I have become a red light jumper...

[GrumpyGregry]

That sounds intriguing, and possibly slightly sinister. Can you give any other examples, other than a mass decision to ignore a red light?

Apart from on construction sites there is no general concept/concept of Health and Safety, let alone 'Elf'n'safeteegawnmad', to protect Joe Public, as we in the UK understand it. My impression, and the impression of other ex-pats, some of whom have written at length about it*, is that here the "Nanny State" does not act as a guardian to prevent you from doing things that might injure you or others but rather acts as a splendid guardian angel and safety net to put things right, as best they can be put right, when things do go wrong.

*Try "The Almost Nearly Perfect People" or "The Year of Living Danishly" for example.

 

[Rasmus]

Whislt not wishing to start a fight...

The vast majority of cyclists in cph are, I reckon, more law abiding than those in London, Horsham, or, dare I say it, Brizzle ime, as you know being generally law-abiding is seen as a very desirable thing in Danish culture, hence why nobody jaywalks on the pedestrian crossings, even in the pouring rain, even when there is no traffic and a 90 second wait...

I'm fairly sure that if I actually filled in a form and submitted it for this situation they would find it hilarious that someone had wasted the keystrokes to "complain" about something which the locals consider utterly unremarkable and obviously broken. Sweating the small stuff by escalating to the powers-that-be is viewed by cph officialdom with the same incredulity as it is by the populace at large, as represented by my work colleagues anyway.

Any idea where in the city these "right on red" junctions are? You are not the first person in the UK to assert this yet no one of my acquaintance here knows about it, nor have I seen any signs indicating such novelties about the place. I know the law was changed in ?2010/ to allow for it but it was left up to the local communes to implement as they wish. They may be few in number and only on certain routes; I've not ridden everywhere quite yet. There are, of course, plenty of 'cyclist only' traffic lights giving priority, and maybe there are green right run arrows permanently on somewhere that I may have not recognised as such.

No needed, I think we are in general agreement. And yes, much as we like complaining, registering this thing formally would not be something I would expect my fellow Danes to do.

Map of the right on red trial here. It's a national thing, so only a few in greater Copenhagen, and none in the centre.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

No needed, I think we are in general agreement. And yes, much as we like complaining, registering this thing formally would not be something I would expect my fellow Danes to do.

Map of the right on red trial here. It's a national thing, so only a few in greater Copenhagen, and none in the centre.

Superb! and let's be clear; I love it here!

 

[Southside Mike]

I strongly feel that at a minimum we should bring a law in like in Paris where (converting for UK) you can turn left on red, or if you're on the main road and a side road joins from the right you can go straight on.

Furthermore, I don't see why we shouldn't make all red lights the equivalent of give way for cyclists.

I've often thought about this when driving in the US. I've come to the conclusion that drivers in the UK are too selfish and the roads too congested to make it work. I just know that within five minutes of a turn left on red law being introduced I'd have someone pulling out in front of me completely ignoring the fact that you can only do it if nobody's coming through on the green signal.

 

[benb]

I've often thought about this when driving in the US. I've come to the conclusion that drivers in the UK are too selfish and the roads too congested to make it work. I just know that within five minutes of a turn left on red law being introduced I'd have someone pulling out in front of me completely ignoring the fact that you can only do it if nobody's coming through on the green signal.

To be clear, I was talking about making this a law for cyclists only.

 

[Dan B]

It could be made to work. If you provided a small basket of claw hammers attached to the pedestrian crossing light signal poles on each side of the crossing, with a sign to make it clear to pedestrians that they could pick them up and use them in self-defence against any vehicle crossing their path, returning them to the basket on the other side.