Not true at all. If your light is red at any time that you are in the intersection (that would be any place past the stop bar, and the crosswalk is always past the stop bar) you are running the light and breaking the law. If you’re blocking the crosswalk, you’re blocking the intersection. You are absolutely not allowed to “finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.” If you see your light turn red at any point after you’ve crossed the stop bar, you’ve run the light, broken the law, and endangered everyone else.
EDIT it seems to be a misunderstanding based on the misinterpretation of original statement. It was edited since then to clarify, rendering the original discussion obsolete.
Cars should NOT stay on the crosswalk when the red light is on. You should only drive through the crosswalk if the light is green and there is space behind the crosswalk enough to fit your car. If you stay there, blocking the crosswalk - you are in the wrong.
Pedestrians, however, can enter the crosswalk on green and continue crossing the road even if the traffic light turns red. It’s still a good tone, however, to plan ahead and not make drivers wait.
Original comment preserved:
A Wikipedia piece on that very issue to hopefully settle us:
Red light prohibits entering the junction, not staying there. There are some rare regional deviations, such as in New York City, but generally staying after red is not a violation - at least as long as the junction is not specially marked by yellow grid.
When waiting at a red light, cars are supposed to stay out of the pedestrian crosswalk
Stopping in the crosswalk screws both pedestrians and people trying to see to safely make a right on red.
The red light cameras here will call that running a red light, you have to leave it clear by law. That’s a spoken rule.
EDIT: Comment below is a product of misunderstanding of the original statement. I thought it was about pedestrians.
To be fair, at a red light you are legally expected to not initiate the crossing. You can finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.
But a polite thing to do is to not enter the crosswalk if you can’t cross it before red turns on.
Sorry I wasn’t clear, I meant cars should stay out of the pedestrian crosswalk. Editted
Oh, then that’s true! And that’s their legal obligation
Not true at all. If your light is red at any time that you are in the intersection (that would be any place past the stop bar, and the crosswalk is always past the stop bar) you are running the light and breaking the law. If you’re blocking the crosswalk, you’re blocking the intersection. You are absolutely not allowed to “finish it freely at any pace even if the red is in.” If you see your light turn red at any point after you’ve crossed the stop bar, you’ve run the light, broken the law, and endangered everyone else.
EDIT it seems to be a misunderstanding based on the misinterpretation of original statement. It was edited since then to clarify, rendering the original discussion obsolete.
Cars should NOT stay on the crosswalk when the red light is on. You should only drive through the crosswalk if the light is green and there is space behind the crosswalk enough to fit your car. If you stay there, blocking the crosswalk - you are in the wrong.
Pedestrians, however, can enter the crosswalk on green and continue crossing the road even if the traffic light turns red. It’s still a good tone, however, to plan ahead and not make drivers wait.
Original comment preserved:
A Wikipedia piece on that very issue to hopefully settle us:
Red light prohibits entering the junction, not staying there. There are some rare regional deviations, such as in New York City, but generally staying after red is not a violation - at least as long as the junction is not specially marked by yellow grid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_traffic_lights