that speed up for any kind of right hand turn even if the light is green). If the OP was able to slow down and yield to pedestrians and cross traffic, and make it partially through the intersection before the light turned red, I see no violation.