Traffic light query

Wizardej

Hi everyone, just a had a genuine query.

I cycle to work every morning following the grand canal and nearly every day people just breeze through the many sets of light when red. Now I do wait until it turns green but sometimes I feel a bit of an idiot (was particulary bad this morning) being the only one (especially when I got the boards jersey one which is nearly every day! ). I'm orginally from the North and we don't really have cycle lanes with lights like this so I was wondering are these some sort of special give way ones where you can go ahead if there is nothing coming and clear or are they proper lights??

Thanks!!

Hunterbiker

A red is a red. Are you talking about the lights along the cycle land along the canal?
I stop on the reds too.
you can proceed on a flashing amber (with caution).
Being safe doesn't make you a numpty

CramCycle

A red is a red, you have muppets plough through on red and often skim pedestrians on amber. Just wait, I do it, its not a big deal and actually adds little time onto the commute. There are a few junctions which are plainly unclear what is happening eg the Leeson St. Bridge. In this case, go slow, give way to pedestrians, and unlike the majority of DB users there, try not to be a d*ck.

Wizardej

Hunterbiker wrote: »

A red is a red. Are you talking about the lights along the cycle land along the canal?
I stop on the reds too.
you can proceed on a flashing amber (with caution).
Being safe doesn't make you a numpty

Nice to know I'm not the only one!

Yeah thats the ones. Sometimes its really bad with both cyclists and walkers not knowing what to do and going everywhere! & you get people going off behind you for not going on. Another thing is do you go on when the green man is on and stop at the other side to let the pedestrains cross or just wait until the green cycle light?

07Lapierre

Old rule: Red lights are your enemy
New rule: Red lights are your friend

How many times have you seen a fellow cyclist ride through a set of red lights, or mount the pavement, only to rejoin the road after riding a few metres? It gives us all a bad name; after all, we’re road riders, aren’t we, not pedestrians when it suits us?
Red lights needn’t be your enemy, though. Use them as the ideal opportunity to practise your track stands — see how long you can balance on the bike while remaining clipped into your pedals. It’s a good core exercise (although admittedly not best performed at busy crossroads; perhaps leave it for roadworks and simple pedestrian crossings).
If that’s not your bag, use the time to take a drink, open an energy bar or check yourself out in a shop window. Either way, stop, breathe… you’re not in a time trial (if you are, it’s a very badly thought-out course).

Read more at http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/common-sense-rules-for-modern-road-riding-158063#evGw44uXSzwReArt.99

CramCycle

Wizardej wrote: »

Nice to know I'm not the only one!

Yeah thats the ones. Sometimes its really bad with both cyclists and walkers not knowing what to do and going everywhere! & you get people going off behind you for not going on. Another thing is do you go on when the green man is on and stop at the other side to let the pedestrains cross or just wait until the green cycle light?

Wait until the amber flashing light for bikes comes on, don't go on the green pedestrian. Once the amber is flashing, make sure no one has started crossing and then proceed with caution.

I seen a mother (completely in the right) rip a DB user a new one for ploughing through while she wheeled a buggy. I felt so happy that I had stopped as it was hilarious, guy nearly sh*t himself by the look on his face as she roared abuse at him.

xebec

These lights definitely lead to 'confusion' among most users (or they just blatantly ignore the red and the stop line for bikes). The Leeson Street junction is a nightmare though and I'm surprised I haven't heard of any altercations there - going through westbound yesterday, taking my time allowing the slow moving cyclists in front of me to move through the junction and some numpty comes flying up between me and the pedestrians nearly taking out me and a few of them. In general, as Cramcyle says, give way to pedestrians and don't be a d*ck and you'll be fine.

Skrynesaver

Think of it as interval training and see if you can catch them before the next set of lights

I've given up on mentioning that they're endangering my life with their antics as I pass them though.

benjamin d

In my experience (25km round trip commute) there are always more RLJs than people who wait. Drives me bananas to see such blatant and at times horrifically dangerous light jumping.

I've developed a theory though that a lot of the cause is that because quite a bit of cycling infrastructure not only encourages but actually FORCES cyclists to break the law, it's understandable that some cyclists carry this to its natural conclusion of laws being basically optional on a bike.

Here http://goo.gl/maps/NAMTi is a prime example. There is no way to interpret this in any way other than the cyclist is expected to be on the pavement here. It's then confirmed if you turn round to the ped crossing lights at the junction behind and see that there's a cycle crossing light even though there's no cycle lane on either side. Another example is the cycle lane southbound on the Clonskeagh road that for no good reason is raised in one section even though there's a fairly busy right turn on to Bird Avenue along that part. So to turn right you either wait until the end of the raised lane when you have to immediately cross two lanes, or else hop off the lane into the road.

I see things like that all over so I can see that sending these mixed signals regarding road behaviour gives a lot of people the idea that they can do what they want. And they're the reason I will pretty much never even consider using a cycle lane.

Wizardej

Thanks for the clarification and advice everyone! Its good to know what to do (particulary like Skrynesaver's idea :pac:)

There could be a gap in the market there for a fun guide to cycling in Dublin book!