I've had it with...

il_principe

And I know this is the same old story, but bloody RLJ'ing cyclists! Had a near miss with one today, I was shifting it some prob 25 mph (in a 30 limit), downhill towards a greenlight only to have to slap the anchors on as some numpty pob moron woman pootles straight through a red light and across my path forcing me to swerve outwards to avoid her. So f@cking dangerous, if there'd been a bus behind me I could have pulled right into it's path jsut trying to avoid her. I swear next time I'm gonna ram the idiot that does this, better I hit a bike than get hit by a car/bus/lorry etc. WTF is wrong with these people anyway? :x And before someone says i should slow down, it's 30 limit so if I want to go fast I should be able to without having to worry about suicidal w@nkers! :evil:

Rant over. :roll:

Massimo

I feel your pain brother...They should have their saddles removed and be forced to ride the Paris - Roubaix.

....and no doubt someone will post a reply saying its okay to RLJ and they only do it when its clear and its not a problem.

BUT IT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG

t4tomo

I haven't got too much of an issue with those that stop at teh RL and check if its clear and then filter across, its those that blast straight over and casually glance left or right once in the middle of the junction and everyone has slammed their anchors on that realy annoy me.

redddraggon

There's a lot of RLJ talk on here, and I always thought it can't be as bad as people make out*. Then I saw the Road Rage documentary - I can't believe that people actually go through red lights when there's other traffic about- just seems plain silly to me.

Jumping lights when surrounded by traffic is just plain silly.


*I am known to often go through those bloody triggered lights in the middle of the night in the country when there's no one else around.

il_principe

The thing is - she must have assumed it was clear, otherwise why would you do it. For me that's the fundamental point here, you can rarely be sure that a junction is clear - well at least in London, IME. So why run the risk at all.

Anyway it's an old topic I guess, but still one that annoys the hell out of me!

niblue

My cycle commuting experience has indicated that the majority of folks I see cycling to work will jump red-lights or be similarily stupid (the number of folks that seem happy to cycle after dark with no lights amazes me).

Fuzz Monkey Five

It is pretty bad here in South Devon for RLJ, I just never do it, pass through only 6 sets of lights on my commute but just not worth the risk of injury / death, even when it’s quiet a 7-7:30am. Also it’s endemic with car drivers in this part of the world to jump red lights, making RLJ even more risky for a bike.

dirk_van_gently

Oh please don't start me on the no lights tw@ts.
I see one guy most mornings no lights, just a high vis jacket, he's not even in a lit up area!
When I see him, I usually shout "Lights", I never get any response.
I sometimes see another guy, again same, no lights High vis, because he's on a cyclepath he thinks it's OK.

pst88

Same happened to me this morning. I was turning right onto a fairly busy main road, as I approach lights are on green so I continue through at a moderate speed. This stupid bitch coming down the road just blazes through the red light right into my path. Luckily I had my eyes open (unlike her) and saw her coming.

redjedi

I don't RLJ out of respect for other people on the road.

There are a few sets of lights I could jump as it quite safe, but I don't do it. I hope that other road users see that a cyclist is abiding by the law and will show a little courtesy to other cyclists in the future.

I still don't delieve the whole "it's safer to RLJ" excuse. I've yet to see a situation where it would be safer.

cee

I have started informing them loudly that its that behaviour that makes car drivers hate us.

I do agree that I have less of a problem with it if people stop at the light, then go just before it turns green.

redddraggon

redjedi wrote:

I still don't delieve the whole "it's safer to RLJ" excuse. I've yet to see a situation where it would be safer.

I agree. I can understand the want to get away from the drivers bearing down onto you from behind, but really it's like going from the frying pan into the fire.

ademort

As i live in the Netherlands my commute consists mainly of cycle paths. My commute is really middle of nohwhere and very quiet one traffic light and two roundabouts in 16Kms. About three weeks ago i had to jam the brakes on while cycling on cycle path to make way for a effing articulated lorry doing a u-turn and cutting accross the cycle path, effing unbelieveable. I got his number and reported it to the plods. Was informed that if there was no accident and the driver did not cause any damage then they could not charge him with anything.If the driver had gone about 4Kms further he could have gone round the roundabout and come back up the road like your supposed to effing tosser. In another incident last summer i was overtaken by a huge double loader onion lorry while riding on an old farmers road. If i had stuck out my elbow i could have touched the wagon, absolute madness. Feel a lot better now, had my moan ,next please. Greetings Ademort

prj45

Massimo wrote:

I feel your pain brother...They should have their saddles removed and be forced to ride the Paris - Roubaix.

