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Grand Plan to strike a deal

OK, so I have now officially spent far too long looking at utterly morinic comments on cycle safety on social media (Edinburgh police have been doing the close pass thing).

 

This has left me in a state of some psychological distress as you can imagine.

 

The current situation is, that because some all cyclists go through red lights, it is OK to drive dangerously around cyclists.  That seems a bit odd to me, and certainly isn't what I experience as a drive and cycle around the place, but everyone says it so it must be true.

So, now to the plan.  How about we all agree NOT to cycle through red lights for a bit (shouldn't be hard) and I'll see if all the drivers on facebook will give safe space when passing etc.  Deal?

 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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10 comments

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Scheißenberg | 6 years ago
1 like

I was just discussing the comment section of the Edinburgh Evening News with my wife regarding the police close pass initiative.
It's always full of morons spouting absolute hate for cyclists.
We all go through red lights so it's ok to endanger our lives.
It's the collective responsibility thing; bad cyclists gives us all a bad name but a texting or drunk driver who kills is an isolated case.
I hope it'll change but I'm not sure how.
Car use is increasing, particularly the usually awful van drivers (who are more likely to use mobiles while driving) so areas of conflict will only increase unless infrastructure is completely segregated, which still pisses off motorists.

Link for van drivers & phone use: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fil...

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Grahamd | 6 years ago
0 likes

Last sportive I did, everyone took a verbal oathe not to jump red lights. 

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

Grahamd wrote:

Last sportive I did, everyone took a verbal oathe not to jump red lights. 

sportives are the worst for law breaking, mainly invaded by wannabe noddy hat wearing wankers who think it's a race.

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Grahamd replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Grahamd wrote:

Last sportive I did, everyone took a verbal oathe not to jump red lights. 

sportives are the worst for law breaking, mainly invaded by wannabe noddy hat wearing wankers who think it's a race.

Our experiences differ and I think you have probably offended many on this forum.

 

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BehindTheBikesheds replied to Grahamd | 6 years ago
1 like

Grahamd wrote:

BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Grahamd wrote:

Last sportive I did, everyone took a verbal oathe not to jump red lights. 

sportives are the worst for law breaking, mainly invaded by wannabe noddy hat wearing wankers who think it's a race.

Our experiences differ and I think you have probably offended many on this forum.

 

if people on here are riding sensible, not breaking the law, not careering into people and knocking them off and not treating sportives as a race and generally riding like a twat then they've nothing to be offended by. sadly far too many do behave that way.

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Leviathan replied to BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
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BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

Grahamd wrote:

Last sportive I did, everyone took a verbal oathe not to jump red lights. 

sportives are the worst for law breaking, mainly invaded by wannabe noddy hat wearing wankers who think it's a race.

The last sportive I did I went through every red light, and it was glorious. I went as fast as I could, often down the right hand side of the road. I averaged over 29kph for 100 miles. I'd like to go faster, and many people did go faster, a lot faster; is that a problem for you? Should there be a cap on top speed in a sportive? Maybe you are the wannabe noddy racer who never made it and is jealous of people enjoying themselves.

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Leviathan | 6 years ago
1 like

I saw a 50+ year old woman in hiviz just blow straight through a red light and across a junction when all traffic was stopped for pedestrian crossing (beepers going.) I assume her own safety is her number one priority and crossing an empty junction for all to see is fine. The lights changed and I caught up to her in 10 seconds and said 'Red lights don't apply to do, do they?' And then I was off. Just go a bit faster between the lights and you won't need to cut through them.

See me but don't see what I am doing.  Mental.

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ConcordeCX replied to Leviathan | 6 years ago
1 like

Leviathan wrote:

I saw a 50+ year old woman in hiviz just blow straight through a red light and across a junction when all traffic was stopped for pedestrian crossing (beepers going.) I assume her own safety is her number one priority and crossing an empty junction for all to see is fine. The lights changed and I caught up to her in 10 seconds and said 'Red lights don't apply to do, do they?' And then I was off. Just go a bit faster between the lights and you won't need to cut through them.

See me but don't see what I am doing.  Mental.

I see that quite a lot. Not wishing to stereotype, BUT basket on the front -> jump red light. "There goes Miss Marple again", think I. But probably more like Mr Magoo.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=t8GTHXTEvIc

 

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beezus fufoon replied to Leviathan | 6 years ago
2 likes

Leviathan wrote:

...I assume her own safety is her number one priority and crossing an empty junction for all to see is fine.

so are you saying that the junction was empty and that she was arguably safer by jumping the light than if she'd waited?

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srchar | 6 years ago
0 likes

In London, I see quite a lot of RLJ.

Reasonably frequently, I also experience drivers shouting abuse at cyclists in the ASL, particularly when one takes primary, or there are several of us blocking a driver's speedy progress to the back of the next queue of cars.

I always suggest we could jump the red.

We will win eventually, but it's going to take a few decades for the couple of generations left that see a car as a status symbol and remember when cycling wasn't quite so popular to die off.

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