Someone I know (not me of course) has to cross a main road on their commute. The junction is controlled by traffic lights and there is good visibility in all directions plus it’s always very early in the morning or mid evening.
If there are no cars or even another living soul anywhere in sight is it acceptable to ignore the red light (it’s always red as it’s set to give priority to the main road). 😕

Only when your vehicle has a flashing blue one.

Turning left. I know people are going to get huffy, but if you’re aware you won’t hit anything. Won’t always do it.

i know a few lights that do not change for bikes, your ok in a car or if a car pulls up behind you. What choice do you have but to run the red light?

acceptable

To whom?

Illegal certainly, always unfortunately.

Imagine one of the living souls you didn’t happen to spot, see’s you do it “thinks **** cyclists breaking the law (again)”

Take the moral high ground, wait a minute or so for the light to change (or hop off and walk through).

There’s a left turn on the commute that i take. If the lights red I do it anyway, as long as the pedestrian crossing is red too. All vechiles can turn right in America on a red, think we should do the same for lefts

i know a few lights that do not change for bikes, your ok in a car or if a car pulls up behind you

At the times of the day in question, you could wait a quarter of an hour for that to happen.

Personally I don’t like jumping lights but in the scenario you describe it seems silly not to jump. IME lights do not sit on red for ever even if it feels like it.

Google maps for the junction in question (if the link works):-
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=51.153847,-3.159912&spn=0,0.001206&t=h&z=20&layer=c&cbll=51.153803,-3.160131&panoid=y5HHYD972bRro0tRmizuWg&cbp=12,52.21,,0,-13.32

Getting off the bike and walking thru is no answer either.

HH45 – some that are controlled by sensors do – I know one where on a motorcycle I sat thru 3 light cycles waiting for my road ( the smallest at a 6 way junction) to change – a car pulled up behing me it changed immediately

I also know sensor controlled ones that do react to cycles

I would complain to the council about it – is it an IR sensor or a buried wire?

Edit – its always illegal but in that cae I would just ride thru so long as I was certain it was safe to do so.

I don’t go through red lights on the basis that anything you do that makes drivers think all cyclists are a bunch of tossers who demand protection and have no concern for anyone else simply puts more cyclists at risk. The last thing the world needs is more angry people on the roads. I realise that the action itself can be perfectly safe but if I’m on the road I’m happy to stick with the rules.

As an aside it seems to me more and more drivers are happy to go through red lights on pedestrian crossings if no one appears to be crossing.

Of course it is. Do it most mornings.

In my Audi

(no, really 😈 )

There’s red light near me that I jump regularly in the car.
Late at night. I know the sequence, I can see everything coming, it’s not got a camera on it, why wait?

avdave – you wouold wait until a car came along to trigger the light then? even if its 15 mins?

There are two kinds of people who never amount to much: those who never follow the rules, and those who always follow the rules.

So the answer to the question is yes.

Every day.

Keep safe and courteous though, keep an eye out for the 5-O

Surprised how seriously this issue is taken on this forum.

There are 40 sets of lights on my commute. Some are a no no, but some are totally fine to jump

cbrsyd – perfectly put

decide for yourself, and use your awareness, whether a red light is safe to jump or not depends entirely on the circumstances that surround you at a particular time/junction…in my mind safe = acceptable at all times when playing with the traffic!

I sometimes ride through a red light. It’s one where the sensor doesn’t detect cyclists. I’ve always understood though that it’s legal to jump a red light if you know it’s faulty.

Dibbs, legally of course not.

However knowing that junction well makes me say just do it, if you can be 100% sure you checked all ways and it’s clear.

From the Stowey side.

Looking left there’s a reasonable range of visibility before the blind corner of approx 150metres.
Right there’s perhaps 300metres and straight on, if it’s dark you’ll see if it’s safe.

Visibility is just the same from the other side.

So long as they’re well lit up and can be seen. At those hours i don’t

I’d be more wary of the lane commute through Stogursey as it’s a super quick road through there, with plenty of crazy youths running late for their shift at gerber, etc.(assuming the commute of that way, instead on on the main road)

However, given the speeds that the traffic is likely to be hauling along that road in the early hours, extreme caution is needed as well you know.

Can’t they just ride down the main street in the village and come out opposite cricketers?

No other traffic in sight? Sensor not detecting bikes? No question, go through ton the red.

