Cyclists should be able to go through some red lights as in Paris, says Green Party

A lot of traffic lights are there to ease/control the flow of traffic to avoid the roads getting completely jammed.

If bikes aren't contributing to those jams, why should they be subject to the same controls? The obvious, sane thing to do would be to allow cyclists to treat the signals as "Give Way"s, after all, everyone can cross the road when the 'Red Man' is showing but you don't see people just blindly running on to the bonnets of oncoming motor vehicles on any great scale do you?

It's because most people just want to get on with their lives and stay alive.

(I'd also include mopeds and motorcycles to be allowed to do the same at certain junctions where it is possible, others may disagree.)

I'm a bit confused as to why anyone wants to go straight across at a T junction......surely you'll just hit the curb

Ramz, Yes Holland is great (they also have legalized drugs and prostitution and some awesome windmills), but even if you could afford to build segregated bike lanes in the UK, the roads in most UK centers are just too narrow to actually implement a segregated lane without cutting off 1 lane of car traffic (and as much as we might think that is a good idea, it is not one that will be implemented any time soon).

This traffic light rule change would be easy to implement and cost next to nothing, so in that sense it has a hell of a lot going for it

The video, and some of the comments here, make it clear why the Dutch system of fully segregated infrastructure is far better than the Paris option, particularly on busy streets, with lots of pedestrians (hello London) and large lorries on city streets (they are more restricted in Paris, and almost non-existent on shared Dutch streets).

Why would we go for a half-baked half-measure? Oh right, because we are British.

I was reading the new scientist yesterday. Humans have a default mode we slip into after about 15 mins. This means we effectively stop taking notice of new things and go into a kind of auto pilot. This is most likely to happen on monotonous roads, and means we are poor at dealing with unexpected things in that environment.

Some cyclists seem to expect drivers to have super human powers of perception and observation. If you sneek up behind someone and say boo, it is not their fault if they jump.

Ok in principle but I don't see it being a major factor in increasing the uptake of cycling. People generally see cycling as unsafe and I can't see that being able to ride through a red light, albeit at a left turn one, is going to improve safety. In fact it will actually be a green light for selfish dangerous cyclists to close pass and scare the shit out of pedestrians legitimately crossing in front of them. I know many cyclists who would NOT slow down or give way an inch to peds crossing in front of them, but just shout a tirade of abuse as they dangerously swerve around . A nice image of cyclists for all around to see.

BTW showing footage of cyclists riding through a red light in Holland and applying it to the UK is totally misleading as the Dutch have separated cycling infrastructure from motorised traffic. The UK doesn't.

It's a nice idea, but I think it would be a hard sell to any political party that courts the votes of the great motoring unwashed. It's up their with the pipe dream of presumed liability. The motoring public would be up in arms at this concession to cyclists when they don't even pay road tax, whatever that is.

well said Quince

It should definitely be trialled ASAP. That would give us a lot more to information to work with. Principally, I think it's a good idea. Of the red lights I do see ridden over by people on bikes, the majority appear to actually IMPROVE the overall safety of the situation, despite being currently illegal (with the occasional, memorable exception of someone just sailing across with no regard for... seemingly anything).

For pedestrian lights, the purpose is to provide a space where vulnerable road users don't have to mix with cars and can cross the road safely. But in insisting cyclists wait the same duration as motorvehicles, that's exactly the sort of situation that occurs every time the lights go green again.

It's awkward, unsafe, and it slows up both parties as cars often end up stuck behind the cyclists that have accumulated in the Advance Stop Box.

Bikes need to be allowed some fluidity in order to avoid the sort of tensions that arise from stubbornly pretending that they're motorcars. The motoring mindset of 'get in lane; accelerate; brake; accelerate; brake; repeat until reaching destination' just doesn't translate very well on account of: a) Bikes not being the width of a lane b) Bikes not being able to accelerate as fast as cars and c) The people riding them becoming absolutely knackered upon trying.

Cycling's main advantage over walking is its efficiency, but by turning any commute into a series of fragmented green-light sprints, much of that efficiency is lost. Perhaps great training for the Olympic Track Squad, but hardly the model for an accessible, everyday form of transport.

Quote:

The only cautionary note I would add though is that we don't want to encourage cyclist to ride up the inside of lorries to get to that left turn.

Good point - however Traffic lights do have the consequence of 'compacting traffic' - effectively making cars, bikes and lorries etc closer together on the road ... so it is possible the cyclists sitting at red lights could be a contributory factor in those 'left hook' accidents occurring.

Being able to filter on red may help prevent these accidents.

Very interesting that only 1% of incidents involving a cyclist was 'cyclist ignoring traffic signal' found to be a contributory cause. Which does bey the question of why so much focus is placed on this.
reference: http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/featured/10-cycling-myths-uncovered
(point5)
Also interesting that 'cars ignoring red lights' causes a higher number of incidents to....

In many parts of the US where I have lived even in a car right turn (in our case left) on a red is a matter of of giving way. If it's clear you can go. It's not that revolutionary and it works fine. It works even better for bikes.

The only cautionary note I would add though is that we don't want to encourage cyclist to ride up the inside of lorries to get to that left turn.

In principle a good idea but be careful where and how it's applied.