Red Lights

Anonymous

Hi,

Just got the bike out today for my 1st commute (by god, I LOVE it. Stumbled across the SCR thread, and already gentle potter into work has got out of hand!) Plenty of swapping positions on the way out (SW11 - Islington @7.30) and a mellow ride back, except for a couple of people I just couldn't catch. I was giving it the beans on the home straight till some guy just zoomed past, seated and looking casual!

Anyway, I was wondering what the law/deal is with red lights.
Sometimes its fairly obvious that you can skip it without endangering anyone (If a red light is to allow traffic to join from the left or right and nothing is coming etc).
Other times, I am quite happily sitting at the reds with everyone else, and someone just zooms through.

Are you legally allowed to skip these on a bike? What do people feel about it? Obviously I am not about to dart in front of traffic, but its quite nice to have some fresh-ish air and a bit of open road.

joelsim

A red light is a red light to all roadusers. Running them gives cyclists a bad name and rightly so IMO.

dhope

I'm not certain but there may be a thread that mentions RLJing somewhere here...

mouth

Jumping a red light is just suicide in another form. By all means jump onto the crossing and use it as a pedestrian (for instance at a cross roads). There is also the possibility that if caught by the Poolice, a prosecution could be bought about as a contravention of the Highway Code (Get yourself a copy - really useful for cyclists and you'd be surprised at how many people think it only applies to motor vehicles).

Also, I note you're London based. I read about some kind of swap shop where you're allowed to sit in the cab of a lorry and see for yourself the blind spots you could be in as a cyclist. Again very insightful.

I am a bus driver by trade and in the 40+ hours I spent at the wheel per week I see so many near misses its hard to believe. One thing I have learnt is that there is no such thing as an accident, only collisions from one or more of the parties not planning their actions appropriately. I'm not pointing fingers at either motorists or cyclists here, but if you do your bit properly it surely means less chance of any kind of altercation?

More than 60% of my work commute is by bike (road or MTB, weather dependent) and I have limited access to a car as I do not own one myself. I have much sympathy for cyclists.

sjacob33

Mouth that was one of the most evenly worded comments i've ever seen in a topic like this well done mate

Too old for this

A red light means stop whatever type of wheels are underneath you.

The Rookie

A red light means stop (as does an Amber one incidently), passing a red light's stop line (or the light itself if there is no visible stop line) is a criminal offence.

Red light jumping gives cyclists a bad name, and give motorists an excuse to not treat us with respect, it's not smart, it's not clever, don't do it.

Simon

richVSrich

Red = Stop
Green = Go

If you jump red, I assume you:

a) have a deathwish
b) are a to$$er
c) an ignoramus and also both of the above

Kapish?

Phil_D

I once read somewhere that if you push your bike across a pedestrian crossing you are still breaking some law or other (RLJ perhaps). To be classed as a pedestrian you have to pick your bike up so neither wheel is in contact with the road.

RowCycle

richVSrich wrote:

Red = Stop
Green = Go

If you jump red, I assume you:

a) have a deathwish
b) are a to$$er
c) an ignoramus and also both of the above

Kapish?

I think must be a b) by the definitions above.

In busy roads I wait at red lights.

But I do cross through red lights if there is no (minimal) traffic and I'm sure I'm safe to do so.

At crossroads I also cross when the pedestrian crossing goes.

W1

Oh good, an old fashioned Light Red Jumper thread.

Let's wait for the RLJ-ing apologists to turn up.

The Rookie

Row cycle just did....

It's apparently OK if there is no traffic (with the caveat that minimal is the same as no - whatever 'minimal' is....) and they are sure its safe.....still giving cyclists a bad name and still playing there part in the injury or death of every cyclist taken out by a motorist who figures why should they give a damn when the cyclists don't......

As RLJ is a criminal offence, anyone encouraging others to do so is also guilty of incitement of course.....

Simon

king_jeffers

I never normally jump red lights... except... for one on my commute home. Its a big stonking roundabout covered with lights where impatient motorway drivers join. You can clearly see the other traffic flow lights turning to red, it then takes a couple of seconds for our lane to go green but if I'm at the front and can see the other flow has the red I'll go. That 2 seconds gives me enough time to blast through a dangerous pinch point and hook up onto a poorly placed cycle path back into safety. If I'm at the front and wait for green invariably I'll have a car/van revving behind trying to pass or at worse try to nip through and push me into the metal railings at the side of the road.