I regularly ignore red lights late at night or early in the morning. Even during the day in heavy gridlocked traffic.

AS for the school of thought that it gives car drivers a bad impression of cyclists? Well when they stop speeding, parking on pavements, overtaking too close, texting and using mobiles while driving then I’ll start stopping at every red.

AS for the school of thought that it gives car drivers a bad impression of cyclists? Well when they stop speeding, parking on pavements, overtaking too close, texting and using mobiles while driving then I’ll start stopping at every red.

Well said!

I dont run red lights if there are vehicles passing but at 5am when I am the only vehicle on the road and I can see there is nothing coming then I do.

My main concern is my own safety, so if that means jumping a red light to get a start on the cars waiting with me so that I have got through the roundabout when they come through then everyone is a winner. I am not picking gravel out of my knee and some bloke who was rushing to work isnt worrying about the impending insurance claim issues!

I do wait at lights most of the time and the only time I jump the red light is when I’m on my way to work in the evening where there are 2 sets of lights one after another. There is a pedestrian crossing between them there is no side streets between the lights, if there is no one crossing the road I’ll jump the first red and wait at the other for a green light.

Next one is on my way home, 5am, road is empty, seems it has to have some lights with sensors because I once waited close to 5 minutes to get a green light and there was a red light on all lights even for pedestrians.

Those are two red lights I can jump, others I just slow down before, they change to green and I ride off or just wait for a green. I used to jump more lights when I first started commuting but some drivers get really worked up about it and jumping lights would probably save me 2 minutes tops on my 30min commute so not worth it.

Just go for it.

I’ve done it in front of police cars and they dont seem to care. Especially if your just turning left, just hug the curb and filter in, you get a few beeps occasionally but **** em, in there snug warm cars!

I now just cycle in the middle of the lane, just to stop people squeezing past!

My main concern is my own safety, so if that means jumping a red light to get a start on the cars waiting

Ah, wondered how long before someone trotted that justification out. If you feel sufficiently concerned about your safety such that you need to break the law then perhaps riding on the road isn’t for you 🙂

THis is a bit like ‘does a tree falling to the ground make a noise if there is no one to hear it?’

Have you committed a crime if there is no one around to report it?

I ran one this morning.

If a tree falls in a deserted forest does it make a sound?

theres a few near me that are either camera controlled all the time or early mornign so you really have ot jump them on a bike.

Other than those two i dont jump any, i just use them as a chance to practice my track stand in an effort to amaze and awe drivers/pedestrians at the cool thing im doing and they’re not. Lets face it, most of you lot probably need to practice your track stands a bit more. Me, im perfect.

You can’t trackstand in a car though.

Just take a common sense approach. Plus as above, be aware that drivers seeing you do it will invariably get pissed off with us.

what if you’re at the red light and a police car needs to get through behind you?

i’m a bit of a overly cautious (and boring) driver when driving and stop for reds even in the middle of the night when there’s nobody around and no cameras… figure the one time i chose to jump one is the time i’d get caught and end up paying millions more on insurance each year. i’m not saying others shouldn’t do it, just admitting i’m one of those drivers that people get stuck behind doing the speed limit on the dot 😳

Acceptable to run a red light? Apparently if you’re an asian woman driving a silver A4 saloon then it is, even when I’m crossing at the green man and am in the middle of the road. Got the reg though toying with the idea of the police as she was about 3″ from me. Bint…

I pass 64 sets of lights on route to work and the answer is yes.

Thats another thing, why do there need to be soo many lights? In some parts of Manchester you could get away with a normal bloody junction and common sense.

Only if you’re being chased by a shark. On a skateboard.

What aboput hopping on to the kerb and riding down that if the light is on a continueous road with only a right hand side filter in. I do that from time to timwe if there is nobody about as in theory I haven’t run a red light.

I wouldn’t normally, but I agree with: “No other traffic in sight? Sensor not detecting bikes? No question, go through the red.”

It’s not your fault the traffic control system isn’t designed for cyclists. Watch out for the Rozzers though.

Watch out for the Rozzers though

I have to say i don’t feel the need to up here really(glasgow), the polis on bikes run reds lights and cycle on the pavements up here anyhow, so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me.

I have to say i don’t feel the need to up here really(glasgow), the polis on bikes run reds lights and cycle on the pavements up here anyhow, so if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me.

In Santa Monica I saw a sign that said no cycling on the sidewalk, except for police.