by Cleveland Police Chief Wes Snyder
posted May 15, 2008
A yellow traffic light means caution, not go faster. Cleveland Police Department officers issue many citations for stop light violations throughout the year. However, we still receive numerous complaints both written and verbal about motorists running red lights. It seems to be a problem at several locations throughout the city.
Cleveland Municipal Code 15-507 and TCA 14-545 state that the yellow traffic signal means caution. As a general rule traffic lights only remain yellow for three to four seconds before changing to red. Instead of accelerating when a traffic light changes to yellow motorists should be braking. That is of course unless you are already within the intersection or traveling at such a speed that abrupt braking may be dangerous.
If you get a red light during rush hour traffic at one of our city’s busiest intersections, the longest amount of time you would wait for the light to go through a complete cycle is 120 seconds. Waiting only two minutes for the light to return to green is much wiser than running the red light and causing a crash.
Red light traffic cameras are scheduled to be installed at several intersections within the city limits in the near future. Warnings will be issued the first 30 days of operation. Thereafter $50 citations will be issued to the registered owner of the vehicle caught on camera.
We live in a busy world and everyone always seems to be in a hurry. But if we will be careful to obey traffic signals, we can reduce the high number of accidents that occur in our city each year.
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