If you come within a metre of hitting the tarmac due to an RLJ cyclist, it tends to make an impression. Plenty of motorists might have put me in danger too. I rather hoped for better manners from cyclists, that's all.
If only there was some kind of special fraternity of cyclists. I bet the ones that nod to you wouldn't have RLJ'd across you...
My take on it, I shrug and let them, in fact, if I'm positioning in an ASL, I'll do it so that if someone wanted to RLJ while I was sat there I wasn't blocking them from doing it. I just choose not to. I don't think the car drivers give a crap if they've seen someone do it or not, I'm sure the ones stuck behind me when I pull away from a green would happily berate me for being slow to their passenger and then go on to have a go at RLJ's (except they can't, because they are almost definitely on their own in the car. Maybe they can tell whoever they are texting.) (There was a study on the Ridgeway a couple of decades ago about ramblers attitudes to motorbikes, an awful lot of the respondents were vehemently anti, quoting all the bad things they did, then got to the box that said 'have you ever seen a motorbike on the Ridgeway?' and ticked 'No'.)
I always stop at reds. There are a couple of sets of lights on my commute where I consider crossing on the red when the ped crossing light comes on (i.e. pulling away after having stopped rather than rolling through). I do that based on three factors, what traffic is around (I'll do it if it's busy and I can get a head start on something van sized or bigger, also I'll not do it in front of a police car), how busy the crossing is (if the ped light is green, but there are no peds on the crossing then I might do it, peds on the crossing or running for it and I won't), how I feel that day (most days I just can't be bothered, some days I'm in a bit of a rush so consider it). As mentioned, I only consider this at lights I know well, in both of these cases if I do decide to RLJ it gains me up to half a click on the traffic that doesn't, which is a decent way in to climbing the hill, or means I'm beyond some of the squeezes close to the lights.
It's a very specific choice on my part so I can intellectualise that it sets me apart from people who roll through any red they come up to but I'm under no illusion that it's illegal (therefore I will add that I could also be lying about all of this just to make myself seem big and clever amongst the pro RLJ hipsters on line whose never ending adoration I crave so much.).
Personally, I'd be very happy with the American system of turn on red where you treat a red where you are turning on the 'nearside corner' as a Give Way sign rather than a traffic light so can proceed if safe to do so. That's turning right at lights for Americans and would be left for us, equally turning reds in to give ways late at night. The whole black and white nature of red lights seems a bit much to me.
Using illicit and honest in the same sentence is just wrong, somehow.
