Cyclists - Please stop at red lights

[caimg]

caimg. Don't think people are converted judging by some of the comments here.

Yeah you're right but that's not necessarily down to them not agreeing...you're new and have every right to bring up a topic as important as this. Unfortunately there are some guys that have been here for ages and forget that some people are approaching topics for the first time (and so seem to be exasperated at the thought of talking about them again?)

I totally agree with you, and never jump reds. If you're impatient then dismount, walk down the pavement and mount again IMO. I've said it before that running reds angers every other road user, whether you're a car, bike, lorry, motorbike. It's an offense (right...?) and impatience or self-confidence / awareness isn't an excuse.

 

[Deleted member 1258]

[quote="Boris Bajic, post: 1843010, member: 20691"
Sadly, it appears that the rest of us will too. I've been over the figures several times, looking for a loophole.

I couldn't find one. Ian Cooper is right. It's just a matter of time. Finding this out has suddenly made me terribly sad. [/quote]

With most people there comes a time in their lives when they realise that there's more time behind them than there is in front of them, this makes them sad until they realise they haven't got time to be sad, sadly I passed that point several years ago.

 

[subaqua]

do the Instructors of the League of Ameican Bicyclists have their own Association ?

 

[Dan_h]

I jump red lights sometimes, usually it is early on Sunday morning at lights where I have clear visibility there is nothing coming and I know that I have to wait for a car to come up behind me to set off the pressure sensors that will allow me to go. I don't think that is dangerous, AND if I can wait 5 mnutes without them changing I believe I am allowed to carefully cross them so I am in effect speeding that process up a little!

 

[Fab Foodie]

It is relevant. No one has anything more recent that's better. As far as I know, those were the best studies done anywhere.I keep hoping that Stuart Reid et al will come out with a British study on the issue. No one seems interested, probably because it's such a no-brainer (Newsflash - Running red lights dangerous, claims new study! Also, rain is wet!) that it would be a complete waste of time.

What better, more recent and/or more relevant studies do you base your opinion on? The studies done by 'Gutfeeling et al' weren't exactly peer reviewed, last time I checked.

Just because nobody has come up with something better doesn't make it any more applicable.
But your 'no brainer' doesn't hold much water either. There's alot of stuff that people believe is obvious that simply isn't the case.
So I ask the question again, with UK cycling deaths over any time period you wish to choose are attributable to RLJ? How many pedestrians have been killed by RLJ?
The fact is I don't believe there is much data because very few serious incidents arise from RLJ. Cyclists are pretty bloody good at self preservation.

 

[Blurb]

Slightly OT, but I have taken to dismounting at certain lights on my commute and using the phasing to cross the junction as a pedestrian before continuing my journey. Whilst it only gets me a marginal time advantage per junction it does add up and ,more importantly IMO, allows me to clear the initial surge of traffic and the occasional wobble as I start moving.


Is this "acceptable" RLJing, or am I going straight to hell? AFAIK it is legal as long as I dismount and safe as I use the pedestrian phase to cross. Thoughts?

 

[Theseus]

I find that getting onto the pavement before a set of lights allows me to ride through them without breaking the law.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

The likelihood of any stop-light-running cyclist attending cycling forums is virtually nil.

clearly you are not familiar with the way the matter is debated on virtually every UK cycling forum then, with a significant number of pro-RLJ contributions in evidence, not all from London-based tragic hipster cockwombles.

 

[Red Light]

Is this like asking car owners to use indicators

http://www.bbspot.com/News/2003/11/bmw.html

 

[400bhp]

do the Instructors of the League of Ameican Bicyclists have their own Association ?

No, they never quite made it to the "Extrodinary" level.

 

[400bhp]

Slightly OT, but I have taken to dismounting at certain lights on my commute and using the phasing to cross the junction as a pedestrian before continuing my journey. Whilst it only gets me a marginal time advantage per junction it does add up and ,more importantly IMO, allows me to clear the initial surge of traffic and the occasional wobble as I start moving.


Is this "acceptable" RLJing, or am I going straight to hell? AFAIK it is legal as long as I dismount and safe as I use the pedestrian phase to cross. Thoughts?

Weird

 

[Blurb]

Legal. A bit sad nevertheless but legal.

Bit sad I guess, but I'm usually on the Brompton, so I see it more as eccentric and befitting.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Bit sad I guess, but I'm usually on the Brompton, so I see it more as eccentric and befitting.

I don't see it as sad. You're using a multi-mode means of transport - a sort of pedalestrianism - to deal with the absurdity of junctions, where it's legal for pedestrians to proceed but but illegal for people sat on a saddle.

(Generally I can't be bothered to get off and I'm pretty road legal while on the road, but there is one type of traffic light that I almost always ignore - I'm talking about those Cyclepseudohighways, where cyclist-orientated lights are actually excluded from the light phase, meaning you always have to stop, press a button and then wait for the traffic phase to complete a full sequence before showing a green cycle. I've no more respect for toucan crossings on pseudohighways either when they're showing red: peds can proceed, cars can proceed, the only thing on the road/path that's not allowed to move is a bike. This is a complete arsy-versy travesty of cycling facilities and, insofar as I consider myself an ambassador for cycling and not an ambassador for highway engineers, I cross almost as a matter of principle.)

 

[Blurb]

You didn't explain about the Brompton riding aspect of things. Anything goes for those twats.

 

[potsy]

Me thinks Adrian has a Brompton too