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-   -   Traffic signals: No 'Yellow Light' racket of the Delhi Traffic Police (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/193555-traffic-signals-no-yellow-light-racket-delhi-traffic-police.html)

I was surprised day before yesterday when my driver called me and said that he had been challaned for red light jumping at Lawrence Road Crossing in North Delhi. He also said that there was no yellow light when green suddenly blinked to red. I did not believe him till i watched the footage from the front dash-cam. The footage showed green light and then red light without any yellow. (see attached clip)

Next day i went to same crossing and made a video. This clearly showed the blinking green light and green arrow and then the red light - no yellow/amber.

I confronted the traffic policeman posted there. Initially he said that wiring is not properly maintained by the private company and that they have complained about same but no repairs have been done. Then i asked him that then why do they challan people for red light jumping. I also threatened that i'll send the footage to PM Modiji.

Then he became alert and said that they challan only those motorists who cross the stop line on blinking green. I told him that if someone to stop his vehicle on blinking green then the vehicle behind him will surely hit the one in front and also blame him for stopping on green. This way they are endangering life and limbs of people. Also how they can watch both the vehicle and the traffic signal at same time. He had no reply.

Today when i passed through that crossing i saw that amber/yellow light was properly functioning.

So, i wish to make members aware of this "yellow light" racket which some corrupt traffic policemen operate on some crossings which are long as well as crowded and challan people for red light jumping.

http://youtu.be/vB8VLxdUKho

In the second section of the video, I see the green signals blinking. Isn't a blinking right/straight analogous to amber? Would like to understand as that is what I assumed till today

In Delhi, everywhere its Red-Yellow-Green. So when its blinking green, people will cross and if someone stops, the vehicle behind will surely hit.

If blinking green would be equal to yellow, they would not have changed it to yellow light today. Its just manipulation to make fast buck.

Its international standard that minimum 3 second amber light must be there.
In Chicago and elsewhere, shortening of amber light timing is quiet common, again, to issue more tickets.

I second that, logically speaking, a blinking green should be analogous to a yellow/amber. Like we have a blinking right turn signal in green while the straight remains static.

I agree.

Blinking green = Amber is how I have always read the traffic signals as.

Whether you stop at amber (or blinking green) is a different discussion.

Good that you managed to get evidence. You have caught the law-enforcers red handed!

The blinking green is to be used incase the right / left turns are to be stopped, but the forward signal remains green. Some signals e.g. the T-intersections have this when the straight signals are on longer than the turn signals.

This is just a way to achieve their targets. Incase of a vehicle with no dashcam, it will be their word against your.

I do not think this is a racket. If the policemen are corrupt then why would they issue a challan receipt. The challan amount would go to the government treasury and not in their pockets.

If they are doing so to achieve their targets, then its a separate issue altogether.

Both Straight and Right are blinking. I would take that as the very first 'hint' that I need to carefully slow down and be ready to stop. If it was just the right arrow blinking, I would not bother much if I was heading straight.

Also, in your video, I noticed where you capture the signal separately later that the actual gap between blinking Greens and Red coming on cannot be seen as you have held the phone focusing just Amber and Green. You move the camera up only after the red one comes on. May also be a possibility that the Amber light has gone kaput.

It appears the cops are using the blinking green light to their advantage.

Even if it is equal to an amber light, it is not the norm in Delhi. So not many people would know about it and move ahead.

About issuing a challan, the cops have their tricks. If they are doing it to fill their day's quota, they will do it outright, even before you could approach them.

If they are looking for a bribe, they always talk to you first, giving you the chance to escape from the challan at a cheaper price.

And if you argue, be prepared to face the cop's wrath.

Once, my driver argued with a cop. My vehicle was seized. When I saw the challan, it had all kind of violations, the ones which weren't even true. Overspeeding, no seat belt, faulty number plate were added too.

The chauffeur could well have stopped at the time the light turned to red, if he was prepared to stop on seeing the green light blink. The amber light, or a blinking green light, is indicating to a driver that (s)he should prepare to stop.

Light green and blinking (green arrow) - the car is still well behind the stop line. It is obvious that some of the lights are malfunctioning (red-&-green arrow).


Green light goes off for a fraction of a second - red arrow points to location of functional light.


Red light comes on (red arrow) - the car has still not entered the junction. The traffic light post is visible to the right. Could well have stopped in the next 5 yards, even though technically there would have been a stop line violation.


Also, it's tough to notice the traffic lights at the far end with the setting sun shining directly in one's eyes.

Something similar happens in Kolkata, where traffic police challan drivers for violating the stop line and stopping when the red light comes on. Mercifully, Delhi Traffic Police are not penalizing people for doing either - jumping the red light / violating the stop line - at the same junction. There was a drive in Delhi some time ago to catch stop line violators, but I believe that rule is not being enforced nowadays.

While the assumption sounds valid logically, each country / (states in some cases) has a pattern on how the lights are supposed to be read. This is part of the Motor vehicles rule. Of course, this is India where anything and everything goes, unfortunately no one cares how the signal works and in many cases if it even works. Whereas people are supposed to slow down on amber, our folks read it as a last minute effort to break through the signal. So I am not surprised if a lowly traffic havaldar challans vehicles that pass through the signal once it turns red. He is just out there to meet his monthly quota.

(PS - I am not saying its right, its just that its a part of a larger broken system).

I found this interesting wiki article when i was googling up for traffic light patterns - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffi...reen_to_yellow

This is so common here in Bangalore. Even when the light turns to Red, people are still dashing through, doesn't matter if they are blocking the traffic from opposite direction or be on the verge of getting hit by another car. Who cares!

In a country like India, I guess we cannot have any blinking traffic light. If a Green light is blinking, people will tend to accept it as Green and will just go ahead. And then when it suddenly turns to Red, cars will screech to a stop increasing risks of accidents. This is what happens here. I have rarely seen a traffic light with Amber in between Red and Green.

Bottomline is, we need to have solid Greens, Ambers and Reds. Anything blinking just doesn't hold. lol:

You may be right in your observation but I doubt that even stopping on yellow light would save you from getting rear ended in Delhi. :D
People just expect you to keep pushing till the last vehicle on this side intersects the first biker from the side which has got the green signal now ( there is always that overzealous biker on that side who would have started riding at the penultimate second of the red signal).

The blinking green is similar to the amber light. But yes when most motorists do not know they have a low beam option in their car, I doubt they will know about this or have the will to even care.

It might be worthwhile to bring this to the attention of the powers that be

https://twitter.com/delhitrafficpol

https://www.facebook.com/dtptraffic/

https://twitter.com/cpdelhi

https://twitter.com/DelhiPolice

Blinking Green (Directional) Arrows are not the same as (Steady) Yellow lights.

Blinking directional green arrows are used in intersections to denote that the motorist may proceed in the mentioned direction if there is no cross traffic (priority should be given to cross traffic). Also, they stay on for 5-7 seconds depending on the junction capacity post which traffic should halt in the mentioned direction.

Also, Steady Green or Blinking (directional) Green cannot turn directly to Steady Red as per law. There should be a predefined duration of steady Amber (3-5 seconds as far as I have noticed) preceding steady Red. Amber denotes - vehicles which have already crossed the "Stop" line may proceed (they should get priority over cross traffic) but vehicles who haven't should halt.

So in this case, there definitely was foul play involved.

Here's a thread from our forum.