passing through red lights - cool/uncool

volociroldster

In my view 'not cool' but so many fellow roadies are doing it. Views sought...

nicklouse

stupid.

rolf_f

Do a search of the forum for Red and Light and Jumping and come back if you think your thread is still necessary

The_Yeti_

Uncool! It gives the anti cyclists ammo and above all else it can be pretty dangerous!

sungod

stupid, uncool, annoying, bigot inciting, dangerous, etc.

Cleat Eastwood

All depends - you know the roads where you live - if it looks ok go for it.

volociroldster

This thread isn't looking for endorsement. Just wondering how many of those who do it will be able to justify it - however wrong and dangerous it is. Rolf F, i'll have a look, cheers...

Wirral_paul

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

All depends - you know the roads where you live - if it looks ok go for it.

You're not serious?? I wont ever expect to see any complaints when a car driver puts your life in danger by their stupid driving if you condone breaking the law as a cyclist. The Commuters are fast enough to video the car driving idiots - but i dont see too many videos of them filming and posting the idiot red light running fellow cyclists. There's no excuse for it - and as said just gives the car drivers more ammo to excuse their own driving standards around cyclists

hipshot

Blowing lights is just unnecessary and winds everyone up, although admittedly I have gone through on amber-ish to my shame.

Ride hard

Stupid. Plain and simple.

If cars suddenly started RLJing as regularly and blantantly as some of these eediots I'm sure said cyclists would all be up in arms about how their safety is being put at risk.

I shake my head everytime I see people doing it, so its anyone's guess what people in cars to the side or behind me think when they see it.

dowtcha

The French have been very forward thinking when it comes to this. I think you might be breaking the law by actually stopping.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... dents.html

PS. the daily mail is a great read with up to 50% of the news they report been factual.

Finlaz22

1. It's pointless and dangerous
2. It makes drivers hate us even more

Definitely uncool.

johnny25

Apart from being a traffic offence, it's reckless behaviour. I've been in my car when some knob cyclist has gone through on red. I nearly took them out, but their sheer dexterity and a bit of luck saved them from a few weeks in A&E.

Bozman

I'll go left on a red, then again there aren't many traffic lights around here, I'm sure it's a different story in the big smokey city place.

seanoconn

It's very naughty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLzGj10fg2g

MattC59

volociroldster wrote:

In my view 'not cool' but so many fellow roadies are doing it. Views sought...

You seriously need to ask ?

volociroldster

MattC59 - Are you missing something here - this ain't me asking if it's acceptable i just wanna see if anyone is willing/daft enough to defend it when i see so many doing it. Let me be clear - it' not big, not clever, it's illegal and as MY original post said UNCOOL :!:

too slow to go

Uncool. I don't do it myself... its a chance for me to catch a breather,

Druidor

stupid, dangerous and illegal.

gbredneck

Can't understand why anyone would want to even chance it, roads are dangerous enough without taking any chances.

The few who do it, give us all a bad name.

lotus49

Uncool.

This sort of thing gives stupid drivers an excuse. We wouldn't be impressed if we saw a driver doing it and sure as hell, they aren't impressed when they see a cyclist doing it.

dee4life2005

what about a perfectly straight road, with no side junctions ... and no pedestrians waiting to cross ... some pedestrian thinks it's funny to press the button as they walk past. Does my nut in.

I did once witness a fellow roadie get his own back on the little toerag (~16yrs) that did that ... he waited at the lights, and when they changed and they caught up to them he gave them a healthy squirt in the face from his bidon :-)

W12_Lad

I'm an intelligent... ish human being. I'm also, what some people would describe as a red light jumper but I don't like being compared to the idiots who seem to do it without thinking of others.

These are the thought process' that I go through automatically within split seconds when approaching lights.
If they are pedestrian lights with no pedestrians it's a no brainer to go through.
Pedestrian lights with pedestrians, always stop. Then if pedestrian has crossed and no more are coming, I go through whether red or green.

