Cyclists and red lights
- Thread starter Blagsta
- Start date
tommers
Currently in investor / advisor mode.
no, you don't understand. everybody does and it causes untold death and destruction across the land, it's by far the most important thing in the world and that's why everybody gets so upset by it and why we need a new thread about it every 2 fucking days until the end of fucking time.
Juice Terry
rama lama fa fa fa
I stop at green lights wait for them to turn red and then cycle through them
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I would be interested to know the correlation between routinely ignoring red lights and undertaking cars (riding in the gutter) / on the pavement.
To be fair it's only the cars that ignore traffic lights on my daily route.
To be fair it's only the cars that ignore traffic lights on my daily route.
To be honest me and the missus were discussing this at lawrence hill roundabout as 2 cars shot through a red light in front of us. She says she sees it more and more......
I stop at green lights wait for them to turn red and then cycle through them
I like your style
editor
hiraethified
Of course, if bikes were given some kind of equality on the roads and not forced to battle for precious space with often aggressive car and van drivers, I'd imagine things might be different. I'm in the Netherlands now and the difference in attitude towards cyclists here is amazing. Expect a thread shortly"
For the record: I never run red lights (*unless it's 5am on a deserted junction) and find cyclists who recklessly hurtle through red lights to be complete arseholes.
For the record: I never run red lights (*unless it's 5am on a deserted junction) and find cyclists who recklessly hurtle through red lights to be complete arseholes.
I was almost hit today by another cyclist jumping a red light. he cruised through, clearly thinking that because of the type of junction it was safe for him but ignoring or oblivious to the cycle lane that cuts across his path - it was green for me and red for him, but fortunately i was proceeding relatively tentatively.
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
I hope you shouted an appropriate response.
fredfelt
Mostly unknown member
Really? If I was hit by a vehicle I would not care if it had travelled 1 mile or 100 miles.
tommers
Currently in investor / advisor mode.
Even so....
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
I guess the statistics are useful if you want to know how likely a pedestrian is to be hit by different types of vehicle. But they don't tell us which type is more 'dangerous'
chegrimandi
associated with adultery
worse things happen at sea - I'll dig out the stats for the number of pedestrians killed by red light hopping cyclists in the last 50 years...I'll guess at less than 5 if any at all...
pedestrians always step out in front of you on a bike - like I said before there was a woman texting in 3 lanes of traffic the other day in clapton - anyway - keeps you honest if you think theres a chance you might get mown down...
basically londons roads are a battleground between cars, lorries, bikes, buses motorbikes and pedestrians - things happen and people make the wrong decisions all the time. Just one of those things.
pedestrians always step out in front of you on a bike - like I said before there was a woman texting in 3 lanes of traffic the other day in clapton - anyway - keeps you honest if you think theres a chance you might get mown down...
basically londons roads are a battleground between cars, lorries, bikes, buses motorbikes and pedestrians - things happen and people make the wrong decisions all the time. Just one of those things.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Bikes are often the cause of the drivers aggression because London cyclist are so fucking useless and dangerous, imo. Not saying it's right but I can understand why it pisses motorists off. If you want an example of this go to the ring road around Regents Park any evening rush hour. A colleague and I counted 23 cyclists without a front/rear or both lights between Cumberland Gate and the mosque last Thursday and it's the same every night. I opened the window at the lights to inform one women that she wasn't lit up to which she replied "I do have lights" (she didn't) and promptly fucked off through the red
.Most London cyclists are dangerous idiots. I know you think otherwise but my experience doesn't correlate with yours.
That's because the roads are set up to keep cars and bikes broadly seperate and the cyclists are better disciplined there.
Cyclist whipped through crossing pedestrians at a red light just in front of me at lunch causing a couple to jump out of the way. One pedestrian retorted by yelling out 'red light c*unt' in the loudest voice I have heard since Blessed. Lightened an otherwise dull lunch hour for me.
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
Maybe there should be some investment in stationing traffic officers at red lights on major routes on random days and fining people on the spot (cars or bikes) for jumping red lights..?
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
they were doing this recently in the city of london.
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
A considerable generalisation
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
Were they actually taking the money? I will admit to cycling on the pavement a while back and getting stopped for it and told it would be a £50 fine but they just let me go. Not much of a deterrent!
Paulie Tandoori
shut it you egg!
afaik, yes they were (altho i was also let off with a stern warning when i was pulled a few years before that).
Mrs Miggins
Eternal
More of this sort of thing I reckon! Licensing cyclists is a ridiculous idea but I do think that something should be done to stop people going through red lights - whoever they are.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Not in my experience.
Seriously, when I see a cyclist indicate, check over his shoulder, slow to observe junctions etc., etc, I silently congratulate them. That kind of behaviour should be the rule not the exception.
Similarly, as a motorist when I see a cyclist lit up like a xmas tree in the dark, with nice bright lights (2 at the back is great, solid not flashing please), high visibility jacket and shiny stuff on him, I'm quietly grateful. I can slow down and make space a hundred yards or so before I get to him.
Unfortunately the average London cyclist seems to rely on zero/derisory illumination (that poxy reflector is NOT a light) and my psychic abilities.
Donna Ferentes
jubliado
Mmm. But in London one could do precisely the same with motorists, say at zebra crossings (not stopping on them, stopping before them if pedestrians are crossings etc) and achieve an easy generalisation not dissimilar to your own.
ChrisFilter
Like a boss.
I will go through red lights / treat red lights as a sort of 'give way' sign, but I also make very sure than other road users are aware of me, and signal appropriately. I would argue I'm safer than most cyclists when it comes to endangering myself and those around me, based on obersations of other cyclists.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
My experience in London is as a pedestrian, motorcyclist and car driver. As a ped' I'm aware that some drivers don't stop at zebras (they should be camera'd up, imo) but it's still the exception rather than the rule, and cyclists almost never stop at them preferring to swoop round the back of crossing ped's or put a quick spurt on to cross in front of them.
I don't think I'm generalising. I'm relating years of observations as a motorist and a pedestrian. Yes, I think that most London cyclists are incompetantly negligent (according to my reckoning every safe cyclist in London posts on the U75 Transport forum) but that's because I am particularly observant of them.
I'm a very cautious cyclist but I will go through the occasional red light, which are almost exclusively in the cases where a pedestrian light is red but there are no pedestrians around (not just not crossing, but not anywhere near the crossing).
In my mind that's part of being cautious - moving off from a stationary position at a crossing is relatively high risk, so if you can avoid doing so, whilst at the same time not creating additional risk for anyone else, then it seems reasonable to do so.
In my mind that's part of being cautious - moving off from a stationary position at a crossing is relatively high risk, so if you can avoid doing so, whilst at the same time not creating additional risk for anyone else, then it seems reasonable to do so.
Sunray
Its sunny somewhere.
I'm the same, I've had someone step out on me and hit them and that hurt me a lot more than them. So I can't see why people get so uptight about it. I've not got a death wish and have no intention of hitting anyone. I go through reds when its safe for every one, especially me to do so.
The Highway code is entirely biased for car users, the road is biased for motorised users giving those users the feeling they own the road.
Of all the things the government could do for the country would be to install a proper cycle network so people could use bikes free of the tyranny of the car.
The Highway code is entirely biased for car users, the road is biased for motorised users giving those users the feeling they own the road.
Of all the things the government could do for the country would be to install a proper cycle network so people could use bikes free of the tyranny of the car.
