[Christ]

Regarding the camera image showing a yellow light and a red light on the same stalk, well... Gimme a friggin break, man. What yahoo couldn't beat that one in court?

The same argument you've held the whole time about human reaction time, when applied to the length of the yellow light before turning red, would have easily gotten that ticket thrown out in any reasonable court, provided the defendant wasn't acting like a moron. Yes, I've been to court. I've also beaten most of the 100+ tickets I've gotten since I was 16, mostly on technicalities. Unlike most drivers, I read/understand the laws of the areas I drive in.

Regarding reaction times:

Originally Posted by Visual Expert Human Factors: Driver Reaction Time

Expectation

Reaction times are greatly affected by whether the driver is alert to the need to brake. I've found it useful to divide alertness into three classes:

* Expected: the driver is alert and aware of the good possibility that braking will be necessary. This is the absolute best reaction time possible. The best estimate is 0.7 second. Of this, 0.5 is perception and 0.2 is movement, the time required to release the accelerator and to depress the brake pedal.

* Unexpected: the driver detects a common road signal such as a brake from the car ahead or from a traffic signal. Reaction time is somewhat slower, about 1.25 seconds. This is due to the increase in perception time to over a second with movement time still about 0.2 second.

* Surprise: the drive encounters a very unusual circumstance, such as a pedestrian or another car crossing the road in the near distance. There is extra time needed to interpret the event and to decide upon response. Reaction time depends to some extent on the distance to the obstacle and whether it is approaching from the side and is first seen in peripheral vision. The best estimate is 1.5 seconds for side incursions and perhaps a few tenths of a second faster for straight-ahead obstacles. Perception time is 1.2 seconds while movement time lengthens to 0.3 second.

The increased reaction time is due to several factors, including the need to interpret the novel situation and possibly to decide whether there is time to brake or whether steering is better response. Moreover, drivers encountering another vehicle or pedestrian that violates traffic regulations tend to hesitate, expecting the vehicle/pedestrian to eventually halt. Lastly, there can be response conflict that lengthens reaction time. For example, if a driver's only possible response requires steering into an oncoming traffic lane (to the left) there may be a hesitation.

Of course, there's also the idea that you're out of the several million people that live in California, and the several 10's of thousands that commute on the same road as you, and the several hundreds that are on that stretch of road within the same few seconds as you, you're probably not always the first person to come to that intersection, therefore, it's probably not always necessary that you slow down/stop/speed up at it. In fact, I'd wager that you're the person that gets stopped at the light (first in line) less than 20% of the times you pass it, unless you do something to directly affect your circumstances, such as slowing down every time you come near it. On top of that, the number of times you're approaching that specific light, and having it turn yellow at any point within the 220 feet threshold for the speed limit, is even less likely, making that argument basically moot. If the total number of times your specific argument was true came to even 10%, I'd be amazed. Truly.

Also, if you only accelerate back to the speed limit, it stands to reason that you could have avoided the scenario by just doing the damn speed limit to begin with, eh?