The phrase to shoot a traffic-light (also to shoot the red light, to shoot the amber, etc.) means: to drive past a traffic-light when it indicates that one should stop.
—Cf. also ‘to shoot a traffic-light’: early American uses.
The earliest British-English uses that I have found of this phrase are as follows, in chronological order:
1-: From The Bright Side of Things: Joyous Woman’s Unconventional Outlook On Life, by ‘Daughter of Eve’, published in the Herald & Express (Torquay, Devon, England) of Saturday 7th July 1934 [No. 3,508, page 6, column 3]:
Look at the policemen!
Just think what it must have been like some of the days we have had lately, standing at a crossing in the full glare of the sun, directing traffic ceaselessly for hours on end, with nothing to shade the eyes but about half an inch of hard helmet […].
[…]
Would his glare cause any less trepidation in the heart of the motorist caught attempting to “shoot the lights” if it was surmounted by a sun helmet of the type affected by big game hunters, tropical explorers and others whose work or love of adventure calls them into extraordinarily hot climates?
2-: From Motoring, by ‘Drip Feed’, published in The Daily Mail (Hull, Yorkshire, England) of Saturday 21st July 1934 [No. 15,209, page 5, column 5]:
SHOOTING TRAFFIC SIGNALS
Traffic lights are a most useful modern development, and motorists who disregard them should not expect much sympathy in the law courts. It is a common sight to see drivers stamp on the accelerator in a desperate effort to “cross the line” before the traffic lights at Newland change from amber to red. This is an offence, because, strictly speaking, a driver should stop when the signal has changed from green to amber. The habit of speeding up to cross on the caution light is most likely to lead to a serious accident, because other motorists commit the comparable mistake of moving off on the yellow before the signal has turned to green.
3-: From The world toll of the road: The traffic problem in the U.S.A., by C. Patrick Thompson, published in The Sphere (London, England) of Saturday 15th September 1934 [Vol. 138, No. 1,808, page 386, column 3]:
MOTORISTS in orderly, law-abiding Britain are being summoned in their thousands for “shooting” the traffic lights and similar new minor offences. In the disorderly, undisciplined, lawless United States, however, such offences are rare.
4-: From Motoring Matters, by ‘P.A.’, motoring correspondent, published in the Perthshire Advertiser (Perth, Perthshire, Scotland) of Wednesday 7th November 1934 [124th Year, No. 7,860, page 6, column 2]:
I have noticed a considerable increase in the practice of overtaking without giving warning, and it is one that ought to be checked. […]
[…]
[…] Stealing past is a recreation just about as foolish and profitless as “shooting the lights” at a controlled crossing. It leads eventually to unpleasant consequences.
5-: From the Widnes Weekly News and District Reporter (Widnes, Lancashire, England) of Friday 12th April 1935 [page 6, column 6]:
SHOOTING THE AMBER.—John Lewis, of 37, Park Avenue, Widnes, who was fined 6s. at the local police court on Monday for disobeying the traffic signal at the junction of Victoria Road and Ditton Road, said that as he was passing the robot, the amber came on and he thought he was all right in going across.
6-: From The Fourth R is Road Safety, by Thomas H. Wisdom, published in the Daily Herald (London, England) of Friday 19th June 1936 [No. 6,348, page 15, column 4]:
We see, too frequently, mobile police exceeding the limit, “harrying” pedestrians on crossings, “shooting” traffic lights and ignoring HALT signs.
7-: From an article by Charles Fothergill, motoring correspondent, published in the Nottingham Journal (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) of Tuesday 21st July 1936 [No. 34,500, page 4, column 6]:
The provision of special courts for motoring offenders is something which the best type of road-user has been urging for years. It has been stressed time and time again that until an offending motorist is tried by a competent authority, who thoroughly understands modern road conditions and appreciates the difficulties under which the road-user labours, he cannot rely upon getting a fair crack of the whip. The great trouble at present is the lack of uniformity in the way of penalties. Whereas one bench of lay magistrates will fine a motorist £5 for accidentally “shooting” over a traffic light, another will impose only a nominal penalty in a case where a motorist has been guilty of the most flagrant dangerous driving.
8-: From The Crewe Chronicle (Crewe, Cheshire, England) of Saturday 25th July 1936 [page 5, column 5]:
“SHOOTING” THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS.
CYCLISTS MUST OBEY THEM, SAYS NORTHWICH BENCH.“I think some of these cyclists have an idea that the traffic control lights do not apply to them, and they ride through them,” said Mr. G. W. D. Dutton, Chairman at Northwich Petty Sessions, on Tuesday, in imposing a fine of 10s. on Arthur William Stafford Hall, butcher, 14, Victoria-road, Northwich, for failing to conform with a traffic sign while riding a bicycle.
Constable Marsden said he was observing the automatic traffic control at the junction of Station-road and Manchester-road, on June 17th, when defendant rode out of Victoria-road against the red light and turned into Station-road. When questioned about the offence, defendant said, “It is with them being off the previous day. I suppose it will cost me 10s.”
