Red lights, white lines, black tar rivers

[j4]

"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.

Comments

[simont]

I've cynically assumed that they were just intent on being a yard or two further ahead of the car behind them

What always confuses me about people creeping through red lights is that they don't seem particularly intent on being as far ahead as they can, at least if you can go by the fact that when the lights do eventually go green they often take distinctly longer than average to get their car moving properly. One is inclined to think that if they were really in a hurry, they might creep through the light to get a few yards' head start, but would also get moving quickly in order to capitalise on that start.

Though I suppose one could argue that it's precisely because they're not skilled enough to get their car moving within a sensible length of time that they have to compensate for that delay by creeping forwards through the lights instead...

[blech.livejournal.com]

If you go too far in front of the stop line, you often can't see the lights, or can't see as many, anyway. I notice this with other cyclists all the time; they creep forward, the light changes, I go, and they're in my way, because they've not noticed and are still stopped.