Haha - you prat

alan_sherman

This morning, south side of Lambeth Bridge in that ther London. I'm sat at the red with a number of others, a guy goes through the red and onto the roundabout (slowly), only to get hooted at by a police car that was coming round the roundabout. The police gave him some words through the window (I couldn't hear what they said though). When our lights went green I laughed at him and called him a prat.

Red light jumping into the path of a Police car - Muppet!

lost_in_thought

Yeah that does deserve a special gold star for not paying attention!

I love it when people RLJ right into the path of oncoming bobbies, although I did witness an hilarious scene a while ago of someone RLJing in front of 2 PSCOs, who shouted 'STOP' and, when he didn't, ineffectively pursued him down the road... I don't thnk they caught him. Funny though!

Parkey

alan sherman wrote:

This morning, south side of Lambeth Bridge in that ther London. I'm sat at the red with a number of others, a guy goes through the red and onto the roundabout (slowly)...

Why is it always the slow ones who jump the lights? I'm not quite so bothered about the ones who just move beyond the line and/or anticipate the lights changing by a couple of seconds, even though I'd never want to do that myself, but the ones who just roll through oblivious to the traffic signals for the cloud of their own arrogance... now they're irritating.

If you some real fun and there are no police around to provide it shout "LOOK OUT!!!!" after them to "warn everybody some prat's jumped the lights". Doesn't half make them jump.

saveswalking

You would think that going through a red light in front of a bunch of 'other' waiting cyclists would create a certain degree of self-consciousness - :oops: shame even but no - your RLJer appears totally oblivious to his/her audience and is probably totally unaware that there is a raging RLJ/pavement 'debate' going on in the 'cycling world' - or indeed that its wrong and 'frowned' upon. So the reaction to a shout may be a combination of confusion/embarrassment/anger/aggression ?
sw

boybiker

It does always seem to be people who are clearly struggling along and more often than not don't want to stop and lose momentum, but then again everyone was at that stage when they began so maybe you do need a particularly thick skin not to feel shame and or embarrassment.

il_principe

Parkey wrote:

alan sherman wrote:

This morning, south side of Lambeth Bridge in that ther London. I'm sat at the red with a number of others, a guy goes through the red and onto the roundabout (slowly)...

Why is it always the slow ones who jump the lights? I'm not quite so bothered about the ones who just move beyond the line and/or anticipate the lights changing by a couple of seconds, even though I'd never want to do that myself, but the ones who just roll through oblivious to the traffic signals for the cloud of their own arrogance... now they're irritating.

If you some real fun and there are no police around to provide it shout "LOOK OUT!!!!" after them to "warn everybody some prat's jumped the lights". Doesn't half make them jump.

Fair weather tits the lot of them.

Vitessetortoise

I was waiting at red lights on High Street Kensington last week, actually sitting next to a police car that was also waiting at the red light when a guy just casually rode past us all. To make it worse the RLJer looked round, looked straight at the police car and still carried on. I actually made eye contact with the policeman and we were both :roll: .

Pleased to say as soon as the lights changed the blue lights came on and he was pulled over.

As an aside, whilst driving the other day I had a golf undertake me and cut into a filter lane with an inch to spare and drive like an aggressive prick for the next 10 mins, whereupon he got pulled over for being on his mobile phone. I confess to doing a little dance

georgee

I called some bloke a muppet as he jumped about the 10th set of lights in front of me the other week, I know I am partly in the wrong for insulting another cyclist but something had to be said.

The barrage of threats and abuse I got from this angry little man was incredible. He then proceeded to follow me shouting abuse for any slight traffic misdemeanour. The hilarity was him storming after me then having whack on the brakes where I’d stopped at the lights to give me abuse almost falling off.

If you see a grey haired 5’9” marginally chubby fckwit on a beige carrera flat bar bike with cotton wool shoved in his left ear heading through Chelsea with a red rucksack on, you’ve been warned. Or actually, why not tell him off to wind him up?

lost_in_thought

Vitessetortoise wrote:

I was waiting at red lights on High Street Kensington last week, actually sitting next to a police car that was also waiting at the red light when a guy just casually rode past us all. To make it worse the RLJer looked round, looked straight at the police car and still carried on. I actually made eye contact with the policeman and we were both :roll: .

Pleased to say as soon as the lights changed the blue lights came on and he was pulled over.

HSK is dreadful for RLJ-ers, I cycle up and down it every day. Alas, a lot of the time the many police cars that also lurk around there completely ignore it.

