Recently I have been given a ticket for not stopping on a stop sign at an intersection equipped with a pedestrian controlled light while it was green. I live in Vancouver and could say that such intersections exist everywhere and almost every driver in the city is aware of the problem. My experience is that this is common drivers' behavior and almost no one obeys the stop sign when the pedestrian light is halting the traffic of the crossing street. It seems to be dangerous to stop creating a hazardous situation if the driver behind expects you not to.
My questions:
- Is this a contradiction that this two traffic controls exist together and how would one interpret the situation?
- Would it be a case for revising and changing the rules.
- Do I have a ground to dispute the penalty?
- What authority should I talk to in order to address the issue?
This is the case of a heavily traveled street and a lightly traveled cross street. The intersection is controlled by pedestrian controlled traffic lights on the heavily traveled street and stop signs on the lightly traveled streets.
This gentleman has watched traffic approach the intersection on the lightly traveled street and seeing that traffic on the heavily traveled street was held up by a red light, carried on through the stop sign without stopping. He has copied this behaviour and been ticketed for doing so.
There should be no confusion here and the officer involved was enforcing the law with justification.
To answer the four points:
1) There is no contradiction here. Traffic facing the signals is controlled by the signal and traffic facing the signs is controlled by the sign.
2) I cannot see any reason to change the rules in this situation. It is probably the safest and most efficient setup given the circumstances.
3) One can always dispute the penalty, even when they know that they have disobeyed the law. There is more information on doing so in this article on disputing the penalty.
4) As the article says, you may dispute the penalty either in person or in writing. Your penalty dispute would be heard in front of a justice of the peace in traffic court if you choose to dispute in person. If you are considering promoting a change to the intersection you would need to convince the City Council to do so.
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