No wonder Cyclists are unpopular with motorists!

[metrorider]

I was driving to Bath earlier today when I came across four way temporary traffic lights at a notorious accident blackspot. Whilst I was waiting at the lights a cyclist came through and blatantly jumped the red light. I sounded my horn to warn him but he was oblivious to this as he had an ipod playing in his ears!
I watched him nearly get mown down by other cars crossing the junction whos right of way it was - what an absolute idiot!

I cycle myself and seeing people do this really p*sses me off to be honest. No wonder we are seen as the enemy by other road users when morons like this give us such a bad name!

 

[gaz]

Lets be honest, 99%* of cyclists that 'jump' red lights do so in perfect safety and with no danger to others. Only a small minority put them selves and others in harms way.

*this is a handy number that i plucked out of the air but is based on personal experience of watching hundreds of cyclists per week partake in this activity in London.

 

[subaqua]

Lets be honest, 99%* of cyclists that 'jump' red lights do so in perfect safety and with no danger to others. Only a small minority put them selves and others in harms way.

*this is a handy number that i plucked out of the air but is based on personal experience of watching hundreds of cyclists per week partake in this activity in London.

still breaking the law though.

cyclists complain when drivers break the law. and no doubt when a cyclist gets hit and dies we will have the usual thread of how bad car drivers are . or complaints the press is biased when they report the cyclist went through a red light.


wait for it, yup there it is the whine of " a cars 2 ton a cars bigger a car has 4 wheels"

 

[JonnyBlade]

A red light means STOP no matter what. In the States then fine, it's expected, but not here. No such thing as negotiating a red light with perfect safety. Ambulances and Police cars have to slow for red lights and should they cause an accident by piling on through they are held accountable and liable to prosecution.

 

[format]

I was cycling home last night around 10pm. I pulled up to a junction - the light goes red periodically to let traffic get off the motorway onto the bottom of Great Western Road (in Glasgow if any one knows where I mean, just before the motorway bridge). Anyway, as I was stopped I saw a cyclist fly past the red light without slowing. He had no lights on (front or back), no reflectors anywhere that I could see, and was wearing dark clothing.

I caught him up further down the road to say (in a friendly manner) that he should put some lights on because I could barely see him, even when I knew that he was there! He just gave me a look and said that he had lights in his bag but he just couldn't be bothered to put them on...


:|

 

[Spinney]

I jumped a red light the other day.

Small country road, lights to control traffic going over a narrow hump backed bridge with no visibility over/round it. Stood there on my own for 3 minutes at red (I timed it), and then decided to (cautiously) go for it anyway. No motion sensors I could see on the lights, so I wondered if there was a pressure strip in the road that the bike wasn't heavy enough to set off. Not a car in sight...

I suppose to stay legal I should have got off the bike and walked over the bridge...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

An argument can be made that if the lights don't detect you then they are not working properly and therefore you can proceed on red with caution

 

[GrasB]

As for cyclists jumping red light... sod that, when cycling across cambridge at 5:30am & it seems that most motorists take a red light to be advisory at best.. at least once a week I end up having to stand the bike on the front wheel as someone charges through the lights against red without looking


Spinney, if you've waited a 'reasonable amount of time' & the lights haven't changed then one assumes that lights are broken & so it's legal to proceed. I take a reasonable amount of time to be 3min 45 seconds (at which point my trip comp informs me it's 15s away from turning it's self off) before carefully navigating the junction.

 

[style over speed]

i saw at least six people driving cars blatantly jump red lights on my way home last night.

 

[John the Monkey]

Lets be honest, 99%* of cyclists that 'jump' red lights do so in perfect safety and with no danger to others. Only a small minority put them selves and others in harms way.

As you point out, IN LONDON.

The percentage is smaller around my way.

I don't jump red lights, I don't think anyone else should either - an environment in which road users pick and choose which traffic laws they're going to obey may be the de facto situation for drivers in the uk (drink driving BAD, using a mobile, speeding or both at the same time A LITTLE BIT NAUGHTY) but it's not something I want to participate in, personally.

Cyclists who do jump red lights are relying on the drivers whose paths they cross paying attention - this is a doubtful propostion at the best of times, in my experience.

 

[John the Monkey]

i saw at least six people driving cars blatantly jump red lights on my way home last night.

Tends to be following the car ahead - it's rare (although I have seen it) for drivers to jump a red that a car preceding them hasn't passed on amber, ime. Although the conga line of those going through on/after the red is often surprisingly long. A good reminder to you as the vulnerable party that green means "Go if it is clear" not "Go, it will probably be ok".

One happier thought (perhaps) is that usual commuter (the Surly Long Haul Trucker) seems to have no problem triggering traffic light sensors at all.

A final thought - banish the idea that red light jumping is why cyclists are unpopular. If every cyclists obeyed the Highway Code to the letter from tomorrow, not much would change in that respect.

 

[GrasB]

A final thought - banish the idea that red light jumping is why cyclists are unpopular. If every cyclists obeyed the Highway Code to the letter from tomorrow, not much would change in that respect.

+1 There's always something.. lights aren't bright enough, lights are to bright, going to slowly to be on the road, going to quickly (yes I've had this for doing 30mph in a 30 limit), you're not wearing high-viz/helmet.... I read this as "you've done something wrong because I had to think about what to do & I should be able to drive about oblivious to the rest of the world"

 

[Bicycle]

I've driven for many years and cycled for more. In between I've driven smaller HGVs and ridden a motorcycle.

There will always be some terrible cyclists, terrible drivers and terrible motorcyclists.

I like to think I'm safe and considerate, but I'm sure I've done things in the past that would upset other road users.

It's fun to have a rant every now and then, but few of us have completely clean records.

'Unusual' driving practise seems to be spread across all means of transport: cars, bicycles, buses, coaches, lorries, motorcycles.

Meanwhile, I try (when I remember and when I'm not in a huge rush) to acknowledge kindness, let people out and hang back from other vehicles.

I like to think that that way, some positive images of other road users are spread around.

Of course, if I'm in a terrible hurry or cross about something that all goes out of the window and it's up to everyone else to make allowances... which I'm sure they'll be good enough to do.

 

[PK99]

Lets be honest, 99%* of cyclists that 'jump' red lights do so in perfect safety and with no danger to others. Only a small minority put them selves and others in harms way.

*this is a handy number that i plucked out of the air but is based on personal experience of watching hundreds of cyclists per week partake in this activity in London.

Would you think it ok for a motorist to jump a red light if they thought it was safe to do so?

 

[suecsi]

Lets be honest, 99%* of cyclists that 'jump' red lights do so in perfect safety and with no danger to others. Only a small minority put them selves and others in harms way.

*this is a handy number that i plucked out of the air but is based on personal experience of watching hundreds of cyclists per week partake in this activity in London.

Is this why I often get a very odd look from motorists who can't seem to believe I actually stop for red lights and sit in the ASL legally. I am often under and overtaken by other cyclists who either go right through the red lights or, at the top of the road near work where it is a T junction, get over the ASL as well and get as far forward as they can before the lights change (you can see them the other side of the junction so it doesn't matter if you aren't in the ASL).