Vitessetortoise

You're not wrong LIT. I had a bloke in a suit practically shove me out the way to get through red light the other day, when I overtook him later he was riding along the pavement. If I was him I would be sooo :oops:

What can you do tho, I just make do with a barely audible "prick" as I overtake.

downfader

I'm waiting for the day when another cyclist gets aggro on me I think most of the cyclists on my ways around town know me and know the blimmin great nikon I strap to the front.

Parkey

jashburnham wrote:

Fair weather tits the lot of them.

Indeed, but then there's "fair weather tit" and then there's "FAIR. WEATHER. TIT."

georgee wrote:

I called some bloke a muppet as he jumped about the 10th set of lights in front of me the other week, I know I am partly in the wrong for insulting another cyclist but something had to be said.

The barrage of threats and abuse I got from this angry little man was incredible...

Yeah. I've had that. Some old fella went trundling through the lights in Ealing a few weeks back, narrowly missing my handlbars, so as I overtook I explained what a red light is for. Apparently I'm all sorts of nasty things. As I've said before, I reckon people find it less offensive if you insult their mother than if you insult their driving.

iainment

georgee wrote:

I called some bloke a muppet as he jumped about the 10th set of lights in front of me the other week, I know I am partly in the wrong for insulting another cyclist but something had to be said.

The barrage of threats and abuse I got from this angry little man was incredible. He then proceeded to follow me shouting abuse for any slight traffic misdemeanour. The hilarity was him storming after me then having whack on the brakes where I’d stopped at the lights to give me abuse almost falling off.

If you see a grey haired 5’9” marginally chubby fckwit on a beige carrera flat bar bike with cotton wool shoved in his left ear heading through Chelsea with a red rucksack on, you’ve been warned. Or actually, why not tell him off to wind him up?

That'll make the roads safer won't it. We need more angrier people driving and riding to make things easierfor all.

downfader

Parkey wrote:

As I've said before, I reckon people find it less offensive if you insult their mother than if you insult their driving.

Cant we just insult their mothers too by saying how poorly they were raised?

iainment

saveswalking wrote:

You would think that going through a red light in front of a bunch of 'other' waiting cyclists would create a certain degree of self-consciousness - :oops: shame even but no - your RLJer appears totally oblivious to his/her audience and is probably totally unaware that there is a raging RLJ/pavement 'debate' going on in the 'cycling world' - or indeed that its wrong and 'frowned' upon. So the reaction to a shout may be a combination of confusion/embarrassment/anger/aggression ?
sw

I know about the debate. Debate implies more than one opinion, and there is more than one. The "must obey all laws whatever the circumstances" and the "if it's safe I'll go" and the "I ain't stopping for anyone" and probably more opinions not specified.
I RLJ if safe for me and other road users. Personally I'd just ignore any comments from other road users about this.

saveswalking

iainment wrote:

saveswalking wrote:

You would think that going through a red light in front of a bunch of 'other' waiting cyclists would create a certain degree of self-consciousness - :oops: shame even but no - your RLJer appears totally oblivious to his/her audience and is probably totally unaware that there is a raging RLJ/pavement 'debate' going on in the 'cycling world' - or indeed that its wrong and 'frowned' upon. So the reaction to a shout may be a combination of confusion/embarrassment/anger/aggression ?
sw

I know about the debate. Debate implies more than one opinion, and there is more than one. The "must obey all laws whatever the circumstances" and the "if it's safe I'll go" and the "I ain't stopping for anyone" and probably more opinions not specified.
I RLJ if safe for me and other road users. Personally I'd just ignore any comments from other road users about this.

LOOK OUT ]!!!

snooks

Many times I come up to a set of lights and I'm relieved when I don't get hit hit from behind by someone wanting to carry on...

Why should I feel like this?

No one has hit me from behind (stop sniggering at the back!) but I expect someone whose be drafting me not to notice I'm stopping and then take me out...and I don't mean for a meal either

alan_sherman

Oooh, a whole page of replies!

Although the guy was going slowly through the lights he was faily fit and on a road bike so I dare say could go quicker so I wouldn't do the stereotyping thing. In my experience you get all sorts jumping red lights.

