RLJ cyclist

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

jig-sore

Formerly the anorak
Location
Rugby
Its because the person who purchased the camera didn't put the right date on, so it will be 1Jan 2008 as a Default

actually its because the date and time is so hard to set and then when you turn the camera off, it goes back to default. :biggrin: :biggrin:

i'll be buggered if im gonna plug it into the PC and set it before each ride, but then most of us will upgrade to a better camera when these give up in a couple of weeks :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin:
 
Having driven into London yesterday (well, Brent/Wembley anyway, s'all the same innit? :biggrin: ) and seen the traffic speed/impatience, there are two certainties in life for me;
(1) I am gladder than the gladdest thing on earth that I do not have to commute anywhere near a major city (Peterborough doesn't count).
(2) Anyone who RLJs in a big city is certifiable and needs to be locked up for their own good!
Not big, not clever, the pink squashy thing on the bike will always lose out to the pink squashy thing in a tonne-plus of metal, plastic and rubber!
Is that camera the 7dayshop own-brand one of the Veho Muvi?
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
only 5 junctions? Do you know how they selected them by any chance? I think the rates would be highly variable depending on which junctions they selected. Maybe I'm just bitter because I nearly got taken out by an RLJing cyclist last week!

I wonder how they chose the junctions too. On my commute in, the numbers are way higher than 16%, that's less than 1 in 5. I'd say 2 in 5 actually stop on my commute and it's worse now I commute in full rush hour rather than 7am-7.30.
 

pshore

Well-Known Member
I have this hypothesis that incedents of RLJ are higher in areas that require a more assertive style of cycling.

The sort of person that puts themselves in amongst the traffic and danger probably doesn't mind dicing with what they see as a similar level of danger going through a red.

Have there been any studies to prove or disprove that ?
 
I have this hypothesis that incedents of RLJ are higher in areas that require a more assertive style of cycling.

The sort of person that puts themselves in amongst the traffic and danger probably doesn't mind dicing with what they see as a similar level of danger going through a red.

Have there been any studies to prove or disprove that ?

There is very little research period. let alone down to that detail*. But in the TfL study they were major junctions on major routes so you would expect it to have a good representation of assertive cyclists. But I disagree with your premises. Cycling in traffic is not dangerous - remember by now there will have been about 4 million Boris Bike journeys in Central London with no serious injuries which is hardly dangerous - certainly much much safer than being a pedestrian in London. Second, the typical RLJ cyclist in my observation is not a hardened road warrior blasting through the junction come what may in the style of the Lucas Brunelle videos. They are people who stop at the junction and then when cross traffic has cleared, cross very much as a pedestrian would.


* there have been suggestions but not research, that the disproportionate representation of women in cyclists deaths in London is because they do not RLJ. The premise is that more confident male cyclists are aware of the dangers of waiting at the red light from traffic behind them and go early to avoid the danger whereas less confident female cyclists wait as suffer as a result
 
I have this hypothesis that incedents of RLJ are higher in areas that require a more assertive style of cycling.

The sort of person that puts themselves in amongst the traffic and danger probably doesn't mind dicing with what they see as a similar level of danger going through a red.

Have there been any studies to prove or disprove that ?

I could see that being the case - my normal commute is on reasonably quiet roads, fewer people RLJing (although those that do can be quite surprising - older ladies with flapping skirts for example). However yesterdays route along the A40 (2 lanes, 30mph but v heavy traffic) is probably more likely to attract people with stronger nerves - I certainly avoided it until I'd been riding in London for a good few months.
 
* there have been suggestions but not research, that the disproportionate representation of women in cyclists deaths in London is because they do not RLJ. The premise is that more confident male cyclists are aware of the dangers of waiting at the red light from traffic behind them and go early to avoid the danger whereas less confident female cyclists wait as suffer as a result

I have to say that I used to RLJ when I started cycling because I felt safer getting away from the traffic earlier. I now stop (mainly because I don't like the "you cyclists jump red lights so I'm going to treat you like shoot" mentality) and have often wanted to cross like a pedestrian as you said, but don't on principle. I think it takes stronger nerves to sit in the traffic than to RLJ in some situations, although the dick that nearly took me out was definitely the blasting through the junction type, as were many yesterday
 
Having driven into London yesterday (well, Brent/Wembley anyway, s'all the same innit? :biggrin: ) and seen the traffic speed/impatience, there are two certainties in life for me;
(1) I am gladder than the gladdest thing on earth that I do not have to commute anywhere near a major city (Peterborough doesn't count).
(2) Anyone who RLJs in a big city is certifiable and needs to be locked up for their own good!
Not big, not clever, the pink squashy thing on the bike will always lose out to the pink squashy thing in a tonne-plus of metal, plastic and rubber!
Is that camera the 7dayshop own-brand one of the Veho Muvi?

(1) And yet London is one of the safest cities to cycle in (providing you are respectful of HGVs) and has masses of cyclists these days. There are more cyclists crossing the bridges into Central London in peak hours now than cars and stopped at lights on Millbank the other day I did a count and there were twice as many bikes as cars waiting for the lights.

(2) I don't RLJ but its not the risk you think it is. Very very few cyclists are actually killed or injured RLJing - more are killed on green by RLJing motor vehicles - and there have been serious suggestions that RLJing is safer than waiting at the lights.

Why is it that people have this urge to massively inflate the dangers of cycling be it just cycling or RLJing or pavement cycling or ........
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
It would be interesting to know with regards to problems with trucks at red lights, on how many occasions the truck got to the light first ie the cyclist has ridden down the inside of the truck to put themselves in the blind spot and how many times the truck has pulled up next to the cyclist thereby putting the cyclist in the blind spot through no action of their own.

I've used two routes to commute lately and I'd say that on Jamaica road and that route from Greenwich to Tower Bridge there is much more of a "Must get to the front at lights" attitude than exists on the A2/Old Kent Road route. This is obviously non-scientific and just a perception of mine. I would also say that RLJing is more prevalent on the Jamaica road route.
 

Angelfishsolo

A Velocipedian
Cycling in traffic is not dangerous - remember by now there will have been about 4 million Boris Bike journeys in Central London with no serious injuries which is hardly dangerous - certainly much much safer than being a pedestrian in London.

Agreed. Cycling in traffic is not dangerous. Riding like an a-hole is dangerous.
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
1455718 said:
I would say that,in commuting time, the majority of instances are of cyclist arriving second. Having said that I am not happy with the phrase "to put themselves in the blind spot" as though there is an element of intention here. A cyclist should be able to pass stationary and slow moving traffic without it costing them their life. After all, if I wanted to be stuck in traffic I would have driven a car.

I agree but I couldn't think of a better way of putting it. I was trying to imply no blame to the cyclist but also no blame to the driver.
 
Top Bottom