Silly Commuting I'm a frickin' moron....

gtvlusso

Fresh morning this morning, Nodder central;

So, guy ahead of me on a blue ribble, looked like he knew his business; came towards a junction and simply hopped onto the pavement to avoid having to look left on the road, rode up the pavement and then hopped back onto the road right on top of a female cyclist - w@nker

Set of traffic lights on Glucester road; 7 people ignored the red and rode through, some on serious bikes with serious kit....

Temporary lights in Lockleaze; 4 people jumped (even though only room for one vehicle at a time) and 5 others rode on the pavement....

This year really is shaping up to be to$$ergedden. :shock:

The Rookie

I guess this is the benefit of seeing at most 2 other cyclists going my way! Only 1 set of lights as well!

I think so many cyclists RLJ now that people who geneuinely have no idea think it's OK! I watched a 'little old lady' of about 70 RLJ in my local town on her basket equipped sit up and beg......

MrSweary

Absolutely par for the course on my commute - and having serious gear is no gaurantee of being of the rider not being a complete knobber. I've given up caring to be honest.*

*Also I wouldn't claim to be whiter than white but I do follow the rules of the road 99% of the time and I won't deliberately put another road user or pedestrian in danger.

pangolin

MrSweary wrote:

Absolutely par for the course on my commute - and having serious gear is no gaurantee of being of the rider not being a complete knobber. I've given up caring to be honest.*

*Also I wouldn't claim to be whiter than white but I do follow the rules of the road 99% of the time and I won't deliberately put another road user or pedestrian in danger.

He jumped a red! GET HIM!

cookeeemonster

The Beginner wrote:

I think so many cyclists RLJ now that people who geneuinely have no idea think it's OK! I watched a 'little old lady' of about 70 RLJ in my local town on her basket equipped sit up and beg......

I think the same. Do they not realise how bad it is/can be? I wonder how many have never seen a copy of the highway code due to not haven taken a driving test and so are totally ignorant as to the basics? I know that 85% of cyclists supposedly have a driving license but it doesn't seem that way on certain sections of my london commute

come april/may when all the fairweather lot come nodding out it'll be 10 times worse :x

MrSweary

pangolin wrote:

He jumped a red! GET HIM!

:shock: Eeek.. run away!

pangolin

CookeeeMonster wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

I think so many cyclists RLJ now that people who geneuinely have no idea think it's OK! I watched a 'little old lady' of about 70 RLJ in my local town on her basket equipped sit up and beg......

I think the same. Do they not realise how bad it is/can be? I wonder how many have never seen a copy of the highway code due to not haven taken a driving test and so are totally ignorant as to the basics? I know that 85% of cyclists supposedly have a driving license but it doesn't seem that way on certain sections of my london commute

come april/may when all the fairweather lot come nodding out it'll be 10 times worse :x

I'm sure a lot of them have driving licences, and if they could get away with such nobber-ish behaviour in their cars then they would. Some people are just muppets. They get on a bike and think, "oh lights don't matter - I'm on my bike".

anonymousblackfg

but it is amazing how one person stopping/good behavior encourages others. The number of times i'm at lights with a whole crowd, all waiting, but once one person goes, everyone else follows.

I had a cyclist come across a zebra crossing in front of me this morning, I really regret not having the balls to just kick his rear wheel and he trundled across infront of me assuming I had stopped for him as well as the pedestirans.

sketchley

This morning courier on a fixed bike jumps a red light that me and serveral others are waiting at and then filters through several pedestrians crossing over on a green man on the other side of the junction some of who are visabaly shocked and jump out of the way. Do people who cycle like this not realise what every single person that sees them do stuff like that thinks?*

*hint just in case the rider above is reading this, it's not "look at him go! how f**cking cool is he?"

Fireblade96

A lot of car drivers also seem to regard red lights as optional - round here, at least 2 cars will carry on after a light changes to red. Not amber, RED.

cookeeemonster

Sketchley wrote:

This morning courier on a fixed bike jumps a red light that me and serveral others are waiting at and then filters through several pedestrians crossing over on a green man on the other side of the junction some of who are visabaly shocked and jump out of the way. Do people who cycle like this not realise what every single person that sees them do stuff like that thinks?*

*hint just in case the rider above is reading this, it's not "look at him go! how f**cking cool is he?"

It's amazing how many people actually think like that. I've ridden scooters (mainly 60's style) and motorbikes for years and people on forums and in real life actually believe that sh*t. They really think that their offensively loud exhaust and 90mph in a 30mph zone riding style actually makes people think they are cool...I've literally heard it with my own ears I tells ya!!

cookeeemonster

ps. no matter how expensive or rare or cool you think your bike is 99.9% couldn't tell the difference between it and a tesco special.

And they couldn't care less even if you pointed it out

sketchley

Fireblade96 wrote:

A lot of car drivers also seem to regard red lights as optional - round here, at least 2 cars will carry on after a light changes to red. Not amber, RED.

Happens in London as well! White van RLJ'd this morning on Kennington Park Road, me and two other cyclists going straight on stop, van turning right is behind us, the light must of turned red (not amber red) and the van is 25m short of the white line, it proceeds through the junction on red and turns right... and no there wasn't a filter lane / light....

gbsahne001

Fireblade96 wrote:

A lot of car drivers also seem to regard red lights as optional - round here, at least 2 cars will carry on after a light changes to red. Not amber, RED.

