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news
Jack Shenker fined for riding through red light (veloevol YouTube still)Is it ever acceptable to ride through a red light? One London cyclist explains why he thinks it is (+ video)
Is it ever okay to ride through a red traffic light? While it is definitely against the law, one London cyclist fined during the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Safeway for doing just that, believes it is if there is no other way of negotiating a junction safely.
Helmet camera user Evo Lucas, who regularly uploads footage to YouTube, was passing the location close to the junction with Procter Street and Holborn where the rider had been stopped, and spoke to him, uploading the footage to the video sharing site afterwards.
The start of the video gives an idea of some of the hazards facing cyclists at that specfic junction - note how Lucas himself, with a car to his right, slows down as a lorry moves across him to take the right hand lane.
The RLJ debate
The rider in question is 30-year-old journalist and author Jack Shenker, who lives in north east London. In an email, he told road.cc that while he didn’t condone reckless jumping of red lights, he did believe ignoring traffic signals was warranted at times on the grounds of safety.
I think the debate over cyclist behaviour in general, and jumping red lights in particular, is a fascinating and important one. For what it's worth, I have seen cyclists jump red lights recklessly, sending pedestrians scattering as they go, just as I've seen road users of every type drive without consideration for others.
But on the whole, my impression is that most cyclists who jump red lights do so because they find themselves at junctions with little provision for cyclists, or where the provisions that have been made for cyclists (bike lanes, bike boxes) have been encroached upon by vehicles, and sometimes – not always, it depends of course on the specific location and circumstances – it feels safer in that situation to get out in front of the traffic, especially when there are no pedestrians or other vehicles moving through the junction, and move off before the lights turn green and everyone gets going.
This is particularly true at junctions where there are several lanes of traffic and vehicles potentially trying to cross over one another as they move off on green (especially when there is another junction ahead, forcing everybody to filter themselves into the correct lanes) – cyclists can easily get caught in the middle of all that tangling if they haven't already got themselves out in front – and at junctions where vehicles are making sharp turns as they move off from the traffic lights.
Cyclist explains why he rode through a red light
Describing yesterday’s incident, he said:
The notorious Holborn junction where I received my ticket yesterday ticks both of those boxes. In my case, as I tried to turn right from Procter Street into High Holborn, I found myself caught on the left hand side behind a bus that was already half-turned at a tight angle and encroaching upon the bike box as it came to a stop at the traffic lights.
I could have waited to the side of the bus, stuck between lines of traffic to my left and right and invisible to the bus's mirrors, and then tried to thread my way across a couple of lanes of heavy traffic on the turn once the lights went green (the left-hand lane at the subsequent High Holborn / Kingsway junction is for turning left onto Kingsway, but I needed to go straight ahead).
Instead, I did what felt safer, and manoeuvred in front of the bus, which put me ahead of the bike box and into the pedestrian crossing area. There were no pedestrians, and no other traffic moving on the junction ahead of me, so before the lights went green I moved off onto High Holborn, and was immediately pulled over by a policeman.
No appeal against fixed penalty notice
He acknowledges that many cyclists would not approve of riding through red lights in any circumstances, and outlined his reasons not to challenge the £50 fixed penalty notice.
I'm sure there will be plenty of people, including some other cyclists, who disagree with that sort of action, and I respect their views – I don't know what the definitive answer is to staying safe in these kind of situations, and I suspect that ultimately each cyclist has to reach their own conclusions several times every day about how best to protect themselves and show courtesy and consideration to others when they're riding through the city.
I won't appeal the penalty, partly because I don't have the time or money, and partly because I've seen far more clear-cut cases where cyclists have technically broken the road rules but were patently in the right and it's those cases we should be concentrating on to win public support and a change in the status quo.
What I do know is that these kinds of dilemmas will crop up for cyclists time and time again as long as we have a road system that fails in so many respects to accommodate different users, including cyclists, and throws them all together at dangerous junctions in the hope that everyone will just sort themselves out.
In those circumstances it always the most vulnerable – cyclists – who end up being harassed, injured or killed; when the system is rigged against you, there will be times when you subvert it to stay alive.
Is Operation Safeway missing its target?
The fine was issued as part of the Metropolitan Police’s Operation Safeway, but Shenker feels that targeting bike riders who are breaking the law as a result of putting their own safety first is missing the point.
The police told me they were blitzing the junction to protect cyclists' safety, but on the whole cyclists who break the rules in a minor way after taking thoughtful action to protect themselves are not a threat to anyone's safety; the merging of heavy goods vehicles on narrow roads with cyclists, crap road and junction design, and politicians who lack the political will to improve the situation – those are the things threatening cyclists' safety, but the police are rarely blitzing them.
