Dear Editor,
Recently I was driving along Church Street going west to east. At the traffic light near Guyana Stores, I stopped because the amber light had less than three seconds before the red light would have come on. Because I stopped, this caused the drivers behind me to toot their horns, probably indicating to me to continue driving, but I did not move. One of the drivers came alongside my vehicle and in not so friendly language told me that I should not have stopped as the light was still showing amber.
Last week I was proceeding north to south along High Street and as I reached the traffic light at the Brickdam intersection, the amber light had two seconds before it would have changed to red. So I cautiously continued driving. Through my rearview mirror, I observed a vehicle travelling close behind me. As I approached Hadfield Street, a traffic officer rode up alongside me and ordered that I pull over. The vehicle behind me was pulled over also.
The officer spoke to the driver of the other vehicle first and after that vehicle left, he came to me and asked why I breached the traffic light. I tried to explain to him what I actually did but he refused to listen and asked me to produce my documents. After examining the documents, he returned them and instructed me to drive the vehicle to Brickdam Police Station. He also told me that I would have to pay $10,000 bail.
Editor, I will like to know whether the law governing the application/regulation/operation of the amber light on the traffic light has been changed. According to what I know the law stipulates that when the amber light is flashing, the driver/motorist is required to stop before proceeding and when the amber light follows the green light, the driver/motorist can proceed with caution. I don’t know if these traffic officers are aware of this because a few drivers to whom I related my experience, indicated to me that they had similar experiences.
Let me hope that the actions by these officers are not unlawful and not driven by other motives, because I was also told that going to the station and posting bail is negotiable.
Yours faithfully,
Colin Gill
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to the Traffic Chief Mr Brian Joseph for any comment he might wish to make.
