Pulling into an intersection to wait for left turn? Technically, you could be cited
Question: I was given a citation for failing to stop at a traffic signal. What happened was I was making a left turn at a four-way intersection; I entered the intersection on green and waited for a safe time to turn. The light turned yellow and I turned while the light was yellow. The officer says I ran the stop light claiming it was red. Can I fight this in court and how is this likely to turn out?
Answer: In the 2016 short film “Alibi,” Dalton Stone is accused of committing a murder. He’s innocent of that crime, but here’s the problem: His alibi would include confessing that he was having an affair with his brother’s wife. Basically, he got in trouble for the wrong thing. He’s not guilty of what he’s arrested for, but that doesn’t make him innocent.
Now I’m not equating traffic infractions with murder or adultery, but hear me out for a minute; I do see a little parallel here. In your question you stated that you made your turn while the light was yellow. I’m not a judge and this isn’t court, so I’ll stipulate to your description as factual without getting any input from the other side (a.k.a. the officer who wrote you the ticket). Actually, though, even if the light turned red while you were in the intersection, you wouldn’t be guilty of running a red light. You got in trouble for the wrong thing, and like Dalton Stone, that doesn’t make you innocent.
In your explanation you stated that you entered the intersection on a green light and then waited for a safe time to turn. Going through an intersection on a yellow light probably isn’t illegal, but entering an intersection when you don’t have a clear path to an exit probably is. Let me explain both of those “probably” statements.
Even if you’d entered on a yellow light you probably wouldn’t have been violating the law (yet). In Washington, a yellow light is a warning that a red light is coming soon. The law doesn’t prohibit entering an intersection on a yellow light. It’s what you’d call a permissive yellow law. Not every state takes the same position. Our neighbor to the south, Oregon, has what’s called a restrictive yellow law. Their law that states that drivers are required to stop at a yellow light unless the stop can’t be made safely.
What gets some people in trouble at a permissive yellow is when they speed up to try to beat the light. Here’s where the “probably” fits in. It’s not illegal to enter on a yellow, but it is a violation of the law to speed up when approaching an intersection. Our law lists several locations where drivers are to drive “at an appropriate reduced speed” and intersections top the list. Yep, that’s right. The law requires drivers to slow down when entering and driving through an intersection.
And now for the “probably” that you care about: You admitted that you entered the intersection and then had to wait for an opportunity to safely complete your turn. The law you most likely violated is titled, “Stopping when traffic obstructed.” This law, edited for brevity, states, “No driver shall enter an intersection unless there is sufficient space on the other side to accommodate the vehicle he or she is operating without obstructing the passage of other vehicles.”
We can clearly understand that this law applies when driving straight into an intersection, where backed up cars in congested traffic prevent a driver from making it all the way through. But does it apply to making a left turn? Here’s how the Department of Licensing interprets the law in the Driver Guide : “Drivers must not enter an intersection unless they can get through it without having to stop.” And referring again to the RCW, in the section on traffic signals, the law states that on a green light, a driver turning left “shall stop to allow other vehicles lawfully within the intersection to complete their movements.”
Here’s where the second “probably” fits in. The law is just vague enough to cause some disagreement as to its interpretation, and not everyone agrees that what you did violates the law. As to how it’ll turn out in court, I guess that depends on where the judge stands. You might successfully argue that you didn’t deserve the ticket for running a red light and simultaneously incriminate yourself for illegally entering an intersection.
