When I was a young man the Unofficial Highway Code for Urban Driving stated that you could "jump the lights" at crossroads by making a racing start as soon as the red and amber came on so that you were half way across the road before the lights turned green. The more rubber you laid on the road in doing this, the better.
Now it seems the Code says that the people coming across the junction can continue after their lights have turned red for either (a) up to 7 seconds or (b) for three consecutive cars, whichever is the greater. So jumping the lights doesn't happen - you can't start for several seconds after your lights have turned green.
So, when did this happen? And how did the change from early starters to late finishers come about? Was there a period in which people stopped starting early and then they shifted to finishing late (i.e. there was a transition period during which everybody obeyed the official Highway Code - seems unlikely). Or was there a period of carnage when the old early starters constantly crashed into the new late finishers (I can't remember this). Or were some traffic lights unofficially declared "earlies" and some "lates" until the lates took over everywhere?
