The utility cyclist wrote:ScottishGeek wrote:thinkingaboutcycling wrote:Another example of police driver entitlement spotted this week!
Unless you saw the police vehicle drive into the area after the lights had gone to red then it is possible that the driver has done nothing wrong. He may, for example have been already there waiting to turn right when the lights changed.
Green doesn't mean go though does it, there's NEVER an excuse to proceed beyond the stop line, either the junction was going to be clear before you entered in which case you'd be able to go through the light phase just fine or you decided to just go through on the off chance instead of waiting behind the (first) stop line (thus not blocking/encroaching) as you should do even if the lights are green.
HC176
"You must not move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right.
Thus the HC rule 178 is IMHO a flawed one, there is no excuse to encroach into an ASL. the junction is clear to exit or it isn't, to suggest that if you cannot stop in time for the first stop line it's okay to encroach into an ASL is wrong, it means you made an error in judgement on approach to the junction, either going too fast or you couldn't know the junction would clear in time but thought you'd press on anyway.
You did read GMP's take on it didn't you?