I'm an RLJer

[BentMikey]

Point me to the relevant piece of the RTA act please....

You mean like this:

176

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.

[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36]

 

[thomas]

I believe there's nothing wrong with going through a defective traffic light.

Legally it's probably not, but who cares if it's legitimate and sensible.

I was in a queue behind a bus and a fire engine the other day - bus at the front, waiting at a light-controlled ped crossing in town for the lights to change to green.

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting some more... No peds pushing the buttons, but still the lights stayed red. By now, there was a decent queue of traffic with another bus the other side of the crossing also waiting...

Fascinated, I decided to sit it out (I could always get off and push the bike round on the pavement). After about 4-5 mins the lights decided to work and we all moved off. But it did make me wonder how long the bus driver would have waited.

Until his shift ended...then he'd just leave the bus and walk 5 minutes home

 

[BentMikey]

Legally it's probably not, but who cares if it's legitimate and sensible.

See rule 176.

 

[thomas]

See rule 176.

oh, sorry. I missed the last line. The potential problem is, how do you know lights are actually broken? Obviously, after 20 minutes that's a good suggestion, but it could only mean those with actual notices or, by "not working" that could mean that no signal is displayed, so they're switched off in effect.

Even after 5 minutes on a red there may be a legitimate reason for this and therefore they're not broken. However, like I said, I think as long as you are sensible and there does seem to be a legitimate reason it should be okay.

 

[Arch]

Happened to me here once. Traffic lights went through several phases, but failed to turn green for my route. Eventually someone barged past, and it seemed to sort out the problem - went green shortly afterwards.

Was it because there wasn't a car over the sensor? I was stuck (in a van) once, behind a driver at the head of the queue who for some reason had stopped well before the stop line, and the lights went through two phases without changing for us and I was on the verge of getting out to tell him to pull forward a bit, when he suddenly decided to do so. You could see he hadn't yet passed over the area in the road bordered by tar lines that usually indicates the sensor.

 

[summerdays]

I believe there's nothing wrong with going through a defective traffic light.

Agreed

You mean like this:

176

You MUST NOT move forward over the white line when the red light is showing. Only go forward when the traffic lights are green if there is room for you to clear the junction safely or you are taking up a position to turn right. If the traffic lights are not working, treat the situation as you would an unmarked junction and proceed with great care.

[Laws RTA 1988 sect 36 & TSRGD regs 10 & 36]

And I've been told that this means it is legal to go through a red light that is incorrectly calibrated for bikes. I have one which I have reported more than once that they haven't fixed. Normally it isn't a problem as there are usually cars coming along to trigger the light.

 

[hackbike 666]

Happened to me at the corner of Tiverton/Bristol Rd. After 3 cycles of green on main road & green man for peds to cross & continuous reds showing our way - the windscreen of the car next to me opened & said "shall we just go for it?"

Wow he opened the windscreen.Clever trick.

 

[ComedyPilot]

OP


You are a bad boy!!!!!

 

[potsy]

Agreed



And I've been told that this means it is legal to go through a red light that is incorrectly calibrated for bikes. I have one which I have reported more than once that they haven't fixed. Normally it isn't a problem as there are usually cars coming along to trigger the light.

I have 2 of these on my commute,no problem normally but when I did early shift there was very rarely any traffic to set the lights off,so went through on red after a minute or so,common sense prevails most of the time.

 

[briank]

A few months ago I pulled up at a set of lights from a side only bikes and buses are allowed to approach from. After a few minutes I realised they'd gone right through their cycle and, since the traffic flowing across was pretty constant, was wondering what to do when a jam buttie pulled up alongside. "They knackered?" I mouthed at the driver, who shrugged and reversed his patrol car ten yards back up over the sensor. As he come forwards again the lights changed. "There you go," he called through his (now open) window. Ahh. Heart-warming, eh?

 

[Armegatron]

Same thing happened this morning, except that cars were just going over. It seems that the timing has messed up. I've reported it and it's being dealt with.

edit: They've just called me back to say that the controller has packed up and is being replaced today.

At first I read this as they are sacking the bloke that turns the lights on and off and replacing him today

 

[SimonC]

Where was this? Traffic seemed rather normal on my side of Pebble Mill last night.

Didnt there used to be a TV programme called Pebble Mill, maybe Pebble Mill at One?? Is this the same Pebble Mill? We should be told.

 

[BrumJim]

Yes. Sadly this is now a pile of rubble and a tree.

 

[Dan B]

oh, sorry. I missed the last line. The potential problem is, how do you know lights are actually broken?

The lights are there to regulate the flow of traffic at a junction. If they're stuck on red they're not doing this, and therefore they're broken by definition.