Police see light after amber turns to yellow

By PATRICK GOWER

Amber, orange or yellow?

By throwing doubt on the colour of the middle traffic light, Ray Keown was able to argue his way out of a traffic fine.

Mr Keown was pulled up by a police officer in May this year and charged with running a traffic light.

He received a traffic infringement notice describing his indiscretion as driving through an intersection when the signals were "amber".

The police evidence also described the lights as amber and even orange - but traffic regulations define the colour as yellow.

So the 49-year-old embarked on a personal crusade against the charge and the $150 fine.

"If they are going to prosecute me for going through a yellow light, then the light should be yellow, shouldn't it? I never dreamed that such a beautiful defence could be handed to me on a plate."

Police withdrew the charge against Mr Keown when he appeared in the Christchurch District Court last week after hearing of his "technical defence".

Mr Keown, a court employee for 22 years, defended himself on the charge and yesterday encouraged other "yellow-light runners" to do the same.

"The cops have to save face, because they don't want open slather at the lights, with people saying, 'Oh well, they can't ping me'."

The police national road safety manager, Superintendent Steve Fitzgerald, said the case was "a bit of an own goal".

"If you are going to get hung up on a word in the legislation, we would describe it as an 'unmeritorious technical defence' and ask the judge for a bit of common sense.

"Unfortunately, in this case we weren't as robust as we should have been."

Mr Fitzgerald said the file would be reviewed at police national headquarters.

He said they might remind prosecutors that they could amend such references in charges, and frontline staff to prepare their cases in language consistent with the law.

Zahir Mohamed, an Auckland lawyer who has spent 25 years specialising in defending traffic offences, agreed with police that "it was just luck" the prosecutor dropped the charge.

"In no way is it a loophole. The police are actually doing society a disservice by letting him off so easily."