What do you think? Should it be allowed for cyclists to ride through red lights in some circumstances? Or does doing so, irrespective of the excuse, simply give people ammunition to use against bike riders? Let us know in the comments.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
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He wasn't brake-checking me, he was trying to get me to stop. Nothing good would have come from me stopping.
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It was designed around 28mm tyres but there's lots of clearance and could certainly take bigger tyres.
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- Rendel Harris 21 min 57 sec ago
No evidence on the video of any interaction between themselves and the cyclist so possibly they simply didn't get the reg number?
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The proximity to the Transport Research Labs at Crowthorne means that the area often gets weird new stuff.
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105 comments
I am sure it is but comes down to cost. However we are where we are now and surely it is inherent on a cyclist to take note of that and mitigate against the risks ?
Well the last two days I have seen one cyclist jump the lights whilst driving and today on my ride the group in front did at the very start of the ride.
I have informed both clubs of this on twitter and for Stourbridge and Stafford who I have enjoyed riding with it is a shame cyclists do this and frankly I am pissed off at them as they give us all a bad name.
THE ORIGINAL SIN.
was requiring cyclist to pretend they are motor vehicles,and adhere to motor traffic signs and regulations.This mindlesness continues to to fraustrate traffic
with tragic conseqencies.After thousends of miles cycling here, their, and everywhere, it dawned on me that the only appropriate regulation for the bicycle is that it -should be ridden at all times with due care and attention-.
THE ORIGINAL SIN.
was requiring cyclist to pretend they are motor vehicles,and adhere to motor traffic signs and regulations.This mindlesness continues to to fraustrate traffic
with tragic conseqencies.After thousends of miles cycling here, their, and everywhere, it dawned on me that the only appropriate regulation for the bicycle is that it -should be ridden at all times with due care and attention-.
THE ORIGINAL SIN.
was requiring cyclist to pretend they are motor vehicles,and adhere to motor traffic signs and regulations.This mindlesness continues to to fraustrate traffic
with tragic conseqencies.After thousends of miles cycling here, their, and everywhere, it dawned on me that the only appropriate regulation for the bicycle is that it -should be ridden at all times with due care and attention-.
if we use the road we should be subject to the same rules, what makes us special on early sunday morning that means some of you think u can jump red lights ?
Um, because if I don't, I have to wait 5 minutes for a car to come along to activate the lights, yet I can see for 2 kilometres in all three directions.
I'll be jumping that red, thanks.
so what is wrong with waiting, why the rush, you are breaking the law and hope you get caught.
People like you cause the resentment some of us have had from motorists and rightly so.
actually the lights in my example changed within 20 seconds of those going through ...
Don't be a dick; would you suggest all motorists should be labelled because some of them run cyclists over?
If the transport system isn't geared up to detect cyclists it isn't working, I'm part of that transport system, and if it's not working for me, I'll make it work by ignoring the faulty bits.
I've already said that the casual disregard for red lights by cyclists is wrong, but there are occasions when it is ok; this is one.
so this was OK when life was not in danger ?
Crikey it makes no sense we want everyone on the road to obey the rules surely, so OK for cars to go when it is 'clear' on red then ?
Really? wait an indeterminate time because the road infrastructure will only detect cars or larger? Waiting one to two minutes for a normal cycle of the lights is one thing, but if the lights are not going to change without a car happening along that is something else? what if the lights are broken? should everyone wait there until they are fixed?
You can not design everything out and yes in ideal world it would be. However until then then plain common sense works ?
You cannot, but the usual principle is to design out as much aspossible, andif this isn't possible I'd be amazed.
Yeah, you don't just "find yourself" in a position where you have to jump the lights.
So I take it that it is OK to go through a red light if you are in a car, in a van, bus, lorry or on a motorcycle. The rider could easily have avoided it if he had been thinking ahead.
It works to go through on red in France and the USA where you are allowed to do so to turn right IF SAFE, but here it is still illegal and he deserved the punishment.
Just because we cycle doesn't mean we have to all agree to break the law.
I don't need to jump red lights.
I enjoy the training effect of constant stop/start whilst I commute, it provides another type of workout compared to a steady road ride!
If I find myself at a dangerous junction, and I feel unsafe whilst the lights are red? It takes less than a second to dismount, and walk the bike across the junction, or push it up onto the pavement and walk along the pavement then through the junction. Its a great way to safely clear a large complex junction whilst the pedestrian lights are all showing green.
