In Maine, Can You Legally Run a Red Light Late at Night?

We've all pointlessly sat at a red light at 3 a.m.

I go to work pretty early in the morning, so I've often been on the road by myself, twiddling my thumbs at a red light. Literally the only car on the entire road, and I'm just sitting there, getting older by the minute, waiting for the light to change. And I always swear out loud about it, thinking there must be a better way.

Once in a great while, I feel frustrated enough and badass enough that I will just go. Obviously, I stop at the light, but then I take a quick look around and if I see no other cars, and especially if there are no cops, I go. It makes me feel like Smokey and the Bandit or something. Or one of the Dukes of Hazzard. I feel invincible.

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I know I can't be the only one....

And I'm not. I saw a post on Reddit a while back where one Mainer was talking about doing the same thing. Honestly, I expected everyone in the thread to say something similar. However, that was far from the case. Almost everyone in the thread was afraid of either the police or other cars coming out of nowhere. No one seemed on board.

According to Maine law, there are no exceptions for running a red light. There's no world where you can legally get away with it. Will you be hauled off to jail? Likely not. Will you get a ticket? Quite possibly. On the other hand, people speed all the time despite knowing full well that they could get in deep trouble for doing it.

But still, it's a totally illegal thing to do, and if a cop does see you do it, they're likely to haul you over and have a brief exchange of ideas as to why you might think that's an OK thing to do. So, have your crappy answer ready just in case. It'll either work, or it won't. But either way, you'll give a cop a good laugh that morning.

Red lights have probably been on the books forever, and so have some of these laws...