Spade5
Active Member
I am curious about laws governing broken trafic lights in other states/countries.
In Texas, if a trafic light is malfuctioning, the intersection is treated as an all way stop and the rules of right a way kick in. The first vehicle at the intersection has the right a way and if two approach at the same time where trafic paths would cross, the vehicle to your right has the right of way.
I encountered this yesterday and was faced with obeying the law and stopping risking getting rear ended or playing chicken with the F350 diesel making a legal turn into my path. I chose to stop and got screeching brakes and honking two cars or so back. This was a bad spot where the road curves and with the trees you cannot see the light until you are right on it. The cars behind me may not have been familiar with the road and didn't know the light was there.
Since people around here do not know how to stop completely at a stop sign and a red light means punch it so you can really cause damage to the vehicle you collide with, I figured most people missed the part about malfunctioning trafic lights.
I got to thinking about this and wondered what the law was in other places.
In Texas, if a trafic light is malfuctioning, the intersection is treated as an all way stop and the rules of right a way kick in. The first vehicle at the intersection has the right a way and if two approach at the same time where trafic paths would cross, the vehicle to your right has the right of way.
I encountered this yesterday and was faced with obeying the law and stopping risking getting rear ended or playing chicken with the F350 diesel making a legal turn into my path. I chose to stop and got screeching brakes and honking two cars or so back. This was a bad spot where the road curves and with the trees you cannot see the light until you are right on it. The cars behind me may not have been familiar with the road and didn't know the light was there.
Since people around here do not know how to stop completely at a stop sign and a red light means punch it so you can really cause damage to the vehicle you collide with, I figured most people missed the part about malfunctioning trafic lights.
I got to thinking about this and wondered what the law was in other places.