Transportation and Vehicle Safety: Traffic Laws, due regard, obeying the law

Question
If I stop at a yellow light to avoid going through a red light and someone smashes into me, am I responsible? The reason I'm asking is, sometime back, I stopped at a yellow light with a photo-enforced camera, but the truck behind me was coming too fast to stop and I had to get out of his way to keep from getting hit otherwise he would have knocked me through the light. I've also been sitting still and drivers will charge past me and through the red light. Am I being too cautious or are they being too reckless? Who's at risk here?

Answer
Hello William, and thanks for visiting AllExperts.

Although there are a few questions I need to ask, usually, you would not be responsible.

Firstly, you and everyone else using the roadway must drive in a manner that obeys all of the rules of the roadway and operates the vehicle with due regard for the safety of others.

What does this all mean you might ask?

Your primary task is to avoid collisions with people, vehicles and property at all times. If you must make a choice between public protection and obeying the law, it is acceptable in this case to temporarily violate the law in order to protect the lives of others along with their property. No court would ever find you liable for going through a red light, making an illegal lane change or similar example to avoid being hit by another vehicle or avoiding a pedestrian.

However, using the above example, if a driver was traveling too fast, reckless in the control of their vehicle or allowing distraction to prevent them from driving safely, then they can be cited if the court found that the situation was exasperated by those events.

In the case you had provided, the law requires you to stop unless doing so would have been impossible due to the timing of the light. Because you could safely stop without abrupt braking and remain completely in control, the law would have required this.

The law also requires everyone else who was behind you to drive at a speed and distance where stopping could safely be completed without colliding with your car.

Given this information, the truck would be fully at fault. Had you chosen to drive through the red light in this instance because you knew that you would be hit by the truck, this would have been acceptable as well.

Concerning your question regarding how to make future decisions, public safety must always take precedence. Where any action or inaction would cause harm to people or property, do what is safe and prudent to avoid it, regardless of the rules of the road.

The whole purpose of the Vehicle Code is to protect people and property. If your intended actions did just that, you have complied with the intent of the code even though you may have violated the letter of the law. I don't know of any judge that would put the letter of the law above the safety of those for who it was meant to protect.

A very long explanation, but I hope this has helped.

Terry