smokie36 said:
erm...not that rare in Bristol... at least a third of bikes I see will go through red lights during rush hour.
To be fair the timing of the red lights is usually not set for cyclists. It's actually timed to try and keep cars flowing when they're moving at about 30mph. It's what is called a "green wave" (sorry if this sounds condescending if people already know this). The idea is if you go through a green light in a car and then travel 30mph the next lights you reach should also be green to keep traffic flowing. Problem is the traffic in Bristol never really reaches 30mph, so it doesn't benefit cars. It definatley isn't timed for cyclists either and there are so many lights I can understand why some people find it frustrating waiting at all of them.
I don't condone red light jumping either. I never do it. I am also a pedestrian a lot of the time with a push chair, so I know what it's like to try to cross pedestrian crossings on the green man ( and starting to teach my son to wait for them) and then a cyclist (usually travelling fast) nipping through because they think they can judge it just right to just miss you. Equally I also know how frustrating it can be to have cars, or worse still, lorries and buses advance across and block the pedestrian crossing and then it goes to green for pedestrians to cross.
. Do people not think a vast amount of time is wasted out there in the media on childish arguments about RLJing. Cycling is so much more than that.
