Why do cyclists run red lights?

[slowmotion]

And I do distinguish between the two; doing something stupid in a car may kill someone else, where as doing something stupid on my bike may kill me.

It's not that simple. If you got squashed crossing a junction on red, how do you think the car driver would feel about it? He might spend the rest of his life wondering if there was anything he could have done to save you. There are consequences. You don't exist in a bubble.
Sorry, mj, end of lecture.

 

[Glow worm]

I don't recall any blatant red light jumping from cars in the 6 months I've been cycling. Sure, you always get the scum taxi driver pushing through an amber, but I see oblivious cyclists doing it 3-4 times a day

I have two junctions on my commute where you almost always get three or four cars going through on very mature amber or blatant red. At the worst one (Newmarket Road/ Ditton Lane junction in Cambridge) I frequently have to slow down or delay setting off completely whilst red light jumping cars clear the junction (turning right onto Newmarket road from Ditton Lane).

 

[on the road]

I don't recall any blatant red light jumping from cars in the 6 months I've been cycling. Sure, you always get the scum taxi driver pushing through an amber, but I see oblivious cyclists doing it 3-4 times a day

You must live a sheltered live, because everywhere where I've been I've always seen cars jumping red lights. There's a couple of junctions that I've seen that are always grid locked and all because cars continue to go through on red.

 

[ianrauk]

You must live a sheltered live, because everywhere where I've been I've always seen cars jumping red lights. There's a couple of junctions that I've seen that are always grid locked and all because cars continue to go through on red.

Agreed.
See car rlj'ing every day.. without fail... on my commute

 

[StuartG]

Its difficult to compare car & cycle RLJing. Basically once one car stops then they all have to, potential RLJers too. Whereas a stopped cyclist is no deterrent to a following determined cycling RLJer. You might also not wish to equate someone who crosses the line but stops (still legally a RLJer), someone who overgambles amber and someone who saunters through well after the lights have changed.

In other words be very careful quoting statistics you have think you may have read somewhere sometime with an objective method of measuring adherence, or not, with traffic signal law.

 

[slowmotion]

As a matter of curiosity, do all RLJ cameras trigger on bikes? I know that some do because I've been flashed for stopping five metres over the stop line going into a big RA.

 

[slowmotion]

No, it was just me. I edged forward by a few yards so that I could start out a bit sooner in front of a shedload of traffic which was all stopped at a busy road going into a roundabout. Swandon Way/ Wandsworth Bridge Road. I was the culprit. BTW, having edged forward, I did stop and wait for the lights to change.

 

[User482]

I don't recall any blatant red light jumping from cars in the 6 months I've been cycling. Sure, you always get the scum taxi driver pushing through an amber, but I see oblivious cyclists doing it 3-4 times a day

I see it every day. That includes going straight through red as I'm waiting to cross with my baby daughter in the trailer.

 

[dawesome]

I don't recall any blatant red light jumping from cars in the 6 months I've been cycling.

Ten thousand vehicles jump reds EVERY MONTH in London alone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3723726.stm

 

[redcard]

Its difficult to compare car & cycle RLJing....

Yes, most here appear to be equating zipping through a red light 0.16 seconds late with the cyclist who's piling through junctions, swerving round peds.

 

[redcard]

Ten thousand vehicles jump reds EVERY MONTH in London alone.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3723726.stm

You say that like it's a big number!

That's about one every 6 minutes.

 

[GrasB]

From this morning:
Number of lights encountered with motorists present - 4
Number of those lights with cameras - 1
Number of lights jumped - 3
Number of times I was forced to stop even though I had a green light - 3
Number of times another road user was forced to stop with a green light - 2
Number of cars jumping lights - 7

This is fairly typical of my commutes into work. So assuming that people in London are as aware of light cameras as they are around here, that's an astonishingly high number of drivers caught jumping lights.

 

[Davidc]

I don't rlj on the bike or in the car.

The original report mentions sensors not detecting bikes. Certainly a problem, but in the UK if that happens the lights are faulty and it's not rljing or an offence to pass the red with care. Same applies in a car.

Car drivers rljing are homicidal maniacs, cyclists doing it are suicidal maniacs. I can't do anything about other people so just try to allow for it.

 

[Dan B]

Yes, most here appear to be equating zipping through a red light 0.16 seconds late with the cyclist who's piling through junctions, swerving round peds.

One behaviour is just as illegal as the other. And that 0.16 seconds of red was preceded by at least half a second of amber (during which, incidentally, you were also legally obliged to stop if possible) so you can't exactly claim you were taken unawares by the light change

 

[benb]

Yes, most here appear to be equating zipping through a red light 0.16 seconds late with the cyclist who's piling through junctions, swerving round peds.

Well, I know which is more likely to kill or injure someone.

One behaviour is just as illegal as the other. And that 0.16 seconds of red was preceded by at least half a second of amber (during which, incidentally, you were also legally obliged to stop if possible) so you can't exactly claim you were taken unawares by the light change

I think I'm right in saying that amber has to be on for 3 seconds.