I was just laffin at the guy jumping a red in front of a police car. A real lack of awareness!

redvee

Sometimes at RLs, which are less than 30yds from my front door, I have the devilish idea of stretching my arms out to the sides when stopped as in some form of pre-ride stretching excercise. Wonder if I'll clothes line anybody doing the RLJ thing?

georgee

iainment wrote:

georgee wrote:

I called some bloke a muppet as he jumped about the 10th set of lights in front of me the other week, I know I am partly in the wrong for insulting another cyclist but something had to be said.

The barrage of threats and abuse I got from this angry little man was incredible. He then proceeded to follow me shouting abuse for any slight traffic misdemeanour. The hilarity was him storming after me then having whack on the brakes where I’d stopped at the lights to give me abuse almost falling off.

If you see a grey haired 5’9” marginally chubby fckwit on a beige carrera flat bar bike with cotton wool shoved in his left ear heading through Chelsea with a red rucksack on, you’ve been warned. Or actually, why not tell him off to wind him up?

That'll make the roads safer won't it. We need more angrier people driving and riding to make things easierfor all.

To be honest given the pathetic rage of this guy I dare say a coronary is right around the corner, any thing to speed this up can only improve the gene pool in my opinion.

victor ludorum

snooks wrote:

Many times I come up to a set of lights and I'm relieved when I don't get hit hit from behind by someone wanting to carry on...

Why should I feel like this?

No one has hit me from behind (stop sniggering at the back!) but I expect someone whose be drafting me not to notice I'm stopping and then take me out...and I don't mean for a meal either

This isn't that irrational.

I've been narrowly missed twice in recent weeks by people doing this very thing. One of them clipped my handlebars as he swerved past at the last fraction of a second, ran the lights, ploughed through a pedestrian crossing, cut across oncoming traffic from Cannon St and King WIlliam St (for we were in the City) missed the change of the next set of lights and jumped them too and continued on his way over London Bridge.

I eventually caught up with him as he struggled up the slight slope of the bridge, and politely suggested that, if he found road markings and traffic lights confusing, he'd be better off leaving his bike at home. At least he had the good grace to apologise and look embarrassed...

You quite often see cyclists chancing their arms on the change from green to amber or even straight up amber signals. Then again, quite a lot of drivers do too and you don't want to be the cyclist who decides to stop in front of the driver who puts his foot down, which I suppose makes it understandable, if unfortunate.

But, the number of people who insist they RLJ because its safer used to amaze me. I always thought they must have some kind of spidey-sense that I didn't have. Someone jumping a clearly red signal, especially with so little awareness of traffic that they don't spot that the oncoming vehicle they're playing chicken with is a police car shows how mistaken I was.

Bikerbaboon

riding up a hill on a national speed limit road i came across 2 horse riders sat with the horses head on the virge and there bums 3/4 the way across the road...... this was 20 yards after a blind corner. both riders where on mobile phones.

Aidanw

My new irritation is the crowd of people that pull forward of the stop line and as a result cannot see when the light changes, so they have to wait for the roar of traffic behind them to know when to set off

Generally I have stopped as far forward as I can and still see the light and they have cycled around me to get in my way and not know when to pull away.

I have only lost it and shouted once! ir good!

chuckcork

Aidanw wrote:

My new irritation is the crowd of people that pull forward of the stop line and as a result cannot see when the light changes, so they have to wait for the roar of traffic behind them to know when to set off

Generally I have stopped as far forward as I can and still see the light and they have cycled around me to get in my way and not know when to pull away.

I have only lost it and shouted once! ir good!

I've seen this plenty of times, its ironic as while they're further forward, the amount of of time it then takes them to realise the lights have actually changed, and then start to move, is significantly more than if they'd just stopped where they could see the lights, so I usually am well up to speed before they've even started moving.

I've come to the conclusion after seeing so many RLJ's that the only ones who do so are slow cyclists, or motorists on their days off, as I can usually catch them with little trouble.

chuckcork

I've pretty much given up the whole RLJ thing some time ago, some food for thought though is that a particular intersection I would go through on my way home, more often than not that was the only option (other than getting off my bike and walking).

Scenario was a T junction in Twickenham outside Waitrose there, where I wanted to turn right into the base of the T. Traffic coming towards me in the other lane always had green to go before I did, and then had the red to stop after I did, so traffic would always be moving through the junction when I was trying to turn across it. The only time I could turn would be when I was on red as a result, and having to avoid the large numbers of pedestrians crossing to boot.

I could of course go another route, but I judged that to be more dangerous so avoided it.

Simply very, very bad traffic management.

My complaints to the borough council were met with a case number for my trouble, but nothing ever after that.