Transporting a Person for Emergency Medical Care Through a Red Light: Is it Subject to a Penalty?

At Point b, Clause 3, Article 10 of the 2008 Road Traffic Law, the regulations are as follows:

Traffic signals have three colors, regulated as follows:

- A green signal means go;

- A red signal means stop;

- A yellow signal means stop before the stop line, except in cases where the vehicle has crossed the stop line, then it may proceed; in case of a flashing yellow signal, it is allowed to proceed but must reduce speed, pay attention, and yield to pedestrians.

Thus, in principle, a red traffic signal means the prohibition of proceeding. However, in the case you mentioned, in rural areas where emergency vehicles are not promptly available, if you transport an individual who has been severely injured past the red signal, you will not be fined because:

Article 11 of the 2012 Law on Handling Administrative Violations stipulates cases where administrative violations are not penalized as follows:

- Performing administrative violations in urgent situations;

- Performing administrative violations in legitimate self-defense;

- Performing administrative violations due to unexpected events;

- Performing administrative violations due to force majeure events;

Therefore, it can be seen that if you transport the injured person as you described, it is considered an urgent situation, and in such cases or other cases as mentioned above, you will not be subject to administrative penalties. In summary, in the case of transporting someone for emergency treatment and running a red signal, you will not be fined.

Sincerely!