Cycling in cities / stopping at red lights
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joustmaster
offcumdun
Its a bit keen, isn't it.
I was thinking more about getting back from a pub at night. Probably involves less lycra, too.
T & P
|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|
It's *sometimes* perfectly safe for cyclists to jump red lights.
Just as it is for motor vehicles to exceed the speed limit.
And for pedestrians to cross before the green man comes in.
For me, it's not just a question of safety but one of politeness and common sense (within the context of ignoring the Highway Code in the first place). Speaking as both a cyclist and driver, cyclists jumping a pedestrian crossing red light at a quiet time with no pedestrians about whatsoever is fine in my book. While cyclists jumping a red light at a junction and turning left into moving traffic are cunts who not only are doing themselves no favours but dragging all cyclists through the mud.
Equally, drivers doing 35-37 mph in certain roads and at certain times are actually fine, while others doing less than the legal limit in the wrong circumstances are dangerous cunts who deserve a slap.
Just as it is for motor vehicles to exceed the speed limit.
And for pedestrians to cross before the green man comes in.
For me, it's not just a question of safety but one of politeness and common sense (within the context of ignoring the Highway Code in the first place). Speaking as both a cyclist and driver, cyclists jumping a pedestrian crossing red light at a quiet time with no pedestrians about whatsoever is fine in my book. While cyclists jumping a red light at a junction and turning left into moving traffic are cunts who not only are doing themselves no favours but dragging all cyclists through the mud.
Equally, drivers doing 35-37 mph in certain roads and at certain times are actually fine, while others doing less than the legal limit in the wrong circumstances are dangerous cunts who deserve a slap.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
cyclist jumps red lights smacks into side of bus
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Also - riding at that speed on wet roads - clearly had no intention to stop for anything animal, vegetable or mineral..
A pity he can't be named and shamed.
A pity he can't be named and shamed.
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
Does look like a fixie with no brakes, and from the wiggle before impact looks like he was doing *something* that might have been an attempt at stopping. I've overshot a crossing by quite a bit in the wet before now having not been paying attention and forgetting how shit my brakes were in the wet, so could have been something like that.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Although the bus driver seems to have committed a criminal offence by making off.
I dunno, I crossed the road without looking in Exeter a while back and walked straight into the side of a moving bus. I was hoping to god the driver wouldn't stop to check I was alright because then I'd feel obliged to explain why I'd done such a fuckwit thing in the first place, and I had nothing.
Geri
wasn't born to follow
According to the bus driver, the cyclists brakes failed.
http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/25/bus-driver-defends-cyclist-who-jumped-red-light-and-crashed-5214473/
http://metro.co.uk/2015/05/25/bus-driver-defends-cyclist-who-jumped-red-light-and-crashed-5214473/
gentlegreen
I hummus, therefore I am ...
Yeah right.
He was going too fast for the conditions on a silly bike with no gears or freewheel and only one brake.
Amazingly, given I do my own maintenance, but in 27 years I've never had a brake cable fail.
He was going too fast for the conditions on a silly bike with no gears or freewheel and only one brake.
Amazingly, given I do my own maintenance, but in 27 years I've never had a brake cable fail.
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
winifred
Sinking fast
I used to work with somebody who was openly critical of cyclists. She'd slag off cyclists who would stop at a junction/red light... get off the bike and then walk across the road (using the pedestrian crossing), only to then get back on the saddle and cycle on again. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I was one of those very same people... 
Dogsauce
I’ve got Skol but I’m not a Scholar
I've had a brake cable fail and it's shit scary. The other brake wasn't up to stopping me at the speed I was going. Fortunately the road I was joining was empty, though I still hit the kerb on the far side and came off (too fast to corner). Coming out of this narrow one-way street on the left:
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.800...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4_nT_uXD_gzoAj6fqVsjpw!2e0
As you can see I had no visibility on what was coming until I was right at the junction, so I had to prepare myself to bail off if it wasn't clear, absolutely terrifying situation.
https://www.google.com/maps/@53.800...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s4_nT_uXD_gzoAj6fqVsjpw!2e0
As you can see I had no visibility on what was coming until I was right at the junction, so I had to prepare myself to bail off if it wasn't clear, absolutely terrifying situation.
bi0boy
Power User
My car would probably look more cool if I took the front brakes off tbh. Would give me more feel for the road if I drove everywhere in second gear too, I could ditch that heavy and expensive to repair clutch nonsense. Might give it a go as I've always wanted to be a hipster twat.