....and no doubt someone will post a reply saying its okay to RLJ and they only do it when its clear and its not a problem.

BUT IT'S JUST PLAIN WRONG

Spot on.

If you're OK with yourself or others jumping a red light on a cycle because you feel it's generally safe to do so, then you must support car drivers breaking the speed limit (or indeed jumping red lights) because they feel its safe to do so.

I do think the perspective is all wrong though as red light jumping cyclists are pretty much harmless compared to red light jumping cars, but still, its illegal, people shouldn't be doing it.

fossyant

Swerve, aim for the front wheel and take her off...assuming you have enough room to do that....otherwise scream like hell, and follow the bitch/bugger and give 'em sh!t !

prj45

fossyant wrote:

Swerve, aim for the front wheel and take her off...assuming you have enough room to do that

...kill her by accident (not that it would be an accident as such), spend six months in prison then spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn't caused somebody's death...

steve77uk

This subject just infuriates me when people *try* to justify themselves.

They get everything they deserve when they get caught, the only problem is they will wine to the Police asking if they have got nothing better to do.

They will only realise when *they* are affected in someway themselves. Maybe their loved ones will have a car accident caused by a flippin cyclist who has RLJ'd, what would they say to their loved one in hospital? "It's OK dear, it was only a cyclist, he thought it was clear, get better soon?"

Grrr the ignorance of some people who think they are above the law... :roll:

You should give the time and location to the Police, once they know it is a hot spot they will get their newbies to sit near to the lights and book them every time. A couple of fines will add up!

hamboman

the worst mistake I ever made was turning across another cyclist who was at speed. Still feel bad to this day. I wasn't RLJ ing but was trying to turn right, crossing the other lane. Traffic was heavy and it was night and i pulled across what I thought was a gap. Other cyclist has to swerve around me and I only noticed after it happened! :oops: I would have been really angry with me if I'd been me.

We're all only human and do make mistakes.

toontra

hamboman wrote:

We're all only human and do make mistakes.

True. But RLJing isn't a mistake. It's a deliberate selfish and dangerous practice.

Alibran

jashburnham wrote:

And before someone says i should slow down, it's 30 limit so if I want to go fast I should be able to without having to worry about suicidal w@nkers! :evil:

That's true, but she could have been driving a car. When I was training to be a driving instructor, my trainer asked me, after I crossed a junction too carelessly for his liking, "Would you trust your life to a red light?" Those words have stuck with me ever since, never more so than when I'm on a bike.

Random Vince

to me, it's safe to RLJ after 11:30 pm on a junction I know won't change for the bike and i can see 300 yards up the roads leading to the junction

I still stop at the light and check before doing it.

I'd claim that is NOT RLJ but treating the traffic light as a none functioning traffic signal and behaving accordingly.

personally I think i'm more of a danger on roundabouts, I like an entry speed of 20mph or more on the drops with brake levers covered just in case. It allows me to filter with traffic, the only near miss i've had was when the back wheel slid slightly

Kafka\'s Doll

I don't think it's as black and white as some people are suggesting. If it's a pedestrian light, and a solitary pedestrian is well clear, you can help traffic flow better by maintaining your momentum and not stopping (especially in an advance cycle box). I accept that these conditions are overall quite rare, but they're not especially so if your commute starts at 6.30am.

Junctions, sure, that's mostly madness. Though cyclists turning left on a red will often do so because they know that in another country they'd be legally entitled to do so.

Those instances really aren't equivalent to speeding. They're at best equivalent to parking on a double yellow.

il_principe

prj45 wrote:

fossyant wrote:

Swerve, aim for the front wheel and take her off...assuming you have enough room to do that

...kill her by accident (not that it would be an accident as such), spend six months in prison then spend the rest of your life wishing you hadn't caused somebody's death...

I've thought about just ramming the next person that does it, but in the end I don't want to risk damaging my bike (although as a singlespeed it's fairly bombproof) and I've the Etape and the Dragon ride looming so getting injured would suck even more. Bollocks to the person I hit though, they shouldn't be so selfish in the first place.

Of course I'll stick to shouting at them, although I might chase the next one down and have words, try a spot of re-education.

redjedi

I saw a complete idiot this morning jumping red lights, and it was far from safe to do so.

He cruises through the lights (which had been red for a while) and then has to stop in the middle of the junction as cars are crossing his path from the left, luckily there is no traffic from the right at this junction, otherwise it could have got messy.

