Have you noticed a rise in the number of RLJers

DonDaddyD

Since the new year I've notice a distinct rise in the number of RLJers.

And there cyclists aren't just RLJing at crossings but at complex junctions the kind that makes you whince as they ride through at full tilt.

I can't say its the seasoned vetren or the nodder, it just seems that a lot of cyclist are doing it. At one traffic light the count was 6 cyclists during one light sequence.

In fact so many cyclists collectively RLJ on my commute, I felt a bit of a prat waiting at the lights, like i was doing something wrong.

Do you find that more cyclists are RLJing at the moment?

(There are too many lights in London though).

jonginge

S'funny. Before xmas I felt there was becoming a critical mass of cyclists that obeyed red lights (on my routes at least). Since the turn of the year that mass has dissipated as fast as the xmas choccies...

sketchley

Yes - same route as you and lot of RLJs this morning. That being said I think they may of changed the phasing on a number of lights on the A24, I seem to be getting caught at a lot more and my journey times are down on last year. So that maybe the reason if not an excuse.

The collective RLJ is interesting comment, twice this morning a found myself at the stop line with 3 or 4 others watching a small peleton cycle across the junction and unwards, caught them all up and passed them though.......

DonDaddyD

Sketchley wrote:

Yes - same route as you and lot of RLJs this morning. That being said I think they may of changed the phasing on a number of lights on the A24, I seem to be getting caught at a lot more and my journey times are down on last year. So that maybe the reason if not an excuse.

I thought it was only me. Seems impossible to ride with any consistency without getting caught at the lights. Almost as though they've changed the light sequence to slow cyclists down.

The collective RLJ is interesting comment, twice this morning a found myself at the stop line with 3 or 4 others watching a small peloton cycle across the junction and unwards, caught them all up and passed them though.......

Oh yeah, many of the RLJers get dropped promptly before the next set of lights. There are some riding upto, through and onwards from the red light at around 20mph.

First rule of SCR, be safe.

TheStone

Same route too.

I sometimes slowly crawl through when there's clearly nothing going on. I seem to be doing this more, so a feeling they have changed some of the sequencing.

There's a few crossing (in particular Clapham North) where the sequencing is odd. There's best part of 30 secs between the green man disappearing and the green light for traffic appearing. If no-one crossing, I'm crawling through.

davmaggs

It could also be a minor surge of New Year resolution types getting back the road so numbers get boosted.

I must admit that agree with the sentiment that you feel a bit of an idiot at times.

DonDaddyD

TheStone wrote:

Same route too.

I sometimes slowly crawl through when there's clearly nothing going on. I seem to be doing this more, so a feeling they have changed some of the sequencing.

There's a few crossing (in particular Clapham North) where the sequencing is odd. There's best part of 30 secs between the green man disappearing and the green light for traffic appearing. If no-one crossing, I'm crawling through.

You know I could overlook crawling through because there were times when I thought I simply couldn't get to work today due to all the light sequences.

But its the brazen RLJers going thorugh junctions - like at Balham tube, Clapham Common and the infamous Tooting Broadway, which sees oncoming cars turning right even when your light is green - that bothers and worries me.

It does seem that the light sequence has been set up to purposely stop me before I get to the lights - most notable is Stockwell, when you go around the roundabout and head to Oval. Time was you could go through all the lights now you will be stopped by a red at the roundabout (between heading to Vauxhall and Oval).
Common?

yakk

Hi there, different route (Dagenham to Hackney/Hoxton). Hackney Rd/Hoxton area about 90% of cyclists are RLJ's (gone up from about 80% before Xmas) - mind you a lot of those are the trendy Hoxton SS/ retro set who are obviously too cool to wait at RL's or have lights. Still expecting to see an accident by the number of near misses...
Yak

DonDaddyD

I fear the trend is that if an overwhelming majority of cyclist RLJ, then other cyclist who would normally stop immediately feel the need to do so.

Its liek if you enter a class room and everyone is standing up, do you stand up or coopy everyone else and stand up. I mean, after all, theyre standing for a reason.

I have to say though, that after the accident at Oval involving the lorry and that poor lady training for the Etape I noticed more people conciously stopping and being more considerate. It's like you need a high profile acdcident/collision to get both cyclists and motorists to "think bike/safe" all over again.

Drysuitdiver

I do a relatively short commute 3.5 miles, and have to pass 8 sets of lights. some at quite complex junctions too. spurred on by the RLJing for safety thread I counted how many sets of lights got jumped by people today .

all of them , and by different cyclists each time . at one set i counted 8 go through. Glad i was sat in primary in the ASL

northstar

davmaggs wrote:

It could also be a minor surge of New Year resolution types getting back the road so numbers get boosted.

I must admit that agree with the sentiment that you feel a bit of an idiot at times.

Pretty much what I was going to say (the first sentence)

and likewise I feel bit of a idiot at times.

Vitessetortoise

I think the weather has been a little warmer than before Xmas also getting more people back on the road.

I was sat at temporary traffic lights on the corner of Goodge St/Charlotte st this morning and I was the only cyclist to wait for the lights. I felt a bit daft sat there with the motorbikes for company as luminous jacket after luminous jacket went on through.

Stuey01

What gets me is people who are sat quite happily waiting at the lights, then someone comes from behind and RLJ's, then they follow them through... what?!
So that numpty going through has somehow shifted your decision making paradigm significantly enough to arrive at the opposite conclusion?

fecking lemmings.

