Red light running

Being a newbie to road cycling and clip in pedals and cleats, a thought occurred to me after a slightly scary ride into work yesterday.... As we are constantly debating the rights and wrongs of running red lights I realised that the majority of cyclists that I saw running lights were doing so just to avoid unclipping in poor road/traffic conditions.
Do you ever do this just to avoid those start up clip in fumbles? just wondered if grab handles on close by street furniture would help?
Do you ever do this just to avoid those start up clip in fumbles? just wondered if grab handles on close by street furniture would help?
Muddy Fox Hardtail Circa 1998
Triban3
Felt AR5
ANC Halfords Peugeot (restored and ridden at Eroica 2015)
A box of bits that will make a fine Harry Hall when I get round to it.
Raleigh tandem of as yet unknown vintage - ongoing restoration for Eroica 2016
Triban3
Felt AR5
ANC Halfords Peugeot (restored and ridden at Eroica 2015)
A box of bits that will make a fine Harry Hall when I get round to it.
Raleigh tandem of as yet unknown vintage - ongoing restoration for Eroica 2016
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Running red lights is idiocy, pure and simple. While we all have the crossing that we know we can sneak through on red, is it really worth it for that one time another driver does something stupid and out of the ordinary, only to knock you down because they simply didn't expect to see you coming from that direction.
At least that is what I am thinking when I see it.
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We all want respect and safety from other road users such as car/van/bus/truck drivers yet we often can't be bothered ourselves when it comes the basic rules of the road. Yet we all cry foul when a cyclist is injured & rant that road users have no respect for us.
Of course this is my own opinion & I'm sure that others will disagree - but I just think it sends the wrong message to others.
Nail, hammer, head. [/ENDTHREAD]
end of.
Yep. I do it. In a car too if I think I can get away with it.
I now just roll up to a light – by the time I'm there, it's usually turned.
Funny you should say that as thats exactly what the car driver said to the police after he knocked me off my bike many years ago "I saw that it was clear and went for it I just didn't see him" Meaning me on the floor being tended to by the paramedics. Thankfully I'm alive to tell the tale, however others may not be, hence the laws being in place & applicable to everyone whether you like them or not they are there to protect everyone.
9.4k commute. Why not go a longer route to avoid the lights?
http://owningalegend.wordpress.com/2014 ... ced-price/
what was it that brought you to this rather odd realisation, when generally the consensus is that they're a bunch of selfish planks who do it because they know the chances of getting pulled over are practically zero.
the usual self deluding excuse conjured up by the RLJ gang is that they're doing it for safety, not because twisting their foot by 15 or so degrees is an onerous task.
And you want me to make my route longer?
not the best example for defending committing a criminal act yourself.
As for handholds, no thanks!! I'd rather not have things sticking out into the road!! :roll:
Yes.
A few people started talking about how he was tanking it, how he must have been doing over 100 etc. It builds a picture for plod, that we have a tragic accident caused by poor riding. If you are riding badly, jumping reds, taking risks and are involved in an accident, where you are unconscious or worse, I guarantee that the same will happen to you.
Before you know it, your earlier actions of inpatients and risk taking, will be mixed up in the cause of your crash, even if its an idiot on a mobile who didn't look.
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No excuse for running reds.
Then after I got the Defy, signed up here, and started understanding all the issues around drivers' attitudes to cyclists, and listened to some of the debates around here, I became convinced that we owe it to one another to set good examples as road users.
TBH, it's not about safety, since I'm sure any one of us can decide whether it genuinely is clear to go or not.
It's about the perception of cyclists as rule-breaking careless idiots that I now see as partly my responsibility to change - or at least offset.
So I wait (im)patiently at red lights... I give way to cars when letting them through will ease their journey and prevent them having to sit behind me... and I wave a thank you whenever someone is nice to me on the road.
Sometimes I feel like a mug, but it seems like the right thing to do.
/thread.
not a mug in my eyes.
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+1
964Cup; You can't break the law simply because you're inconvenienced.
Incredible thinking.
Boardman Hybrid
Dolan FXE
Well said.