"Paris cyclists can ignore red traffic lights"

[Manifietso]

Remember that Paris is starting this experiment in an environment that already very safe for cyclists with zero deaths last year. Motorists in Paris must be much more aware of and accepting of cyclists than they are in the UK.

I was in Paris a few weeks ago and hired a (proper) bike. Only a brief visit, but I didn't feel any safer than in London. What I did notice was that almost every one way street had a cycle contra-flow. Also, I had just been in Amsterdam & Groningen, so anywhere is a climb down from those two.

Zero deaths? That seems extremely low to me, even our Dutch utopias have accidents!

As for the law, I've just arrived here from an aviation forum, where I made a post in their general chat forum about crap cycle lanes and a particular howler, which I'll post later. I've been in that forum a while, but never have I got so much turbulence! Needless to say, cyclists jumping lights comes up as one of their biggest hates. I would see such a law as a huge red rag to motorists. Again, to use the Dutch example, there really should be no need for it if you have a network of quality paths, where the bike lane takes priority over minor roads, where there are plenty of routes with minimal intersections with roads, and where such junctions do exist, a proper phase for cyclists is always available.