As a cyclist I sometimes run red lights if it is safe. Why? Bacause I cannot get from A to B with a bicycle with the current infrastructure.
In my city of 30k people there are several traffic lights equipped with road sensors. So they only ever go green if something heavy enough or with enough metal / magnetic mass in it rolls over it. Especially for left-turn signals it's impossible to get them triggered as a cyclist here.
One will remember waiting in the middle of the road for a few minutes. So I decided I'll come to a stop if needed and see that it's safe to run the red light. I'd even do it if police is seeing it.
This topic has also been raised to the city council and local administration but I guess my tax money will not be spent on cycle friendly infrastructure.
> You cant just hop on a bicycle use infrastructure others are paying for and expect to be treated like equals without paying into the system your fair share.
There are a few studies that show that cycling saves cost while driving cars is subsidized by the government. That's taking taxes, fees into acount. Even the heavy petrol taxes in Europe.
Probably it helps to keep that in mind if one is again annoyed by cyclists (read people) using the road.
To be honest, some red lights are just pointless for cyclists. One example are pedestrian crossings with no pedestrian in sight, another are very small crossings (maybe even at night) where you can see anyone coming half a mile away, with nobody in sight.
I also hate the one where you're supposed to wait 2 light cycles instead of 1 for turning left. That is a major road so people usually follow the rule, but it's not good. At the same time the city advocates doing that twice on both sides of the bridge so you can cross at the proper side on the shared sidewalk and not ride against the (often non-existent) flow on the other shared sidewalk. Of course people still do it.
The cases when the light is red and I, as a driver, can guarantee that I can run it _safely_ are very rare.
They are even rarer as a cyclist (takes me longer to clear the intersection).
The number of times that I have seen cyclists run red light safely (both for themselves and others in that intersection at the time) is precisely zero.
I've seen several hundred instances of cyclists running through intersections at this point.
The only good thing here from my point of view is that once I got out of big cities both cars and cyclists got a heck of a lot more courteous and law-abiding, so the number of people I have to deal with who're just completely ignoring the rules of the road, blocking intersections, etc is much lower. Good incentive to not live in a city again...
I agree that many red lights don't make sense for cyclists in an ideal world. But given the double standard being applied to cyclists, I don't want to give hateful people any more excuses.
In Austin, TX, they added signs to certain intersections saying that cyclists can use the pedestrian signal. In effect, this means that cyclists can often legally run a red light. Unfortunately I fear that some drivers don't pay attention to the signs and will think basically 100% of cyclists are illegally running the red light at these intersections. So I usually will wait for the green light, even in this case.
I cycled for 10 years in London, and for the first year I jumped lights until I decided against it one day. I just didn't want to give people a reason to be annoyed with me as the aggression people showed to cyclists was pretty high at the time.
But I would always filter to the front of red traffic lights ready to take off.
A number of taxis and dumper trucks used to jump red lights, either just running the light when it had just changed, crawling through, or just positioning themselves across the crossing and then going early or when they saw a gap.
But most car drivers never spot this as they aren't at the front where they can see this happen daily.
I stopped and watched a police fishing operation where they were looking for red light jumping cyclists, and I had to physically go over to the police to point out drivers that were also jumping reds in front of them, as they were so fixated on their 'job' of catching cyclists.
No idea if that is universally true, but I feel like most people here (in Germany) have a lot of respect for red lights. It's not unusual to see cars waiting at a red light in the middle of nowhere.
I wish we had something like that for cyclists who flout red lights. It's too common where I live. And I know the allure, as a part time cyclist, I understand it but a disincentive is good too.
Treating red lights as stop signs is sensible and safe - I'm even fine with not stopping if you have clear line of sight at all angles. One thing car owners like to forget is that cars make you mostly blind to your surroundings. While it feels incredibly unsafe to blow a red in a car, it's not the same on a bike- you can see so much more.
Cyclists who speed towards or through an intersection when they can't see what might come into conflict with their path are as stupid as drivers who run reds.
Cyclists in Netherlands are skilled, but they don't follow any of the rules. Red lights just indicate the one moment when cars going cross-ways have priority.
However, it's still predictable - the biker will always go first and take any space left on the sides and will often go the wrong way or on the sidewalk.
In Copenhagen, often you have a green light, so you can concentrate on behind. Then check ahead when behind is clear. (You are usually stopped, and if not, no driver behind will be surprised or angry by your stopping to ensure the path is clear.)
Don't expect the throughput of an American city road. It's not unusual that only one or two cars can make the turn before the light is red again, if there are lots of bikes.
I have seen maybe once or twice in a decade a driver running a red light. I see about 1 in 10 cyclists running a red light. The proportions aren't even close.
Why were you jumping lights though, is that not causing yourself more danger?
I've been a cyclist, motorcyclist and a driver. I've never jumped a red light on a bike. In the past 10 years of living in London I've seen hundreds of cyclists running red lights long after they've changed, or before they change back. I've seen plenty of motor vehicles run through a yellow-red, but never a long-red light (until yesterday actually).
Just yesterday I did see a taxi cross a junction on a red as it was about to change back to green, but while still red (how impatient can you be)?
I don't cycle anymore, I was hit by cars 3 times when I wasn't at fault before I moved to London, and decided not to take my chances there.
I'm always aware of cyclists and motorcyclists around me and will go out of my way to accommodate them, too many road users are blind to them, but I can't agree with red light running; if someone comes across the junction while its red for you because you decided to cross, and kills you, it's very much your fault, but they'll take the blame, or at least the burden, and you'll be dead.
As for police fishing operations, I've seen them sitting on one-way streets ticketing cyclists and scooter users, which personally I think is a bit silly (especially in the case of this particular street).
In my opinion, cyclists should treat red lights like stop signs. Come to a stop, yes, but it's often easy to see if it's safe to proceed. Traffic lights are there to make cars safer. It's completely unfair to slow down cyclists unnecessarily as a result.
It's certainly routine to see cyclists running red lights in London. I'm sure cars do that sometimes, but I can't recall ever having seen a car do it while I was crossing the road.
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