Forced through a red light

[obonin]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA, San Francisco

At 5:49pm 2 weeks ago, I was about to stop at an orange light going red, when an emergency vehicle came behind me. After a split of a second, I decided to accelerate and go through the light, which turned red on me before I passed the white lines. So as soon as I'm crossing the intersection, I get flashed twice by a red light camera. The emergency vehicle turned left and proceeded through the intersection.

I was caught driving at 24mph. The Red Time Elapsed at Beginning of Violation is 0.5 secs.

So technically I am in the wrong, and should just pay the fine, do some traffic school. But I hesitate to do a written declaration pleading guilty of going through the Red Light, saying that I did so to let an emergency vehicle go through. Now I feel really stupid to have gone through for that emergency vehicle.

So what should I do? Written Declaration pleading guilty, or Traffic School?
Do I lose the right to do traffic school if I do the written declaration pleading guilty?

Thank you.

 

[FlyingRon]

You're supposed to pull to the right and stop, not blast ahead of the emergency vehicles. At 24 MPH, you weren't even close.

 

[obonin]

You're definitely right, but I didn't think it was a good idea to pull right and stop since if I had I would have pulled off in the middle of the intersection. At that time, instinctively, I thought the best was to pull right on the other side of the intersection in order to not block any part of the intersection so that vehicle could go anywhere it needed to.

I know it's best not to panic, but faced with 2 problems, the red light coming, and the emergency vehicle, I did. Making a fool of myself, which I'd rather avoid if I did do a written declaration.

So basically I should just pay for the fine and do traffic school, right?

Thank you.