Is it RLJ if...

[wesa]

Last night I was cycling down a road that I don't often use. There is a traffic light controlled bridge with the obligatory one foot wide cycle lane on each side, the bridge is quite long, 150 – 200m. While waiting at the red light (in the main carriageway) I noticed that the stop line on the road did not extend into the cycle lane, this was not that it had faded or anything, it deliberately stopped where it met the cycle lane.

So my question is; if I had been in the cycle lane should I have stopped at the red light or carried on? As far as I recall the red light means stop behind the line on the road, if there is no line on the road in my lane, should I have to stop.

 

[zimzum42]

Just carry on. Even if it's not technically legal, you're doing no one any harm, and it would have to be a well anal copper to stop you

 

[marinyork]

You don't have to stop.

 

[HLaB]

If there's deliberately no stop line in the cycle lane I would guess it would be a cycle bypass and wouldn't be RLJ.

 

[very-near]

I personally think it is an intelligence test - Darwin stylee

 

[Crankarm]

A pic would be helpful.

 

[MartinC]

The legal requirement at traffic lights is to stop at the stop line. Therefore if, in your lane (i.e. the cycle lane), there's no stop line then there's no obligation to stop.

This doesn't prevent you from using your judgement as to whether it's wise to proceed and it doesn't mean that other road users (including policemen) will understand the situation. Most drivers grasp of the Highway Code is pretty limited.

It could well be that the bridge isn't wide enough for 2 motor vehicles to pass but the highwaymen decided that it was wide enough for bikes to proceed against oncoming traffic. They could well be right depending on the intelligence of the driver coming the other way - quite a big ask. They may assume that their green light means that you should stop and that they have the road to themselves.

 

[Neddy]

I once had a similar situation in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I was cycling in a bus lane and came up to a red light. I was the only vehicle around and I waited for ages for the light to change, but it didn't. (I'm convinced that the other lights had gone through a complete cycle of green-red-green.) I eventually gave up and cycled on. The only explanation I could think of is that that particular bus lane wasn't in use on a Sunday, but it's the only time I've ever RLJ'd.

 

[jack the lad]

Just follow the general principle, applicable to all situations, of ignoring traffic lights (red or otherwise) and using your judgement on whether to proceed if it is safe to do so for yourself and other road users (if any) likely to be affected by your decision. The fact that other road users have a green light in their favour is much more important in that consideration than whether or not you have a red light. Stopping at red lights when there is no danger to anyone in proceeding is just dumb subservience, going through green lights when there is a danger is really stupid.

 

[wesa]

Crankarm, I tried to get a photo but nothing came out, it is not a road I use very often so I probably won’t be back that way in the foreseeable future.

I think MatrinC sums up my thoughts pretty well. I chose to use the main carriageway, not the cycle lane, I did this because the cycle lane is too narrow and encourages close overtaking. In the same vein I would prefer not to be facing any oncoming vehicle and the best way to ensure this is to wait for green (you cannot see the whole length of the bridge from the end).
In my direction of travel I would have had the option of diving for the pavement if something wide came towards me, if I had been travelling the other way (and assuming the same road markings) then I would have the option of a low stone wall or taking a dive into the Thames!

On a side note, just before the bridge I used an ASL at a 4 way junction, this is the biggest ASL I have ever seen, you could easily park a coach in it and still have room for a dozen bikes.

 

[garrilla]

is it visible on Google ?

 

[wesa]

The traffic lights at the bridge are here, you can't see the markings.
The ASL is here (traveling from the West); the junction has recently been modified, I think the regular stop line has been move a bit further West to allow busses to make the turn from the South. Yes the turning busses cross into the ASL - I never said it was good!

 

[Arch]

There's a situation like that at a junction in York, where a bus (and cycle) lane and a car lane merge into one, and it's light controlled - but the cycle lane in the gutter has no stop line. I emailed the council to check, and they confirmed that cycles don't have to stop when the bus lane light is red. (Alternatively, you could move out to the car lane, because when the bus lane is red, that will be green - but that means an unnecessary lane change in traffic)

Didn't stop me getting grief off a taxi driver over it though. Now, I just avoid using that road.

 

[HJ]

... with the obligatory one foot wide cycle lane ...

What is a one foot wide cycle lane??