How many traffic lights do you face?

Kieran_Burns

choirboy wrote:

85 :-(

are you guys with these insane numbers serious???? :shock:

How in the hell can you cope with so many damn' lights????? :?

Mike400

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

For me the first two sets are near the start of my route, then its about 8 miles before I hit the next 10 sets which are all in the last mile and a half

Phasing works in my favour for most of those though as I tend to be on the main road, i,.e green stays longer for me

First time I pushed through on an amber light I near had a coronary - I was in "car driver" frame of mind, forgetting that at 12mph I would barely clear the middle of the junction when all the other lights went green

HamishD

Mike400 wrote:

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

Yes.

London cycling is merely a succession of sprints . . .

choirboy

85 in 21 miles. Riding time = 70 mins. Elapsed time = 80 mins. So riding avg = 18 mph, elapsed avg = 15.8 mph. On the flat on a good stretch of tarmac I'd be doing 20-23.

Kieran_Burns

HamishD wrote:

Mike400 wrote:

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

Yes.

London cycling is merely a succession of sprints . . .

Like I say:
London cyclist = American footballer
Country cyclist = rugby player



I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

Mike400

Kieran_Burns wrote:

HamishD wrote:

Mike400 wrote:

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

Yes.

London cycling is merely a succession of sprints . . .

Like I say:
London cyclist = American footballer
Country cyclist = rugby player



I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

I get p****d off stopping at the few I have..........I couldnt cope with that there london lol

rjsterry

HamishD wrote:

Mike400 wrote:

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

Yes.

London cycling is merely a succession of sprints . . .

Hell yes! Assuming 15 minutes of my 1 hr ride is spent stationary at lights, this reduces my average speed from 18mph to 13mph. The thing is, to cancel out that loss of speed, I'd have to do the 13 miles at an average of 26mph, to still get me there in the 45 minutes it should take me. Which ain't gonna happen.

Ever.

jamesco

HamishD wrote:

London cycling is merely a succession of sprints . . .

Indeed, unless you can see the next light (it won't be far away) is going to be red, so you might as well take it easy, 'cause it's gonna happen 50 more times before you get home... I reckon riding my roadbike probably gets me through two or three sets of lights on a typical day that the hybrid wouldn't, but my route is a nightmare.

solsurf

1 set home 2 on the way to work. happy days!

total of 21 miles! there is 1 level crossing and 2 cattle grids though

dresbo

I counted 49 once in my 10 mile commute. Boy is that fun.

coopster_the_1st

Kieran_Burns wrote:

HamishD wrote:

Mike400 wrote:

Do all those lights not wreck your average speeds?

I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

I think they probably would but I get the most satisfaction when filter through traffic(must be that smug feeling 8) ). There are 2 points on my commute I get this and I miss the feeling

jamesco

Coopster the 1st wrote:

I think they probably would but I get the most satisfaction when filter through traffic(must be that smug feeling 8) ). There are 2 points on my commute I get this and I miss the feeling

Right on! Riding through Chelsea, the smugness one feels passing Ferrari after Lambo after Aston is almost unbearable

gaz545

Kieran_Burns wrote:

choirboy wrote:

85 :-(

are you guys with these insane numbers serious???? :shock:

How in the hell can you cope with so many damn' lights????? :?

100+ lights in 14 miles = my average speed dropping around 5mph.. waiting at lights can be 10 mins on a good day or 18mins on a bad day.

Levi_501

Way to many to count !

You should have asked; what percentage do you stop at when they are red ???

Somewhat a different answer !

Jamey

Sixty-eight lights in 14 miles, so an average of 4.85 lights per mile.

freakybacon

3 sets of lights- 2 of which are on Dewsbury ring road. Not so many traffic lights in yorkshire- they are expensive and we are careful with our money!

Aidy

Counted up to about 40 in my head before I got bored of visualising my commute.

Paul E

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

The few dry runs I have had even though my commute will be almost double what I used to do in Birmingham (mostly flat canal towpath) on a slick shod rockhopper, that was just as tiring as the series of sprints with some bits where I can pootle along around 20 mph I do now on my sectuer, in fact the few times I have done it I have turned around and come back home almost right away meaning I can handle nearly 4 times the distance with coughing up alung which at times in the past three months I have almost done including a hospital visit lol

rjsterry

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

Ooh, I'm not so sure. I find it much easier to maintain a steady pace than constantly accelerate and brake. There is some physics to back this up as well I think, but I forget exactly. Something to do with limiting friction and all that.

Specialized Needs

Mental replay gives at least 66 sets (into London up the A20 corridor), I may have missed a few, plus one temporary set and one junction where I have to wait for a nearby red ped crossing on the main road to be able to turn right across the traffic most of the time.

risi wrote:

there are a few lights close together timed in such a way that if you get stopped at the first you won't get stopped at the subsequent ones as they go green in sequence.

I wish.

Particular bugbears for me are Eltham High Street and Lewisham Way. In both places there are three sets of independent pelican crossings in 150yds or so, and too often I get caught at 2 or 3 of them in a row :evil:

Even more galling are the 2+ minute phasings on two junctions where I come in from a side road. I have been known occasionally to dismount and wheel the bike across when I've just missed the phase :oops: (although usually I just sit and chill - in more ways than one in the winter)

However, I try to be punctilious about red lights and zebras and the difference between my door-to-door time and rolling time is usually less than 10 mins out of a 70-75 min journey.

beverick

36 in 9 miles on the most direct route.

nb At least three sets are 'compound' junctions with three or four sets in the same junction.

Bob

simon_e

Kieran_Burns wrote:

I reckon you London lot would have outside lung moment if you tried our commutes :P

But could the rest of us handle the stress if we rode those streets every day? I'd rather not!

I live on the edge of Shrewsbury so get to real countryside very soon into my ride. On my 12 mile 'lanes' route I see horses, cows and fields, cross two rivers and pass a small group of fairly tame* schoolchildren waiting for the minibus to school (they haven't yet taken to throwing anything at me as I pass).

On the few occasions that I have to go through Shrewsbury to get to work there is a set of lights before the bridge over the Severn and one on a junction a little further on as well as three pelican crossings. Quite often they are all on green and momentum is retained each time The only worry is that 18 months ago there was 1 of each!

Trailradar

i am not that tall to face the lights, normally have to tilt my head back.

cjcp

50.

50 sodding sets of lights. And these are not evenly distributed along the route: none for four miles, number 14 by mile 8, then 36 in the next 6.5 miles.

And then there are the zebra crossings...

And the chap who builds my wheels wonders why I go through my rims so quickly.

bobbygloss

I'm in the None group too.
Commute of 13 miles, 5 roundabouts, 6 junctions.

I struggle to imagine what 25+ sets of traffic lights must be like to cycle through.

Kieran_Burns

Bobbygloss wrote:

I'm in the None group too.
Commute of 13 miles, 5 roundabouts, 6 junctions.

I struggle to imagine what 25+ sets of traffic lights must be like to cycle through.

Me too. Great innit?

cjw

On my 28 miles I have 1 traffic light, 2 roundabouts and around 6 junctions - I'm a lucky chap

jthef

When I first comuted 10 years ago on the bike there was 1 set of lights and1 ped crossing now I have 8 sets of lights and still the one ped crossing. And I can onhestly say they ALL slow the cyclist down :x

anton1r

12 sets of lights in 5.2 miles! Can seem like more/less depending on how the cycle is feeling at the particular time!

cat_with_no_tail

3 sets on the way in, none on the way home
1 RAB each way