DEAR SGT. AL: DID I RUN A TRAFFIC LIGHT?

Having an arrow in either the red or yellow phase of a traffic light is optional,
but if there is one in the green phase,  that's the direction in which you MUST proceed.

DEAR SERGEANT AL: Last month I received a ticket for what the officer told me was an illegal turn, but for some reason if you look at the ticket you see that the officer wrote it for disobey a traffic control signal. The turn might have been illegal, but the light was green when I made the turn and I know that I didn't run a red light. What gives? Is this an incorrectly written ticket? Can I get it dismissed? --I WAS ALREADY NOT TICKETED BECAUSE IT GOT ME EXCITEDLY LOW ON NONSENSE, SEE?

Unless there are pavement markings or signs indicating what options in direction you have,  here you have the option of either proceeding in the direction of traffic through this intersection or executing a left turn. 

 DEAR I WANT BIG MELONS: Apparently the officer didn’t explain clearly or you still didn’t understand the circumstances as to why you were stopped and ticketed after he explained it to you. You committed an illegal turn by disobeying the traffic control devices or signals that told you that turns were illegal when the green light IS ALSO A STEADY GREEN ARROW.  When the light was green, did you look closely as to what was in the green lights before you executed the turn? Go back to the intersection, and this time without breaking the law again, take a better look (take video and still pictures while you're there as evidence, and take note of any signs as well). If there are arrows in any of the lights, this is telling you that movement through the intersection is restricted to the direction indicated in the lights. A red and/or yellow arrow light is setting you up to be prepared to execute a restricted movement through the intersection. Although red or yellow arrows are just a warning to let you know (if they’re even there which they don’t have to be), you must go in the direction indicated by the arrow when the arrow is in the green phase. Usually to reinforce the regulation, signs are additionally posted to make that regulation enforceable.  What I think happened here with you is that these are the same circumstances we usually face at a busy intersection when we make a left turn from the left lane. The difference here was that you weren’t paying attention to the arrows in the traffic lights (not expecting to see arrows in the lights) and you probably didn't see the signs that were posted around them. You then made a turn at an intersection that was prohibited, and looking at this situation under other circumstances, it probably looks like there was no reason why you couldn't make that turn. This is what probably threw you off.

If you come to an intersection where there are green arrows accompanied by any kind of signs like these, you are good to go for getting a ticket if you do not obey the green arrows in the lights.

If you are going to plead not guilty, start taking pictures of what you see and what the officer might have seen from where he was observing you (that’s important because that might be two different things). In addition to the green arrows, are there signs posted indicating that turns were illegal? That’s important, because that might help or hurt your defense. If the signs and lights look too complex to understand, you might want to have a lawyer articulate your case since he/she probably will be better suited to make your case in front of judge instead of you. If it is more clear cut, then maybe you can be left to your own devices to defend yourself, but remember that means it’s easier for the officer to explain how you were obviously careless in making that turn. I won’t cite you for anything here MELONS: the ticket looks good, and you look more GUILTY than a DISMISSAL. Sorry to tellya, but it looks like you are the faulty one here and not the ticket. I’ll let the citing officer do any further explaining should you take him to court. Good luck!