That's why it's nice no longer going in and out of Reading; only 1 set of lights to deal with in the morning, now if someone would just iron out the hills it would be perfect.

gtvlusso

Just amazed me a bit; not very often that I have seen 'serious' riders be utter tw@ts. I guess they could be first year Wiggins wannabe's.....

Most of the jumpers were students by the look of it and direction - Shows the Quality of UWE in Bristol really; definition of a red traffic light is lost on them, I guess that call centre operatives have to come from somewhere.....

Kieran_Burns

I can absolutely, with utter conviction state that I NEVER red light jump on my commute.

No lights, red, green or amber. Not even a pelican crossing.

Ahhhh.... countryside. We love you.

mudcow007

i must admit, there is an industrial estate where i work an the lights do not trigger when i go over the strips

i normally have to wait for a car to come....although i have in the past sneaked though (when there was no traffic on either side of roads)

the_fuggler

Fireblade96 wrote:

A lot of car drivers also seem to regard red lights as optional - round here, at least 2 cars will carry on after a light changes to red. Not amber, RED.

I thought they just put those lights at the Henley Road / Peppard Road junction so there was something to look at as you whizz down the hill. And what's that yellow box all about?!

Try to avoid that junction whenever possible. Not fun.

pete_s

What's people's view on jumping red lights when it's late at night and isn't any other traffic around? I confess I do not wait for them to turn green. On the other hand I don't ever do it when driving my car.

I have heard an idea where at night time all of the traffic lights go to yellow and you treat it like a stop sign that you see in America. I think there's some merit in that.

rubertoe

pete_s wrote:

What's people's view on jumping red lights when it's late at night and isn't any other traffic around? I confess I do not wait for them to turn green. On the other hand I don't ever do it when driving my car.

I have heard an idea where at night time all of the traffic lights go to yellow and you treat it like a stop sign that you see in America. I think there's some merit in that.

If its red, you stop. Simple innit. If you wouldn't do it in your car, don't do it on your bike.

So i'm waiting at a set of lights on Southampton row, NB, when some donkey, comes barreling passed on my right just as i am setting off and turns left right in front of me. He got a piece of my mind I can tell you...

rolf_f

rubertoe wrote:

pete_s wrote:

What's people's view on jumping red lights when it's late at night and isn't any other traffic around? I confess I do not wait for them to turn green. On the other hand I don't ever do it when driving my car.

I have heard an idea where at night time all of the traffic lights go to yellow and you treat it like a stop sign that you see in America. I think there's some merit in that.

If its red, you stop. Simple innit. If you wouldn't do it in your car, don't do it on your bike.

Very simple. You wait there and use the time to curse why it is that Bradford city councils traffic light sequences are so stupidly wrong and wonder how anyone can have though that a weekday daytime sequence would be appropriate at 1am and no wonder Bradford is such a craphole that nobody wants to go there.

By the time you've done that, the lights have turned. It's not a long wait in the scheme of things! Usually about 1/2880th of a day

Initialised

It's not just cyclists that run reds, I see plenty of cars doing it.

itboffin

I'm doing the short London commute at the moment across Hyde Park, I tell you everyday I watch scores of cars, buses, lorries, m-bikes, scooters, cyclists and peds run the epic accident waiting to happen that is the new cross road junction abortion thingy onto the Mall.

Why would any of those above aforementioned human debris risk their own and others lives to travel several hundred feet to the next red light :shock:

There's no point getting worked up about it, I just hope im not witness to a serious accident.

Subaqua

itboffin wrote:

There's no point getting worked up about it, I just hope im not witness to a serious accident.

Two options

1. Take a different route.
2. Close your eyes whenever you are within 200 mtrs of said junction.

Disclaimer - this is a purely factual representation of the options and does not constitute cycling advice. Should you find that on selection of option 2, you subsequently become the victim of the potential serious accident, the poster accepts no responsibility for the consequences of your choices or actions.

However I do work for a bank.... which means that after the event you can claim that I mislead you and you can sue my a**

Fireblade96

To be fair, there's a whole two sets of traffic lights on my usual commute, and one of those is a combined ped/bike crossing that I get to press the button on.

It's amazing how many of the Thames Valley Park-bound, premium German car-driving drones don't like stopping for that crossing ;-)

The Rookie

The only red lights I jump are were the bus lane ends (only if I'm going into the city) and there are lights to filter the busses and cars into a single lane, trouble is as stated above the strips don't pick up a bike so will never change (I could be there 30 minutes!), there is a defence to passing a red light if you can show they are defective and that would be my argument, noting that jumping them just means I then have to filter in 'manually', no crossing or give way is involved.

Initialised

If you wear cleats you can get the strips to pick up as they use induction not pressure.

Glide your foot a couple of mm over the sensor and hey presto the lights changefor you.

Drfabulous0

Initialised wrote:

If you wear cleats you can get the strips to pick up as they use induction not pressure.

Glide your foot a couple of mm over the sensor and hey presto the lights changefor you.

Not if you're wearing road cleats.

I had a lady in lycra on an ancient MTB with slicks try to edge through a busy crossing in Manchester today as I was crossing with my kids, I asked her why she couldn't just wait for the lights to change and in return got a look as if I'd just asked her if she takes it up the bum.

itboffin

Rarely have i seen such poor bike handling skills outside a pro grand tour, Hyde park during rush hour is a car crash waiting to happen again and again and again.

What is going through their minds when they lurch across your path and dodge/wobble between fast moving London traffic, red lights have no fear for these brave road warriors.

Initialised

The number of 'road' bikes I see being ridden on the pavement (legal or otherwise) :rolleyes: