passing through red lights - cool/uncool

Hoopdriver

I head out on my ride at 4:30am and on my way out of town there is one light. At that hour, if it's red, I run it. The streets are utterly deserted. On my way back however, at 6:30 or so, I always stop if it is red, and for any other reds if I make an extra loop around town.

Mikey23

No thunderbolt from heaven for either of the above two then...

I did hang around in just such a situation on some temp lights but was rescued by a vehicle and was very grateful to wave him through first

kleinstroker

So if the law changes to allow cyclists to go through red lights, will it still be uncool and stupid?

volociroldster

Although the OP was not contextually specific and therefore open to much debate i would suggest that wherever there is potential to be judged as a prat by a witness and/or cause injury to self or others then it has to be UNCOOL.

iPete

If a cyclist falls through a red light at 3am and no one is around to see, do they make a noise?

KevChallis

iPete wrote:

If a cyclist falls through a red light at 3am and no one is around to see, do they make a noise?

Lol

Hoopdriver

iPete wrote:

If a cyclist falls through a red light at 3am and no one is around to see, do they make a noise?

They don't at 4:30am, I know that!

paul_mck

pedestrian crossing (if clear) yes, junction no.

prawny

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

paul_mck

if you arent inconveniencing anyone why would they care?

Hoopdriver

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

prawny

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

TheSmithers

The only red lights I ride through are pedestrian lights where there are no pedestrians. I'm not going to stop then expend energy speeding up again for nothing. You may agree or disagree with this. I don't care and will carry on doing it.

hatch87

I've been told by a pedestrian to keep going once when I stopped at a red, you just can't please everyone lol. I've had to jump a red before because the sensor didn't pick me up, just kept going green for the other roads and skipping me out.

What I do hate is cyclists that jump on the pavement, cross the road like a pedestrian, then get back on the road, grrrr. There is a time and place, but 99% of the time I stop at reds

Hoopdriver

prawny wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

Just curious: have you ever read Les Miserables? Or seen the play? And if you did, who were you cheering for?

rolf_f

hatch87 wrote:

What I do hate is cyclists that jump on the pavement, cross the road like a pedestrian, then get back on the road, grrrr. There is a time and place, but 99% of the time I stop at reds

Why would you hate that? As long as they are walking on the pavement, it's perfectly legal (unlike your 1 percent of the time) so what is the problem?

I used to occasionally do that commuting from my old office - if I turned the corner and the light was just going red, I knew that if I got off, walked round the corner and rejoined the road I'd get through the next light on green. If I waited, the next light would turn red as I neared it.

prawny

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

Just curious: have you ever read Les Miserables? Or seen the play? And if you did, who were you cheering for?

I haven't but I'm guessimy the heroes are breaking the law in some way? I'm rooting for Walt in breaking bad if that helps, but I'm only on season 2

Personally though I'll follow the rules, if everyone decided to break the odd small rule the world would go to shit pretty quickly I reckon.

ugo.santalucia

Are we at it again with this red lights topic???

Once I counted... there are 69 lights between home and work.. as an average 20 are red... out of those probably half do make sense, the others are deserted pedestrian crossings or left turns on wide roads with no incoming vehicles.
Accelerating a 12 Kg bike + 5 Kg pannier is a lot of effort and sneaking ahead of incoming traffic is always a good way to stay safe... it comes without saying that jumping red lights is sensible in some cases, stupid in others, illegal in all cases, but many things are illegal, yet accepted if done sensibly... weed, for instance.
Pedestrians cross red lights all the time and nobody has anything to say, but if you are self propelled, then automatically you are a criminal... cyclists have a lot more in common with pedestrians than they have with motorists, in terms of size, weight, danger they pose to others and 180 degrees vision

Mikey23

moral relativism ... too big a concept for my tiny brain to take in right now. perhaps some red wine might help

TheLoneCyclist

IF they are temporary lights that you can see the end of on a quiet road, I might...MIGHT, just pass through them, because I once waited for 6 minutes for lights to change, got bored and almost as soon as I moved, they turned green. On a crossroads etc., however, I would never EVER jump them. It is a good way of slowing you down (e.g. if you get knocked off).

rolf_f

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Pedestrians cross red lights all the time and nobody has anything to say, but if you are self propelled, then automatically you are a criminal... cyclists have a lot more in common with pedestrians than they have with motorists, in terms of size, weight, danger they pose to others and 180 degrees vision

I don't think it is illegal for pedestrians to cross on reds (though maybe someone can confirm or otherwise) - but the point is, you are a road user, riding a bike on the road - we maybe closer in weight to a pedestrian than a motorist but we are far closer to the car in terms of the speed we travel at - that's why we are on the road and not the pavement. Follow the rules of the road - it's simple. Anything else is just encouragement for the anti bicycle brigade.

If you don't like your 69 traffic lights, move house, move job or find another route. Lighten your load. Your lifestyle choices aren't a justification for running red lights.

