Forum Topic

Cycle lane and red lights

Please note this is not anti cyclist post but can anyone explain why many cyclists using the  cycle lane on CHR fly through their red lights.  I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve witnessed this.  On a few occasions I’ve had to stop turning into Dukes Avenue when my light is green because they’ve ignored their red light.  No doubt if I go into them it will be my fault!  The whole point of the cycle lane is to improve safety but this only happens if everyone follows the rules.

Phil Spivey ● 1833d9 Comments

Forgive me Phil but why the question ? - are you really expecting any poster to come up with a rational explanation or justification.  Every time I go out by car/foot/bicycle I'll witness someone doing something they shouldn't, be it car drivers driving at excessive speed, driving recklessly or so forth, cyclists going through red lights or cycling on the pavements, and so forth.I don't need to come on here to ask why those people behave in that manner, there are idiots in every walk of life, simple as that.  Like those morons who broke into that closed waterpark at 2am when they were drunk and injured themselves and then were talking about taking legal action against the waterpark.

Adam Beamish ● 1833d

Because if he has an RTC with the cyclist he won’t get a fair hearing as the pro cycling lobby will blame him regardless.Don’t you know their word is law

Bernard Allen ● 1833d

‘Please note that this is not an anti-cycling post’.ROFL

Alastair Banton ● 1833d

There is an old adage which says - 'you cannot legislate for pillocks'. Adam has a point - we have laws and legislation coming out of our ears with new ones popping up all the time, what no-one ever says is who the hell is going to make sure people abide by them. We've been told this morning - when it was pointed out to the brains behind the C40 cyclepath in Isleworth that cyclists are ignoring the most contentious part of the cyclepath that runs outside Isleworth Public Hall and riding along in the road, that that's fine! So God alone knows how much public money has been spent on this ridiculous unwanted scheme, just so the very people it was meant to benefit can ignore it! If there's any logic in this it has passed me by. This famous cyclepath also crosses the A316 by way of the only roundabout that is not traffic light controlled making it very hazardous, we've been pressing for controls for years, we are now told it probably will happen next year, perhaps this should have been the very first thing to have been addressed. No-one in their right mind would cycle around that!

Vanessa Smith ● 1833d

I can explain why - cyclists build up forward momentum and having to stop and re-start is a pain. However, I in no way condone any road user jumping a red light. I recall back in the 1970s one evening driving along the Embankment from Westminster to Chelsea and for once finding all the lights were miraculously green as I came to them, and how much smoother the journey was without constantly having to stop and start. Is there any co-ordination of the traffic lights along CHR that would allow cyclists to proceed at a reasonable pace through a series of green lights, or are they all individually controlled ?

Richard Greenhough ● 1833d

Indeed Richard, but what often 'amuses' me when I'm out on the bike is that some clown who isn't cycling at any great speed will pedal straight through the red light I've stopped at, and yet less than a minute later I'll have to overtake them and use some 'choice language' about why they went through the red light.  And despite what some anti-cycling posters might say, the vast majority of such cyclists jumping red lights are not lycra-clad athletes but people of all ages, each with their own 'excuse' as to why it's okay to disregard the red light., usually things like "oh I saw there was nothing coming" or "I'm going slowly and therefore would be able to stop if a vehicle did come".  The more "mature" non-lycra wearing cyclists are the ones most likely to hop on and off the pavement as they please to bypass lights too.

Adam Beamish ● 1833d

I have taken to yelling 'Red Light!' at any cyclist who passes me as I sit on my bike at a red light. Some of them respond to this by stopping but most just ignore me and carry on. My youngest asked me the other day why some cyclists ignored the red lights and I explained that they must be transporting live organs to Hospitals, which when you think about it, they are. It's just that the organs are still inside them.

Chris Blackwell ● 1833d

Adam, the "clown who isn't cycling at any great speed" is precisely the sort of person who wants to maintain momentum.

Richard Greenhough ● 1833d

"I have taken to yelling 'Red Light!' at any cyclist who passes me as I sit on my bike at a red light."I was walking over the road on a pedestrian green the other day when a cyclist dodged through the red light. The conversation went like this - Me : "You've jumped a red light"Him : "F*** off"Me : "Moron !"Perhaps not the greatest exchange of dialogue, but at least I tried to indicate the error of his ways.

Richard Greenhough ● 1833d