RLJ motorists

[ohnovino]

Please excuse the rant, but I'm not in a happy place. I've just witnessed two very near-misses, both caused by cars going straight through red lights. Not amber-gambling, or sneaking through against a filter light, but straight across the traffic flow.

The first was on Edge Lane (fast, wide dual-carriageway). Stopped at a set of lights, I'm in the right-turn queue and I know there's a motorbike at the front waiting to go straight on, but I can't see him because a lorry's in the way. Traffic crossing us goes to red, and three cars accelerate through. The first might have caught a bit of amber, but our lights were green by the time the last one went through. I had a heart-in-mouth moment as I waited to hear the crunch - had the motorbike sped off as soon as the lights changed he would have been smeared across the road.

Just a couple of miles further on (Queens Drive / Allerton Road junction) and almost exactly the same thing happens again: three cars go straight through a red light. I saw them coming and held back, but the driver to my right just charged straight through the lot of them. I can only guess he was an off-duty Red Arrows pilot, because the way he sped through a gap the exact width of his car was extraordinary!

If only there was some kind of registration system for cars so they could be held to account ...

 

[Klaus]

Totally sympathise.
I commute by car, passing through J4 M40 "Handy Cross" r/a. When the lights change to green I still wait for an extra few seconds because I know for sure that one or two cars will go through the red light. Many times I could have been in a nasty smash .... Certainly red light cameras could make some difference.

 

[downfader]

Please excuse the rant, but I'm not in a happy place. I've just witnessed two very near-misses, both caused by cars going straight through red lights. Not amber-gambling, or sneaking through against a filter light, but straight across the traffic flow.

The first was on Edge Lane (fast, wide dual-carriageway). Stopped at a set of lights, I'm in the right-turn queue and I know there's a motorbike at the front waiting to go straight on, but I can't see him because a lorry's in the way. Traffic crossing us goes to red, and three cars accelerate through. The first might have caught a bit of amber, but our lights were green by the time the last one went through. I had a heart-in-mouth moment as I waited to hear the crunch - had the motorbike sped off as soon as the lights changed he would have been smeared across the road.

Just a couple of miles further on (Queens Drive / Allerton Road junction) and almost exactly the same thing happens again: three cars go straight through a red light. I saw them coming and held back, but the driver to my right just charged straight through the lot of them. I can only guess he was an off-duty Red Arrows pilot, because the way he sped through a gap the exact width of his car was extraordinary!

If only there was some kind of registration system for cars so they could be held to account ...

Its Funny Friday*, so to be expected to some degree. Has been the same down here, and I would imagine is happening everywhere else.

*criteria for a Funny Friday include:
-bank holiday weekend
-change in the weather from a long period of one type of weather
-end of term for schools
-change to the economy or bad local news that affects everyone
-major road works

 

[Dan B]

*criteria for a Funny Friday include:

... it being a weekday ending in the letter 'y'

 

[downfader]

... it being a weekday ending in the letter 'y'

Montag!

Hoowwwwwllll....!!!!!

 

[2Loose]

It is a full moon.

I know it sounds stupid, but over the years I have noticed an uncommon amount of road based stupidity\aggression when the moon is full.

Maybe there is truth in the basis of the word Loony after all.

EDIT: And No, I don't do horoscopes! lol

 

[Alan Whicker]

RLJ-ing by cars seems to be much more common than it was even a year ago, especially in East London. A lot of drivers now seem to find it optional to stop on red - i'm no longer surprised to see at least a couple dribble through when a light has changed. Particular hotspots are Mile End, Straford and Hackney Wick under the flyover - the latter being the only place where i'm willing jump a red light myself. I've seen so many cars bash through red at high speed there and i've no desire to find myself and my bike being dragged along under an Audi.

 

[I like Skol]

Never mind RLJ'ing. This week I have witnessed 2 occurances of overtaking stationary trafic on pedestrian crossings. This is madness as the stood traffic could entice a ped to cross while the lights are green to the traffic yet some knob pulls out of the queue and zooms past on the wrong side of the road to turn right after the crossing.

2 of the golden rules I was taught when learning to drive were

1. Do not overtake within the zigzags of a ped crossing
2. do not park on the same zigzags

those rules are sacrosanct

 

[Arch]

Never mind RLJ'ing. This week I have witnessed 2 occurances of overtaking stationary trafic on pedestrian crossings. This is madness as the stood traffic could entice a ped to cross while the lights are green to the traffic yet some knob pulls out of the queue and zooms past on the wrong side of the road to turn right after the crossing.

2 of the golden rules I was taught when learning to drive were

1. Do not overtake within the zigzags of a ped crossing
2. do not park on the same zigzags

those rules are sacrosanct

Nah, you only have to remember stuff like that for your test. After that, it's optional innit?

There are two junctions where I never set off quickly because of traffic routinely going through after their light has turned red. And the number of times a light has gone amber as I cross the line, and then two or more cars come through after me....

When driving the company electric truck or riding the Maximus, I take delight in stopping on amber - the trikes are big enough to have real road presence, and anyone stuck behind them or the truck is already going slow enough to stop quickly. Also, people tend not to want to run into a big builders sack of unwashed milk bottles.