Mikey23

I think I've said this before, but you could always pop into you local cop shop and ask for your red light exemption certificate... I'm sure you will get a cheery response and perhaps a nice cuppa

ugo.santalucia

Rolf F wrote:

If you don't like your 69 traffic lights, move house, move job or find another route. Lighten your load. Your lifestyle choices aren't a justification for running red lights.

Rolf, we have different opinions and we are entitled to discuss them, that's where it should stop. I don't think I have asked for advice on how to live my life. Besides, maybe in Leeds you can live where you want, in London you live where you can...

slowbike

prawny wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

Weird ... most ppl would take a pragmatic view on it - as exampled earlier - when the sensor hasn't picked up you (the cyclist) on a junction and there is nothing else around then it is not sensible to just sit there waiting for the lights to change.
The law is absolute - yet to obey them without question is just naive.

prawny

Slowbike wrote:

prawny wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

Weird ... most ppl would take a pragmatic view on it - as exampled earlier - when the sensor hasn't picked up you (the cyclist) on a junction and there is nothing else around then it is not sensible to just sit there waiting for the lights to change.
The law is absolute - yet to obey them without question is just naive.

There's nothing in that example that said I hadn't been picked up by the sensor though, if that was the case then obviously I wouldn't sit there waiting indefinitly, same as I wouldn't in my car. Common sense all the way.

What hacks me off is when people jump red lights because they are an inconveinience, especially when there are witnesses.

slowbike

prawny wrote:

Slowbike wrote:

prawny wrote:

Hoopdriver wrote:

prawny wrote:

Horrifically uncool, in any circumstances.

The only time I would ever go through a red light on my bike is if I would do the same in a car i.e. temporary lights that have failed.

I saw a chap at the weekend sail straight through a red light on a full TT rig with all the gear on, it's that sort of behaviour that causes problems for everyone :evil:

I am curious: do you mean you would stand, straddling your bike, at a deserted crossroads at 4:30am staring at a red light and waiting for it to change?

Yup. Definitely, why wouldn't I? It's not up to me to decide what the rules of the road are. There's a red light you stop and wait. That said, I wouldn't be out on my bike at 4:30am and if I was I don't know if I'd be awak enough to see a red light

Weird ... most ppl would take a pragmatic view on it - as exampled earlier - when the sensor hasn't picked up you (the cyclist) on a junction and there is nothing else around then it is not sensible to just sit there waiting for the lights to change.
The law is absolute - yet to obey them without question is just naive.

There's nothing in that example that said I hadn't been picked up by the sensor though, if that was the case then obviously I wouldn't sit there waiting indefinitly, same as I wouldn't in my car. Common sense all the way.

iirc (cos I can't be arsed to re-read it) the rider had been stood there for 4 minutes waiting for the lights to change. Sorry - but 4 minutes and no traffic? the lights are not changing ...

prawny wrote:

What hacks me off is when people jump red lights because they are an inconveinience, especially when there are witnesses.

If there are witnesses then chances are there is traffic - so no, not sensible. But TBH - it still depends on the specific circumstance and I can't think of any "normal" scenarios where you could RLJ on a bike but not a car ...

The pedestrian crossing example - if you've seen the lights are red (as you should do looking up the road) then ease up so they're not red by the time you get to them.

To the poster who said it's "dangerous and stupid" ... no, it isn't - not in all circumstances - open your mind. A lot of the time it may be dangerous and/or stupid - but not everyone lives in the same area as you and encounters the same sorts of lights that you do. It might be perfectly safe to filter left on a red light - it would only be dangerous if you failed to consider the consequences of doing so.

Fortunately I can say I'm perfect as I stop for every single red light on my commute.... there aren't any!

junglist_matty

It's about as cool as:

hatch87

Rolf F wrote:

hatch87 wrote:

What I do hate is cyclists that jump on the pavement, cross the road like a pedestrian, then get back on the road, grrrr. There is a time and place, but 99% of the time I stop at reds

Why would you hate that? As long as they are walking on the pavement, it's perfectly legal (unlike your 1 percent of the time) so what is the problem?

I used to occasionally do that commuting from my old office - if I turned the corner and the light was just going red, I knew that if I got off, walked round the corner and rejoined the road I'd get through the next light on green. If I waited, the next light would turn red as I neared it.

The ones I see don't get off their bikes at all though. They just jump on to the curb, cross the road, then jump back onto the road the other side of the cross roads. Basically jumping the reds but using the pavement to justify it

socistep

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

If you don't like your 69 traffic lights, move house, move job or find another route. Lighten your load. Your lifestyle choices aren't a justification for running red lights.

Rolf, we have different opinions and we are entitled to discuss them, that's where it should stop. I don't think I have asked for advice on how to live my life. Besides, maybe in Leeds you can live where you want, in London you live where you can...

Move to Leeds, we have the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District & the North Yorks Moors nearby - great cycling country plus commuting isn't too bad

haf1zur

So many RLJ idiots on my commute each morning, i film them and put them on youtube

They tend to do it to get in front, though always a couple of hundred meters down the road I pass them again and they keep doing it. Why not just stop at the lights and give your legs a breather for the 10 odd seconds it takes, you end up going faster

Usually guys not in Lycra, though been seeing them too lately