Operation Safeway or whatever its called? Yesterday morning I saw groups of 3-4 Police at some of the key junctions on my cycle commute, in each instance as I passed they were busy talking to each other with their backs or sides to the road, not even facing the road or paying attention.
Outside Kings Cross station, 5 Police officers were talking to a tourist who had an I-Pad and paper map. Behind them was extremely heavy traffic with buses and HGV mixed with cars and cyclists, and motorists wilfully driving into the bicycle box of the ASL whilst the Police were talking to the tourist. How many Police are needed to talk to 1 person?
The only Police officer I saw paying attention was a guy sitting on his motorbike next to Aldgate tube station, watching the traffic.
On the other side of the road from him, were 3 Police officers with their backs to the road (facing a billboard), having a nice conversation about something! Waste of time/money...
Need more PCs on motorbikes, and pedal bikes... they get it.
Tool. I hope the FPN was large. You can't say I did it cos they do it as well or others are doing worse things or it makes me safe. If he don't like the rules then don't use the roads. Rules are for everyones' safety.
At the start the head cammer Evo Lucas nearly went up the side of the lorry that had started to move to the right just in front of him. OMG! He would have been crushed. He needs to be more patient.
Motorists get annoyed by cyclists "weaving in and out of traffic" just as much as RJLing. So I hope those piously waiting at the red lights also don't do any filtering, as that also annoys car drivers, who are then more likely to run cyclists over. Also I hope they don't wear lycra, as that also seems to annoy motorists. Or ride two abreast. Or ride in primary. Or have flashing lights. Or not wear hi-viz plus helmet. Or wear a helmet cam. Or not use a cycle lane if it's there. Or be on the road at all.
Do any of those things, and you're effectively killing other cyclists. You bastards.
on your last comment, you have any evidence to support that ?
How many Londoners were killed because they jumped a red light?
How many were crushed to death by constructions vehicles because they didn't jump a red light.
Jumping red lights can save lives.
I don't cycle in London very often but I do use the Holborn area as a pedestrian pretty much every day and the Procter St/HH junction is one that I loathe.
The junction is awful at the best of times but ever since the powers that be removed the traffic light pole on the far side of it (outside Itsu) it has become even worse because traffic coming down Procter St no longer has a set of lights directly ahead of it and this, coupled with the large amount of scaffolding on the corner of Procter St mostly blocking the lights on that side it's no wonder that it's become a bit of a free for all.
Traffic coming down Procter St passes the lights, realises too late that they're changing, daren't block the box junction so just stops either in the ASL or across the pedestrian crossing. This leads to cyclists weaving (sometimes slowly, sometimes not) through the stationary traffic to get ahead of it and pedestrians weaving between the vehicles to get across the road. The whole junction is a bloody menace and could do with a major rethink.
Do I think it's ok for cyclists to jump red lights? Yes, if there is no other traffic around, good visibility and it's safe for everyone then why not. On a busy road at peak times of the day? Absolutely not.
As for me, I'll be back on a bike after surgery has fixed the damage sustained to my knee when I was hit by a cyclist jumping Procter Street reds at full speed...
So it is OK to take the risks and break the law, does this apply to any road user then and their own judgement ?
How many of those were riding up the inside of a large vehicle that is about to turn left?
I saw a very close one at 7.30 this morning at the Kingsway/High Holborn junction where a tipper truck was indicating left and had a pretty loud "stay clear this vehicle is turning left" audible warning but a cyclist wearing earphones shot straight up the left side of the lorry to go straight on at the junction. Today he got away with it, tomorrow he might not.
So your point is that if he hadn't gone through the red light after he had done inside the lorry (quite legally, probably on a cycle lane leading to a ASZ), then he would have been in danger? So in this situation it's fine to RLJ?
might be quite legal to go up the cycle lane to the advances stop box, but if you are not certain of making the asl before the lights change then wait behind.
Still no need to go through red though because if I am in the ASZ when the lights change, no way will the tipper truck match my acceleration
but really what we need is simultaneous green for all cyclist in all directions while all motor vehicle lights are red at all these dangerous junctions
Until your chain comes off as you shift down gears coming up to the light, and don't notice until you try to pull away. Squish.
So why put yourself there? Why not stay behind the truck?
But what about when you are certain that you can reach the ASL before the lights change, in plenty of time, in fact, and do so, but when you get there its full of motor vehicles who couldn't get across the junction on the last cycle (no pun intended) and there's no room for you there?
[[[[[ Wow! That's hilarious---and perhaps followed by simultaneous green lights for all motor vehicles in all directions YouTube heaven! I can't wait.
P.R.
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