Reference: Utah Criminal and Traffic Code 2002, Section 41-6-24.
We get questions regarding Red Light Violations. They usually start out; "I got a ticket for running a red light...". They usually end up either saying they sure did, was not watching good enough and were lucky they didn't get hit in the intersection. A ticket being much preferable to the terrible damage and injury that intersection crashes cause.
On the other hand, others are irritated, believing they did not really deserve the ticket, they had entered the intersection on their green arrow or green light and were stuck in the intersection by other traffic or pedestrians crossing and had no recourse but to continue through when that traffic cleared. Some hesitate making their turn because of a fast-moving car approaching from ahead that they cannot determine is going to stop, prudence and caution being the better part of valor. They were not, in their opinion, being an unreasonable driver, pushing the redlight or impatiently dogging the bumper in front.
In some locations around the country the controlled-intersection laws require that you not "be in" the intersection when the red light turns on. Therefore, in those particular jurisdictions, you should not even enter the intersection until you can clear it on green, or at worst, yellow.
The law in Utah is set by the State Legislature, not by the cities, and certainly not by inadequately trained officers. The present Utah law states that you may not enter the intersection when the light is red. The intersection is defined as a longitudinal extension of the roadway through the intersection. Read that as being an imaginary line drawn from one gutter or roadway edge straight across the intersection to the corresponding gutter or roadway edge, the one ninety-degrees from your direction of travel. Usually the one you are going to turn onto.
So now the question: A vehicle enters the intersection while its light is green, and our discussion vehicle is intersected somewhere (does not matter where) by our imaginary line drawn from the edge of the roadway (or gutter) on one side of the car to it's corresponding roadway edge (or gutter) on the other side. In other words, it is by definition "in the intersection" on a green light.
Has our discussion vehicle "ran a redlight"? The answer of course is "No!". Our driver under discussion may have inadvertently been in a dangerous position when the light changed if someone came blasting through from the side, ...but the vehicle under discussion did not "run a redlight". In fact, the vehicle under discussion probably broke no laws at all, and other traffic must yield until our discussion vehicle clears the intersection.
Unfortunately, there are some aggressive drivers who think any vehicle stuck in the intersection when their light turns green is "fair game". Usually these types come from other jurisdictions where the laws are not the same, or are just plain ignorant of the laws in Utah, or are the same "road rage" drivers we find later out on the marbletop. When these aggressive types actually hit a car that was legally in the intersection they usually become intimately familiar with the term "last clear chance of avoidance". Usually their insurance company explains it to them for a monstrous increase in their premiums, or total cancellation of their coverage as the mood may strike. Or they may receive remedial training information from one of our judges. Or perhaps from an attorney of the person who was harmed by the aggressive act. Or sometimes from all three sources. But that is a matter for other discussions. This discussion is on the subject of "Running a Red Light".
From the complaints and stories we hear, there are apparently a few officers who have not had sufficient time to thoroughly examine the pertinent laws, and tend to make up their own to fit the occasion. This happens occasionally with some officers on laws other than red light matters. Sometimes these misguided or poorly trained or inadequately supervised officers are fortunate enough to have a caring supervisor who takes time to retrain them. Other times they do not have adequate supervision or training, and are simply a uniformed conduit waiting to transmit a false-arrest suit into the deep pockets of their particular political subdivision.
"False Arrest" is the lawyer's version of the super-lotto; just one ticket required to win the jackpot. It is a fact of life that some highly-motivated con-artists run the country, sometimes in groups, usually with hidden cameras or audio recorders, just looking for an officer who can be tricked into a false arrest.
But those administrative problems are matters for other discussions.