And what did he gain? Absolutely nothing, as I soon catch up with him after the lights have changed. I was going to say something but he went through another set of red lights. Again I got close behind him (he was peddling like crazy, and bouncing up and down ) but then he went through another set of reds, and I gave up as I was turning right.

There will soon be one less cyclist (i use that term loosly, idiot might be better) on the road if he carries on like that.

Random Vince

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

I don't think it's as black and white as some people are suggesting. If it's a pedestrian light, and a solitary pedestrian is well clear, you can help traffic flow better by maintaining your momentum and not stopping (especially in an advance cycle box). I accept that these conditions are overall quite rare, but they're not especially so if your commute starts at 6.30am.

Junctions, sure, that's mostly madness. Though cyclists turning left on a red will often do so because they know that in another country they'd be legally entitled to do so.
.

in another country I'm legally allowed to carry a crossbow, does not mean i can have one in my house, it'd have to be kept at an archery club in this country.

your first point, learn to adjust your speed, pedestrian lights are not red for very long.

i've never ever had to stop completely for a ped crossing.

dirk_van_gently

RLJ, speeding, drink driving.
what a sad enditement of our so called civilised society, that people even think to justify these actions.

Kafka\'s Doll

Random Vince wrote:

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

I don't think it's as black and white as some people are suggesting. If it's a pedestrian light, and a solitary pedestrian is well clear, you can help traffic flow better by maintaining your momentum and not stopping (especially in an advance cycle box). I accept that these conditions are overall quite rare, but they're not especially so if your commute starts at 6.30am.

Junctions, sure, that's mostly madness. Though cyclists turning left on a red will often do so because they know that in another country they'd be legally entitled to do so.
.

in another country I'm legally allowed to carry a crossbow, does not mean i can have one in my house, it'd have to be kept at an archery club in this country.

your first point, learn to adjust your speed, pedestrian lights are not red for very long.

i've never ever had to stop completely for a ped crossing.

Wind your neck in Vince, I wasn't saying it was legal to turn left at a red, I was saying that many traffic-heavy countries accept that it's safe to do so. That being the case, it doesn't make a British cyclist the equivalent of a drunk driver.

And while your pedestrian light judgment is, I'm sure, very impressive, the same applies there. There are people who would stop at a red light in an unpopulated desert. Good for them. It doesn't automatically make everyone else an idiot. As the 'pedalling furiously' thread shows, what's safe and what's legal aren't automatically the same thing.

I repeat, RLJing in the vast majority of cases is daft, and wrong. But if cyclists generally were to exchange judgement for legality we'd be worse off.

hamboman

Random Vince wrote:

Kafka\'s Doll wrote:

I don't think it's as black and white as some people are suggesting. If it's a pedestrian light, and a solitary pedestrian is well clear, you can help traffic flow better by maintaining your momentum and not stopping (especially in an advance cycle box). I accept that these conditions are overall quite rare, but they're not especially so if your commute starts at 6.30am.

Junctions, sure, that's mostly madness. Though cyclists turning left on a red will often do so because they know that in another country they'd be legally entitled to do so.
.

in another country I'm legally allowed to carry a crossbow, does not mean i can have one in my house, it'd have to be kept at an archery club in this country.

classic straw man argument - taking the worst possible law and asking if it's right to be applied here. Of course it isn't. Perhaps now try taking the best law from another country?

Random Vince

my point is that it's illegal here, thus it should not be done.

it makes us look like a bunch of unlawful yobs.

DavidTQ

Random Vince wrote:

in another country I'm legally allowed to carry a crossbow, does not mean i can have one in my house, it'd have to be kept at an archery club in this country.

Are you not allowed a crossbow in your house in this country??? better have words a err friend...

edit

just looked into it as far as I can see possession of a cross bow is legal in the uk as long as your over 18? My friend will be pleased to know their ok in this country

Oh yeah hate RLJing and pavement riding. Bad for cycling in general, gives a very bad impression of cycling in general.

chewa

I don't like RLJ or cyclists who swerve through ped crossings.

i used to "anticipate" one light - i.e go on red when I knew the sequence as it meant I got a head start on the traffic and thus didn't have to worry about motorists overtaking then left hooking me before i got to the cyclepath (which was in the middle of the road.

One day, however I was called on it by a cyclist who caught me at the next set of lights.

i explained I jumped the light because it was safer for me to do so. he said he knew that, but a driver wouldn't - all they see is another unlawful cyclist going through a red light.

Haven't done it since.