Legal Question in Traffic Law in Georgia

Failure to stop charge

Recently receive a failure to stop/obey a traffic light violation. I explained to the officer that I had entered the intersection on a yellow light and was 1/2 to 3/4 of the way through the intersection before the light turned red. The officer agreed that the light for her did not turn green until I was 1/2 to 3/4's of the way through the intersection. I then proceed to explain that this was not ''running'' a red light because I did not enter the intersection when the light was red, if anything my vehicle was 3/4 of the way through the intersection but the officer still gave me a ticket and proceeded to guess my speed of my vehicle without any radar/laser reading or pacing the vehicle. Anyway want to fight this violation but don't know the exact laws concerning this. I also received a fix it ticket for my front window tint being one shade to dark for the recently changed state law. The officer after arguing a little more about the “red light violation” then threatened to pull me over if she saw me again and tow my vehicle for the tint violation if I did not remove the tint. I really felt this was a threat and out of line and wanted to file a complaint but I don’t know if I have any legal grounds.


Asked on 12/07/05, 1:14 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Billy Tomlinson Tomlinson & Associates, LLC

Re: Failure to stop charge

You have several issues. First, the way the law reads, you must be able to "clear" the intersection prior to entering it. A yellow light is a warning that the intersection is about cease being "clear". Yellow mean prepare to stop. If it turned yellow while you were in the intersection then the light is timed wrong but it is not something that you are going to want to spend the money to prove. Second, officers are trained in speed estimation. I do not know what type of ticket you got bc you didn't say but you may have some challenge to a specific speed but not to "too fast for conditions". Third, the tint law was rewritten recently. It is something that was suspended for a period of one year while the legislature rewrote the law but has been in effect since July of this year.

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Answered on 12/07/05, 7:37 am


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