Traffic lights are somewhat different...
Assuming a red light for me.
Any pedestrians, always stop.
Otherwise, just watch and be aware of what the traffic is doing and the light sequence. Unless I'm 100% certain that it's safe to go and I won't hinder or cause distress to another road user (including potential red light jumpers!), I will stop. Otherwise, I will go through.
If this exact behaviour upsets someone, I think that's sad. It's similar to drivers being upset when I'm filtering through traffic on my motorcycle.

dodgy

Always illegal, not always dangerous.

KevChallis

W12 lad wrote:

I'm an intelligent... ish human being. I'm also, what some people would describe as a red light jumper but I don't like being compared to the idiots who seem to do it without thinking of others.

These are the thought process' that I go through automatically within split seconds when approaching lights.
If they are pedestrian lights with no pedestrians it's a no brainer to go through.
Pedestrian lights with pedestrians, always stop. Then if pedestrian has crossed and no more are coming, I go through whether red or green.

Traffic lights are somewhat different...
Assuming a red light for me.
Any pedestrians, always stop.
Otherwise, just watch and be aware of what the traffic is doing and the light sequence. Unless I'm 100% certain that it's safe to go and I won't hinder or cause distress to another road user (including potential red light jumpers!), I will stop. Otherwise, I will go through.
If this exact behaviour upsets someone, I think that's sad. It's similar to drivers being upset when I'm filtering through traffic on my motorcycle.

It's nothing like a motorcycle filtering through traffic, as long as it's not on solid white lines, there is nothing illegal about filtering through traffic, it is however illegal to pass through a red light whether it be on a motorcycle car or a push bike, it's stupid, uncool, and one reason why certain car drivers don't like cyclists, then you wonder why we don't get enough space, or they are rude to cyclists etc... Dumb ass idea jumping lights

mididoctors

basically no it is not cool in my book.. especially where it produces danger/inconvenience for pedestrians and difficulty for drivers. Its all very well risking your own skin but others?

OTOH

two caveats.......... there are some junctions where jumping the lights is safer. these examples are few and far between and have to be known and understood by a rider of adequate experience to have this unoffical status

the other is SOME temporary traffic lights which create one way filters. the judgement call to jump these lights usually stems from the filter being on a drag/incline where you share the lane with heavy traffic/ buses etc and need a head start to gain speed. It is also noteworthy on long contra-flow filters car drivers may actual appreciate you doing this as well.

roger_merriman

While it's some folks do claim they check etc, riding and driving around London, you don't see much evidence of that.

cars/bikes/buses all fly though *just* reds they are not looking for other traffic, more foot down if anything.

The danger is being in the wrong place at the wrong time. for a car it's a dent....

DesB3rd

While I avoid doing it because such behaviour it politique around motorists and other cyclists I can equally see that most of the arguments for doing so don't stand scrutiny - all a bit "self-hating."

All the danger arguments (r.e. danger to the cyclist or pedestrians) seem to revolve around issues of the individual having poor judgement of road conditions generally, rather than the the arbitrary issue of how they treat coloured lights. And don't TFL statistics on recordable injuries to cyclists in no way correlated to such behaviour?

TimInno

Stupid. I get annoyed with the standard of driving on the roads...I'm not going to be a hypocrite and jump lights.

Davdandy

I don't understand the meaning of cool and uncool regarding jumping lights.It is dangerous and stupid.Cool is something you wear or a skill you possess,jumping traffic lights is plain dumb.Something a chav would call cool i suppose,the same as walking your pitbull or staff to the offy while smoking on a dog end. :evil:

the_cyclist_of_catan

I never thought that I would do it, until I encountered a red light on my journey on Sunday morning.

The lights are at a crossroads, where a minor road crosses a more major one. The lights are set to give much more time to traffic on the main road, and are radar-controlled. I was approaching on the minor road, intending on crossing the main road to continue my journey on the other side. I roll up, unclip and stop. There was no traffic about (it was around 8am). I wait. I wait some more. I wait again. After four minutes had gone by, I realised (i) the radar box clearly didn't pick me up as a road user (perhaps it thought I was a pedestrian, or maybe it ignores everything smaller than a car), and (ii) there was no realistic prospect of a car coming along the minor road in either direction. So I checked both ways carefully (there had been no traffic on that main road for the previous four minutes but there's always a first time), and pedalled across. I still feel guilty about it, but I suspect that I'd have been stuck there for at least half an hour if I hadn't done so.