Type of red light jumping

[magnatom]

Does anybody here have a problem with that and why?

You sound like a wee Glasgow ned trying to start a fight in a pub.

 

[automatic_jon]

On my way back from town (if I don't fancy the dual carriageway) there are a set of traffic lights which I can only assume are triggered by a car pulling up to the white line, I have sat there for what seems like an eternity waiting for them to change. If I jump the lights I'm liable to have an abrupt meeting with a HGV on his way to the ferry terminal but if nothing comes up behind me and triggers them I can end up stuck there for nearly as long as it takes to ride home from that point.
Sometimes the dual carriageway seems like a good option.

 

[Rassendyll]

I got tutted in another (non-cycling) forum for admitting I RLJ controlled pedestrian crossings at my own risk when there is no pedestrian in sight. Does anybody here have a problem with that and why?

No.

I can see the argument that it encourages people to flout the law if they can get away with it, but if a pedestrian has activated the crossing and then crossed before the walk signal comes then they've already done exactly that so why shouldn't a cyclist.

 

[Typo]

....a willingness to flout rules when you can get away with it.

Perhaps he obeys the rules of grammar. "He must of thought" indeed....

(Sorry, pet hate. )

 

[BentMikey]

No.

I can see the argument that it encourages people to flout the law if they can get away with it, but if a pedestrian has activated the crossing and then crossed before the walk signal comes then they've already done exactly that so why shouldn't a cyclist.

The difference is that for pedestrians, lights are only advisory. Not so for vehicles.

 

[siadwell]

On my way back from town (if I don't fancy the dual carriageway) there are a set of traffic lights which I can only assume are triggered by a car pulling up to the white line, I have sat there for what seems like an eternity waiting for them to change.

Most traffic lights are controlled by an inductive loop buried in the roadway. According to http://www.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm, this relies on a large ferrous object being within the loop's magnetic field, which implies that the amount of ferrous material on a bike may not be enough to trigger the lights.

However, this article (http://www.humantransport.org/bicycledriving/library/signals/green.htm) contradicts this and gives advice how to position your bike to maximize the likelihood that an inductive loop sensor will detect it.

Easy when you know how!

 

[thomas]

Well, not really. But seeing as we're freeloading on roads that their Road Tax paid for, it's only fair that we don't get to use the traffic lights put up for their benefit

Now that's the best argument I've every heard for RLJing.

 

[hackbike 666]

Seems like any excuse when im out there.

 

[CharlieB]

Sorry to rain on all your parades, but IMO there is never an excuse for RLJing. I go by the maxim that it gives all of us a bad name and endears us to no-one, least of all the motorists.
I accept all the arguments about momentum, but it's a commute for heaven's sake, not a TT. In any case the standing starts for me all add to the exercise I'm getting from this
I'm also getting a bit p155ed off with other cyclists (mostly POBs, I admit) who yell/tut at me if I'm in their way at a set of RLs.

Now I'll be in trouble.

 

[Matthames]

On my way back from town (if I don't fancy the dual carriageway) there are a set of traffic lights which I can only assume are triggered by a car pulling up to the white line, I have sat there for what seems like an eternity waiting for them to change. If I jump the lights I'm liable to have an abrupt meeting with a HGV on his way to the ferry terminal but if nothing comes up behind me and triggers them I can end up stuck there for nearly as long as it takes to ride home from that point.
Sometimes the dual carriageway seems like a good option.

Those lights that are triggered by a car work by having an induction coil buried in the road. There is not enough metal on a bike to set them off, but if you get yourself a neodymium magnet (you can usually salvage one from an old hard drive) and stick it under your bottom bracket or even to the soles of your shoes, then the magnets will interfere with the induction loops and trigger the lights.

 

[hackbike 666]

Had a few lights like that and didn't really have a problem with them.Now I have a certain traffic light at Startford which has an IR? camera thingy on top of it and generally does not "see" me.Well not during the dark hours anyway.