George & Bill
semiotically superfluous
So we can add The Times, as well as Quartz and Pickman's model, to our list of statistically-illiterate entities. In these numbers, no account is taken of the different types of roads on which car and bike respectively accrue their milages. The reason cars only injure slightly more pedestrians per x miles travelled is because, at the national level where the statistics are gathered, most of the miles driven by cars are on rural motorways, followed by rural A roads and minor rural roads - where pedestrians are either banned, or rare. In contrast, 70% of the miles covered by bicycle are on urban roads*, where pedestrians are common.
Statistics that controlled for road class would give a totally different picture. Cars driving in built-up areas with lots of pedestrians are much more likely than a cyclist to injure one of those pedestrians, and that injury is in turn much more likely to be fatal. The figures concocted by the Times and parroted by The Week and the BBC are meaningless.
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George & Bill
semiotically superfluous
As someone who used to be a reckless teen mountain biker and is now a more sedate, but still not always strictly law-abiding almost-thirty about-towner, I do take issue with the assertion that cyclists only ever RLJ for safety and never for expediency. It seems obvious from examining both my own thoughts and others' behaviour that the latter is also fairly common. But it also seems undeniable that the former is real. If you have a revving hoard behind you and you know that the light is about to turn, you'd be a fool not to get a head start. And while every misdemeanour of a cyclist is on show for all to see, motorists commit just as many, from speeding to texting - shielded from scrutiny by the same metal that will protect them, and injure or kill others, if things go wrong.
All road users should be asked to conform to standards of behaviour that are proportionate to the characteristics they possess - and the balance between human decency and state enforcement in upholding those standards should also be proportionate to those characteristics. As such, I think it's absolutely right that pedestrian crossing lights are only advisory, and we have the right to use our discretion when walking. Cyclists are more hazardous than pedestrians and, as such, should be more regulated. But they are almost certainly less hazardous than motor vehicles; even among those who support licensing of cyclists, I've never heard it suggested that we should raise the age at which you can start cycling on a road to that at which you can start driving. Cyclists are also much more vulnerable. So it seems reasonable that the rules cyclists follow on the road be different to the ones cars follow. This shouldn't mean cyclists getting to make up their own rules - it should mean sensible rules that are enforced.
All road users should be asked to conform to standards of behaviour that are proportionate to the characteristics they possess - and the balance between human decency and state enforcement in upholding those standards should also be proportionate to those characteristics. As such, I think it's absolutely right that pedestrian crossing lights are only advisory, and we have the right to use our discretion when walking. Cyclists are more hazardous than pedestrians and, as such, should be more regulated. But they are almost certainly less hazardous than motor vehicles; even among those who support licensing of cyclists, I've never heard it suggested that we should raise the age at which you can start cycling on a road to that at which you can start driving. Cyclists are also much more vulnerable. So it seems reasonable that the rules cyclists follow on the road be different to the ones cars follow. This shouldn't mean cyclists getting to make up their own rules - it should mean sensible rules that are enforced.
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
so does a well known British Cycling policy advisor.
watched this more than a few times now and his story definitely holds though he's inexperienced with his chosen style of bike, should have locked the back wheel and changed course.
Much better to lock up and go sideways in to the bus at least it's only a bruised shoulder, much cheaper than a new front wheel!
bi0boy
Power User
Much better to lock up and go sideways in to the bus at least it's only a bruised shoulder, much cheaper than a new front wheel!
If you go sideways you are more likely to slide under it. New wheels are easier to obtain than new heads/hips etc.
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
never mind your fixie bikes without cable actuated rear brake, this guy had the audacity to ride into a bus without a front wheel: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...trapped-unicyclist-collision-east-London.html
Boycey
juvenile rave slut
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
yes. but you expect it of cabbies, you don't expect it of cyclistsjust been pointed out to me the cab is also jumping the light
