Going through red lights

[chainsaw cat]

should be legal for bikes. Discuss.

Depends on the light. Some are for traffic flow, some are for safety. I can't see any problem with a pushbike/motorbike nipping through an obviously clear junction if the lights are traffic flow ones. They won't cause an accident.

Weaving through crossing traffic at lights on a complicated or badly sighted junction is asking for trouble.

Perhaps if cyclists had to pass a test then fewer of them would be the sort of throbbing knobbers who ride on the pavement and jump lights?

Bikers have the advantage of superduper acceleration and being able to get to the head of the queue; Seems silly to keep them idling at the red lights if there's no traffic coming on an obviously clear road, but it would blur the lines and car drivers would be entitled to think they should ignore reds if they can see a clear road too. Then you'd have all the slow cars ambling out into inadequate gaps. Might as well not have traffic control lights then.

 

[christonabike]

I love these arguments cos whatever happens, when on my bike, whether I cut lights or not, I'll be home before you, beer in hand, spliff, smiling

(this conclusion comes about from years of cycling through London, north to south, six miles)

 

[Orang Utan]

I always go round in front of vehicles parked in the ASZ. I roll back untill my back tire almost touches their bumper, look them in the eye, then go back to waiting for green. (And I'll wait for green, not amber)

I'd love to do that and what kyser does but it seems a bit dangerous

 

[christonabike]

Yes, it is a bit "clever bastard"

I prefer to get where I am going quicker without running the risk of agitating an already agitated driver - agitated cos they are going, on average, seven miles an hour

 

[kyser_soze]

Hey fuck 'em.

Actually I don't generally, just this one twat annoyed me. As a driver as well as a ped and cyclist I try and treat everyone who isn't me the same, i.e. they're all incompetent twats who I need to keep a beady eye on.

 

[christonabike]

Word

I presumed you did not do this everytime anyway, take you ages to get anywhere

Yay BIKES!

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I'd love to do that and what kyser does but it seems a bit dangerous

I can't see the point in that sort of behaviour - it's just gonna wind people up and make them think even more that all cyclists are c*nts. Which is not helpful really.

 

[christonabike]

Like Kyser said, fuck 'em

 

[Crispy]

I'm always quicker off the line, and I get into an appropriate road position once I'm moving. And I won't go out of my way to eg. squeeze between buses just to make a point. But when it's safe to do so, I make a point of demonstrating who the ASZ is supposed to be for.

 

[Orang Utan]

But a dickhead driver might choose to jeapordise your life and put his foot on the accelerator despite your back wheel being against the bumper

 

[Crispy]

That might happen if I was in the ASZ normally...
Although I do get your point, which is why I make eye contact and make sure they're not screaming obsceneties and pumping the accelerator in frustration.

 

[Urbanblues]

I love these arguments cos whatever happens, when on my bike, whether I cut lights or not, I'll be home before you, beer in hand, spliff, smiling

(this conclusion comes about from years of cycling through London, north to south, six miles)

Except, the one time you jump a light at a junction, and a 4x4 with massive fucking bull bars hits you at 55 mph - cos like you, he couldn't give a fuck for rules. As you're lying there; bones smashed to fuck buggery; your vital organs punctured, as you drown from the inside - just think about the beers and spliffs you'll miss - cos you're an arrogant cunt on two wheels.

Go in peace; arrive in pieces...

 

[Geri]

I always go round in front of vehicles parked in the ASZ. I roll back untill my back tire almost touches their bumper, look them in the eye, then go back to waiting for green. (And I'll wait for green, not amber)

I did this a couple of summers ago - I said to the driver (in a polite way) "you're not supposed to stop in this bit" and they tailgated me for about 1/2 mile, shouting at me out of the window, calling me a fucking bitch and a whore. It was very scary, despite the fact that both of them were in their 60s.