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Entry tags:
Red lights, white lines, black tar rivers
"I try not to go through red lights but I'm not the Pope," says one of the ninety-three cyclists caught jumping red lights in three hours in central Oxford.
I've often seen cars and buses creeping slowly through a red light, as if they were cyclists who couldn't take their feet off the pedals, but I've cynically assumed that they were just intent on being a yard or two further ahead of the car behind them when the lights change (or that they didn't know how to brake). Perhaps I misjudged them: perhaps they're actually grappling with their conscience.
I wonder if the cars I photograph parking on double yellow lines and in cycle lanes are also trying really hard not to park illegally. I'm trying really hard not to photograph them, but they just keep slipping into the viewfinder. Imagine how hard it would be to avoid it if I had a camera strapped to my head.
I've often seen cars and buses creeping slowly through a red light, as if they were cyclists who couldn't take their feet off the pedals, but I've cynically assumed that they were just intent on being a yard or two further ahead of the car behind them when the lights change (or that they didn't know how to brake). Perhaps I misjudged them: perhaps they're actually grappling with their conscience.
I wonder if the cars I photograph parking on double yellow lines and in cycle lanes are also trying really hard not to park illegally. I'm trying really hard not to photograph them, but they just keep slipping into the viewfinder. Imagine how hard it would be to avoid it if I had a camera strapped to my head.
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Nope, because I was too busy keeping my bike under control at the time.
but speaking as a cyclist, I say that if you don't want to use the road because of the other people on it, then you get off and push until you feel safe to cycle.
That'll be never then, in London. In Edinburgh, where I used to live, I abided by the Highway Code and encountered a driver who would put my life at risk a few times a year. In London it's almost once an outing. There are junctions in London where the motor traffic routinely reacts to a red light by speeding up to get through it—even when the pedestrian light at the same place is on green. Cycling in London has turned me into an aggressive road user. I'm not proud of it, but it is, unfortunately, somewhat of a necessity.
In other words, "I'm a better road user than everybody else, so I'm qualified to make a judgement about when I can break the law; those other bad road users have to abide by the law because they're too stupid to do anything else."
I didn't say that. But I place my own personal safety above keeping strictly to the Highway Code. When there was an upsurge in cycling in London after the 7 July bombings (as if cycling in London didn't involve higher risk!), there was an article in one of the broadsheets—the Independent or Sunday Telegraph, I forget which—offering advice for new cyclists, in which the author explicitly encouraged people to break the Highway Code, by saying if they only had one set of lights, to have them on flashing, as it makes you considerably more visible to motorists. I do the same myself; I'd rather be visible and in contravention of the Highway Code than knocked off my bike and injured or even killed.
Yes, other drivers can be fuckwits. But you don't have to be a cyclist to get carved up dangerously by other drivers: should car drivers be at liberty to go through red lights, or drive on pavements, if they think that doing so is safer for them than having to deal with other drivers?
Motorists are not at risk of such severe injury if hit by another motorist in urban traffic. (Also, I did not, and do not, advocate anyone going along the pavements.)
And even if it's safe for you to go through the red lights, what about the people who see you doing it and think "bloody cyclists, always going through red lights"? Aren't you just reinforcing the sort of attitude to cyclists which contributes to the disrespect from other drivers that you're complaining about?
Unfortunately, in London it's too late for that. I appreciate that it's a bit of a vicious cycle, but I'd rather put my own safety first than be a martyr.
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Personally, both as a regular cyclist and as an occasional car-driver, I've found flashing bike-lights distracting and impossible to judge distance from; but they're still better than nothing, and I wouldn't want to argue with the expert advice of the broadsheets.
However, I think there's a big difference between using a different type of light (after all, any light on the road, flashing or otherwise, is likely to be an obstacle/hazard) and behaving in a way that other road users can't be expected to predict. Or do you think that all London drivers/cyclists expect everybody to ignore red lights? In other words, is every London junction effectively a no-right-of-way crossroads, where everybody advances cautiously whether the lights are on red or green? I can't say I've ever noticed this effect when driving in London (it must have been very obvious that I was only a visitor to the city, as I stopped at red lights as if I'd been out here in the sticks!) but I've only done that a handful of times.
There are junctions in London where the motor traffic routinely reacts to a red light by speeding up to get through it
Big deal: this happens everywhere (in Oxford, the buses are particularly frequent offenders). I don't see why it should mean that you have to go through red lights.
(Also, I did not, and do not, advocate anyone going along the pavements.)
What, even if the alternative is being on the road with all the dangerous car-drivers? Dude, don't be a martyr!
That'll be never then, in London.
I thought you said that the justification for your illegal and irresponsible behaviour was that it made you feel safer ... and yet you still "never" feel safe when cycling? That's very sad. Perhaps you should try walking, or taking public transport. (Please stay away from driving, though.)
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You may resent being lumped together with irresponsible cyclists: then don't break the Highway Code.
You may fear motorists not seeing you as they turn left: then drop back. Other people's bad driving gives you *no extra rights whatsoever*.
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Beautiful! The classic last resort of someone who starts an uncivil argument and then doesn't know how to back down.
I sincerely hope that you get caught and fined for going through red lights, not least because I'll be very interested to see whether "but I break the law so carefully!" convinces the police to make a special exception for you on account of your elite cycling skills, or whether "oh but I just don't feel safe otherwise!" makes them feel so sorry for you that they waive the fine.
If you don't want to be lumped together with idiots, don't behave like an idiot; if you can't cope with sarcasm or rudeness, don't make halfwitted blustering comments on strangers' livejournals; and if you can't cope with road traffic, get off the fucking road.
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And I never claimed to have elite cycling skills. The only reason I act the way I do is because in 4000 miles of cycling in Edinburgh and 2000 in Newcastle (not counting when I was little), I never got knocked off my bike once; whereas in 7000 in London I've got knocked off twice, and just recently came within a squeak of it a third time. I'd love to live in a world where I could keep to the Highway Code in London as fully as I did in Edinburgh and not feel I was putting my life on the line. But until the standard of driving here improves, I'm putting number one first; because I'm not prepared to pay the penalty of hopitalisation or death for keeping to the strict letter of the law.