For a similar offence at the traffic lights at the junction of Brockhurst-street and London-road, Fred Ashbrook, apprentice boiler-maker, 65, East-avenue, Rudheath, was fined 10s. on the evidence of Constable Mathers, who said Ashbrook told him he could not stop his cycle.
Defendant, in a letter to the Court, said the brakes failed to act owing to oil and rain being on the rims of the wheels on his machine.
Cora Winifred Bayley, masseuse, Taunton, fined £2 for driving a car over the Station-road control against the red lights, wrote saying her offence was not deliberate, and declaring that she was not aware there was no filtration arrow on the red light.
Constable Cartlidge said defendant approached the lights when they were at red, and after hesitating she drove into Manchester-road. She told witness she was undecided what to do, and she thought the red light was only against traffic going straight on, while she was turning left.
9-: From an article by Thomas Tickler about the upcoming football matches, published in the Daily Mirror (London, England) of Friday 2nd October 1936 [No. 10,246, page 26, column 2]—the football stadium of Loftus Road is home to the Queens Park Rangers Football Club:
So much for the Second Division. In the top rank, Chelsea are faced with a poser for their home test with Portsmouth. […]
[…]
From first to third—as the “L” driver said when he was pulled up for shooting the lights. There’ll be no stop, caution, go about Loftus-road either. Q.P. Rangers entertain Luton, but not to a tea-party, for Luton are at full strength.
10-: From the Hampstead News. Hampstead, St. John’s Wood & Kilburn News and Advertiser (London, England) of Thursday 15th October 1936 [56th Year, No. 2,907, page 5, column 2]:
Motorists’ Information Bureau.
TRAFFIC CONTROL No. 2
by “Autochat”[…]
If your light is green and remains green, go ahead with just a careful eye on the traffic around you. If the light changes from green to amber as you approach it, then you must definitely stop, unless you have actually gone over the traffic line before the light changes, or unless it means that you would have to stop so quickly as to endanger other traffic. Putting on an extra spurt, and dashing across just before the opposing line of traffic starts, is known as “Shooting the Amber” and is illegal, dangerous and silly.
11-: From a letter to the Editor, by ‘Forty Years a Road User’, published in the Derby Evening Telegraph (Derby, Derbyshire, England) of Thursday 12th November 1936 [Vol. 99, No. 17,249, page 10, column 2]—the following is about omnibus drivers:
Mention should be made of the awkward position in which they draw their vehicles to stop, very often from three to five yards away from the pavement, with their front wheels ready to move off, causing much annoyance, inconvenience, and danger to other drivers. They shoot traffic lights half way over before the green light appears, pull over to stop overtaking traffic, trap others at road islands, accelerate or brake to the inconvenience of all other road users, cut corners many yards before arriving at a correct angle, and, generally speaking, the majority are a very selfish lot of drivers.
12-: From A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Colloquialisms and Catch-phrases, Solecisms and Catachreses, Nicknames, Vulgarisms and such Americanisms as have been naturalized (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd, [1937]), by the New Zealand-born British lexicographer Eric Honeywood Partridge (1894-1979) [page 761, column 1]:
shoot the amber. (Of a motorist) to increase speed when the amber light is showing, in order to pass before the red (‘stop’) light comes on : motorists’ : from late 1935.
13-: From an article in which Charles Fothergill gave hints to prevent road accidents during the next Bank Holiday, published in the Evening Chronicle (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland, England) of Friday 30th July 1937 [No. 19,116, page 8, column 7]:
Cyclists can be generous by using the [cycle] tracks and permitting a free flow of motor traffic on the busiest roads. They too can be generous with the less important roads and make everyone happier by riding not more than two abreast, giving necessary signals, not “shooting” the traffic lights, not weaving in and out of the traffic stream and not swerving.
14-: From an account of a cycling holiday in Germany, by Mr. E. H. Chillington, an assistant in the Walsall Co-operative Society’s chemist department, published in The Walsall Observer and South Staffordshire Chronicle (Walsall, Staffordshire, England) of Saturday 28th August 1937 [No. 3,592, page 4, column 6]:
“I spent an enjoyable evening going round the town [i.e., Hanover], shooting traffic lights which I never saw, cycling down certain verboten streets after 7-0 p.m. When they found I could not speak German they gave it up as hopeless, and told me to go. It was sometimes useful not to understand.”
15-: From the Daily Mirror (London, England) of Saturday 4th September 1937 [No. 10,532, page 13, column 1]:
YOUR COLOUR SENSE
CAN you see the red light, or have you any doubt about the green?
The British Association reveals the fact that the most frequent form of colour-blindness is a red-green one, two colours of vital importance in motoring to-day.
Those who have any ocular defect like this had better keep off the main tracks.
They cannot be sure of “shooting the amber” every time.
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