Still nothing paints an SCR bullseye on your back quite so effectively as an RLJ.

jzed

RLJers at virtually every set of lights - its a bit like watching a game of frogger in 3D.

bdave262000

Personally I stop at all red lights unless the situation requires otherwise like an emergency vehicle needs to get through. I'm not partcilarly interested whether other cyclists RLJ as I'm too busy concentrating on my own ride, that is unless they are endangering me or tryiing to push me out of the way either as a cyclist or a pedestrian.

W1

Stuey01 wrote:

What gets me is people who are sat quite happily waiting at the lights, then someone comes from behind and RLJ's, then they follow them through... what?!
So that numpty going through has somehow shifted your decision making paradigm significantly enough to arrive at the opposite conclusion?

fecking lemmings.

Still nothing paints an SCR bullseye on your back quite so effectively as an RLJ.

I think there is a lemming element to it. If there is a group of cyclists waiting at the lights, there may be one or two RLJers. If there is only one or two cyclists waiting, there may be a group of RLJers. As above, sometimes if one person jumps the lights, another couple (who had stopped) might follow.

And with regards to light phasing, over Christmas the lights going down Ludgate circus were much better phased than before/after the Christmas break.

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

edhornby

there's definitely more RLJing going on when the weather improves (as far as Manchester bike commuters go)

my theory is the summer attracts more cyclists so more likely to see someone running a red - even if we're assuming that the ratio of Jumpers to non-jumpers doesn't change, the total volume of cyclists make it more likely to see a jumper eventually

not that any of the above really makes it safer...

reasons for changing the jump to non-jump ratio are
the road surface is drier so less likely to come off, the light improves so more likely to see a car and them to see you, positive warm weather good vibe means people take more of a risk, critical mass of jumpers makes someone reassess the risk of jumping

rjsterry

W1 wrote:

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

Not this morning they weren't. Maybe they change at different times of the day.

jzed

rjsterry wrote:

W1 wrote:

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

Not this morning they weren't. Maybe they change at different times of the day.

It seems to be a rule that if you hit the second light on red, you will hit the third and most likely get a green on the fourth. This morning however I had red, green, green, green. This used to be the norm but now seems a rare bonus.

jonginge

rjsterry wrote:

W1 wrote:

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

Not this morning they weren't. Maybe they change at different times of the day.

I think they do. I got the green wave but I was late this morning and probably hit PS just after 9

langster

Red lights give me a good excuse to have a rest :oops:

W1

JZed wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

W1 wrote:

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

Not this morning they weren't. Maybe they change at different times of the day.

It seems to be a rule that if you hit the second light on red, you will hit the third and most likely get a green on the fourth. This morning however I had red, green, green, green. This used to be the norm but now seems a rare bonus.

I come through around 7:45am and usually get red, red, red, green! Sometimes I get red, red, green, green.

I take the point that they might change at different times of day, but I used to get Red, green, green, green!

jzed

W1 wrote:

JZed wrote:

rjsterry wrote:

W1 wrote:

And the lights around parliament square (from Embankment to Embankment) used to give you a "green wave". Now they just turn red as you approach each exit....v annoying!

Not this morning they weren't. Maybe they change at different times of the day.

It seems to be a rule that if you hit the second light on red, you will hit the third and most likely get a green on the fourth. This morning however I had red, green, green, green. This used to be the norm but now seems a rare bonus.

I come through around 7:45am and usually get red, red, red, green! Sometimes I get red, red, green, green.

I take the point that they might change at different times of day, but I used to get Red, green, green, green!

The second is a real tease. You get red on the first and two is on green and it usually allows you to give it the beans and goes red when you get within 10 metres. This morning I was on the PX so made the green and got greens on the way round. The first red though seemed to stay red for longer than usual

tailwindhome

I have noticed an increase in the number of RLJ threads.

jzed

TailWindHome wrote:

I have noticed an increase in the number of RLJ threads.

Its because there are no student riots to argue about. :roll:

Rushie

davmaggs wrote:

It could also be a minor surge of New Year resolution types getting back the road so numbers get boosted.

I must admit that agree with the sentiment that you feel a bit of an idiot at times.

I agree with the first bit but not the second. There do seem to be a lot of newbies out in the last couple of weeks probably with New Years' resolutions (which is good), but they don't seem to get the concept of a red light (which is not).

I don't feel an idiot stopping at lights at all. You can't expect cyclists to get more respect from drivers if we're all ignoring one of the basic rules of the road. We also can't be having a pop at drivers not indicating/on the phone/in the bike lane if we're just as guilty of knowingly disobeying the rules as they are.

W1

Rushie wrote:

davmaggs wrote:

It could also be a minor surge of New Year resolution types getting back the road so numbers get boosted.

I must admit that agree with the sentiment that you feel a bit of an idiot at times.

I agree with the first bit but not the second. There do seem to be a lot of newbies out in the last couple of weeks probably with New Years' resolutions (which is good), but they don't seem to get the concept of a red light (which is not).

I don't feel an idiot stopping at lights at all. You can't expect cyclists to get more respect from drivers if we're all ignoring one of the basic rules of the road. We also can't be having a pop at drivers not indicating/on the phone/in the bike lane if we're just as guilty of knowingly disobeying the rules as they are.

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

sketchley

Popcorn anyone?

jonny_trousers

What can I say? I obviously made a very persuasive argument

W1

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

What can I say? I obviously made a very persuasive argument

Or were determined not to take any counter argument on board perhaps..... :twisted:

jonny_trousers

W1 wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

What can I say? I obviously made a very persuasive argument

Or were determined not to take any counter argument on board perhaps..... :twisted:

All arguments were considered fully.