SEEING RED

Wellington’s five worst intersections for red-light running:* 1. Courtenay Place and Tory St – 28 red-light runners between 4.45pm and 5.45pm 2. Featherston and Whitmore streets – 23 between 7am and 8am 3. Vivian St and Cambridge Tce – 22 between 8am and 9am 4. Tory and Buckle streets – 22 between 4pm and 5pm 5. Pirie St and Kent Tce – 21 between 7am and 8am * Data from November 2011. Cars entering the intersection on a yellow light were not counted.

A yellow light means the traffic signal will soon turn red. You must stop at the intersection unless it is unsafe to do so.

If the light is red and you enter the intersection, you have committed an offence and could be fined $150.

If you enter the intersection on a yellow light, it will be at the discretion of a police officer as to whether you have broken the law.

On average, 26 deaths or serious injuries result from crashes at intersections in Wellington every year.

Motorists failing to give way or stop was a factor in a quarter of all crashes in Wellington in 2013.

In the year to July 2013, police ticketed 848 Wellington motorists for not stopping on the red and 89 for not stopping on the yellow signal.

Victoria St and Karo Drive is ranked the 32nd most dangerous intersection in the country. Between 2003 and 2012, it was the site of 23 crashes, including one fatality.

Joshua Lawton, 20, died of head and chest injuries after he rode his motorcycle through a red light and crashed into a car at the intersection of the Karo Drive bypass and Victoria St in April 2011.

Wellington taxi driver Bililigne Gebretsadik was found not guilty of three charges of careless driving causing the death of his unborn child after he ran a red light at the intersection of Adelaide Rd and John and Riddiford streets in Newtown in June 2011.