I guess guilty as charged

SimonAH

Oh come on. It's well known that traffic lights and signs are merely advisory if you don't have an engine. The highway code only applies to those who pay road tax doesn't it? As what we do is green and sustainable it exempts us from the fuddy duddy 'rules of the road' nonsense.




puts hands over top of head and runs like billy'o

Mr Plum

RowCycle wrote:

richVSrich wrote:

Red = Stop
Green = Go

If you jump red, I assume you:

a) have a deathwish
b) are a to$$er
c) an ignoramus and also both of the above

Kapish?

I think must be a b) by the definitions above.

In busy roads I wait at red lights.

But I do cross through red lights if there is no (minimal) traffic and I'm sure I'm safe to do so.

At crossroads I also cross when the pedestrian crossing goes.

You should stop regardless of the situation. I bet you'd be outraged if you saw a car go through a red because there was 'minimal' traffic...

richVSrich

King Jeffers wrote:

I never normally jump red lights... except... for one on my commute home. Its a big stonking roundabout covered with lights where impatient motorway drivers join. You can clearly see the other traffic flow lights turning to red, it then takes a couple of seconds for our lane to go green but if I'm at the front and can see the other flow has the red I'll go. That 2 seconds gives me enough time to blast through a dangerous pinch point and hook up onto a poorly placed cycle path back into safety. If I'm at the front and wait for green invariably I'll have a car/van revving behind trying to pass or at worse try to nip through and push me into the metal railings at the side of the road.

I guess guilty as charged

KJ - wanna show us this roundabout? does this happen even if you take primary?

woodford2barbican

I jump them. Gets me to work quicker.

richVSrich

woodford2barbican wrote:

I jump them. Gets me to work quicker.

by 30 seconds right?

hfidgen

Gussio

:roll:

SEone

notsoblue

coriordan wrote:

Hi,

Just got the bike out today for my 1st commute (by god, I LOVE it. Stumbled across the SCR thread, and already gentle potter into work has got out of hand!) Plenty of swapping positions on the way out (SW11 - Islington @7.30) and a mellow ride back, except for a couple of people I just couldn't catch. I was giving it the beans on the home straight till some guy just zoomed past, seated and looking casual!

Anyway, I was wondering what the law/deal is with red lights.
Sometimes its fairly obvious that you can skip it without endangering anyone (If a red light is to allow traffic to join from the left or right and nothing is coming etc).
Other times, I am quite happily sitting at the reds with everyone else, and someone just zooms through.

Are you legally allowed to skip these on a bike? What do people feel about it? Obviously I am not about to dart in front of traffic, but its quite nice to have some fresh-ish air and a bit of open road.

snailracer

Mr Plum wrote:

You should stop regardless of the situation. I bet you'd be outraged if you saw a car go through a red because there was 'minimal' traffic...

Er I see that regularly, sometimes several times per commute. After the first dozen or so times, I stopped being outraged.

bigmat

Gussio wrote:

:roll:

+1

The OP's current approach seems quite sensible to me.

Confusedboy

Just keep jumpin' them lights, guys. Thins out the gene pool.

fenboy369

[quote="notsoblue"[/quote]

+1

iPete

ooooF. A college has just informed me that they watched a boris bike RLJ this morning at elephant only to be taken out by a motorbike at speed (who wasn't doing anything wrong)!

Apparently the cyclist got away relatively unscathed but the biker who wasn't wearing boots may lose his foot and as the least of his worries, has a destroyed motorbike. I realise BR doesn't do anecdotal evidence but f*ck me, talk about timing for this thread to appear.

I bet mr nodder thought he was doing no harm..

richVSrich

Confusedboy wrote:

Just keep jumpin' them lights, guys. Thins out the gene pool.

I think you mean makes it stronger...Darwin and all that

(I know what you mean though ... +1)

MonkeyMonster

benefit of the doubt its naiveity.

its illegal, don't do it.

you may think its safer but PLEASE don't do it anyway because [as others have said] we're all tarred with the same brush and all get biased attitudes towards all of us by people riding in large metal tanks some of whom hate all cyclists now because of said jumping.

greg66_tri_v2.0

I think it is only fair to point out that what a lot of the anti-RLJ'ers are missing is that RLJ'ing is completely safe, provided you are wearing a helmet.

In fact, it's so safe that it is perfectly plain that helmet-wearing and RLJ'ing should be made compulsory.

And riders should be taught how to use their helmets to maximise head rotation in the event of a crash.

And bikes should have number plates too. So that the riders who refuse to RLJ or rotate their heads can be fined by PCSOs.

And Campag is best.

And hybrids are smelly.

Did I miss anything?

asprilla

Greg66 wrote:

Did I miss anything?

Hi-viz; preferably something that makes you sweat like horse. Otherwise other road users can't see you in broad daylight.