Do we challenge red light jumpers/green man means cyclist

sim1515 wrote:The real

sim1515 wrote:

The real problem is obviously with the people that judge random people for doing something as inane as riding a bike, and because they have something against cyclists they put lives at risk. This should obviously be addressed too although people have been trying to stop prejudice since time began so I wouldn’t presume to know where to begin, even legislation hasn’t stopped sexism or racism yet so until someone finds a solution to this, idiots will still use what others do on a bike as a negative against me when I’m on a bike so if I can try and minimise it by asking someone to obey the law, I think that’s justified.

Anything that threatens the status quo is targeted, and attitudes against a minority are driven by the mainstream media, usually by poking fun with the aim to trivialize a group, or even portray a group as fringe lunatics. Cycling has been subject to this treatment over the last few years, and less occurrences of RLJing will not change this. If anything, I see a bigger threat to our safety on the roads is the politicization of cycling – as our voice grows we start to become a more real threat – the morons won’t stand for that. If I raise the subject of cycling in our office of mainly middle-aged women, some of their comments are a rehash of a typical MoS article. Judging by how they know exactly what is going on in every soap opera and reality TV show on the Tele, they can’t get out of their houses enough to cross paths with enough cyclists to witness everything they claim to have seen. And guess what, if I ever argue ‘our’ case, the fall-back line is always, “and they don’t even pay road tax!”.

In the same manner that
In the same manner that thumping happens, some motorists tar all cyclists with the same brush. I don’t agree with it, in fact it’s ridiculous that people presume that because we happen to be on a bike that we’re all cut from the same cloth but it happens, it’s a fact.

Given that fact, if you choose to accept it as one, if you flout the law and jump a red light, you do so knowing that if one of those simple minded people sees you, it could mean verbal abuse, punishment passes or worse for innocent cyclists who don’t jump red lights.

I guess in my opinion the idea of policing ‘our own’ isn’t so much down to trying to keep our house in order just the same as motorists rarely tell others off for speeding as it should make no real difference to me if someone does or doesn’t, but more about trying to minimise the bad impression of cyclists that ignorant people get so I don’t receive the backlash.

The real problem is obviously with the people that judge random people for doing something as inane as riding a bike, and because they have something against cyclists they put lives at risk. This should obviously be addressed too although people have been trying to stop prejudice since time began so I wouldn’t presume to know where to begin, even legislation hasn’t stopped sexism or racism yet so until someone finds a solution to this, idiots will still use what others do on a bike as a negative against me when I’m on a bike so if I can try and minimise it by asking someone to obey the law, I think that’s justified.

Tinman wrote:Is that

Tinman wrote:

Is that hypocrisy I can smell?

So we don’t want to be known as a collective and we can’t be held responsible for the action of other cyclists but then constantly refer to motorists, HGV drivers, pedestrians, taring everyone with the same brush.

Equally we expect other road users to obey the rules of the road, but feel we can pick and choose when we obey them ourselves.

I thoroughly agree road users should use common sense, the problem is a lot of people (cyclists, car drivers, pedestrians) don’t have any, hence why we have to have rules.

Nope, you can presumably just smell your own difficulty with thinking things through.

Who is this “we” who “constantly tar everyone with the same brush”?
You are assuming in your point the very existence of the ‘collective’ that is being denied! How can you start off an argument by assuming your conclusion?

I don’t expect motorists or pedestrians to police each other – I haven’t seen anyone here demand that, so you are mistaken.

Policing is the job of the police, and the only sense in which motorists have collective responsibility is at a political level, given that they are a powerful political lobby (in a way that cyclists certainly aren’t) – but not every individual driver is responsibile for how that lobby operates either.

Is that hypocrisy I can
Is that hypocrisy I can smell?

So we don’t want to be known as a collective and we can’t be held responsible for the action of other cyclists but then constantly refer to motorists, HGV drivers, pedestrians, taring everyone with the same brush.

Equally we expect other road users to obey the rules of the road, but feel we can pick and choose when we obey them ourselves.

I thoroughly agree road users should use common sense, the problem is a lot of people (cyclists, car drivers, pedestrians) don’t have any, hence why we have to have rules.

daddyELVIS wrote:Red Light

daddyELVIS wrote:

Red Light Jumping is not a big issue in the grand scheme of rule-breaking. I stop at most lights, and jump the odd one or two. I don’t see forums harping on about drivers breaking speed limits!!

Or their appalling and illegal parking habits!

God, the ridiculous places they decide to deposit their cars! Road markings and basic safety sense mean nothing to them when set against their desperate need to avoid using their legs for more than a couple of yards at the end of their journey.

Putting aside the little problem of neither group being a centrally controlled entity, I’d be fine with doing a deal – no cyclists jump reds in return for no speeding or illegal parking by motorists. Otherwise they can STFU.

I would be tempted to ignore
I would be tempted to ignore it if there are no pedestrians in sight. The problem is the people who jump the red lights when there ARE pedestrians trying to cross at the ‘green person’. My son was sent bowling into the gutter by one when he was on his way home from school. The cyclist didn’t go over to help him, or ask if he was OK. He just stood over him and yelled abuse. I have several times nearly been hit by cyclists jumping red lights when the pedestrian light is green.

Yesterday morning, when I
Yesterday morning, when I turned right off a very busy road just after the green man had finished, I got a sarky handclap off a girl on a bike stopped at the lights coming the other way. No way I’m hanging around in the middle of a pretty busy and fast junction when I can safely pootle through on red. I’ve done that before and it did nothing for my state of mind.

There’s a woman who I
There’s a woman who I occasionally encounter on my short commute. Normal work clothes and no helmet, she has a complete disregard for any lights, normally ‘hitting’ the junctions at speed with some pretty hairy manoeuvres. I thought she couldn’t get any more reckless but this morning (dark) she had no lights and nothing was off limits; wrong side of the road, gaps through moving cars, pedestrian crossings, the pavement. She even tackled one set of lights like this in front of a police car which did nothing (wouldn’t have let it go in London). Makes me cross as it must really wind up motorists and pedestrians, but I just tell myself to forget it.