Please don't do this.

[bayleaf]

If there are road works and a lane is closed for several hundred metres with traffic lights to control the traffic...please don't be a selfish, thoughtless idiot and cycle past the queue of stationary traffic to get to the front of the lights only then to hold up the entire stack of cars you passed earlier as they're stuck behind you in the now single lane.

Someone on a nice roadie did this to me (and 20 others) yesterday in Cobham and I was almost homocidal with rage.

OK?

[Eddh]

What should they do instead? Wait in line and then slow down the 20 cars that get through the lights on the same rotation as them?

[TheInternet]

bayleaf said:

homocidal with rage.

Pinkandescent?

[Banana Boy]

I'm not condoning their actions in any way (mostly because I probably wouldn't have done this myself being a cyclist who also drives etc.), but before you commit murder or cause yourself to spontaneously combust, just work out how few seconds they realistically cost you in your journey... I'm sure it's frustrating but probably not worth busting blood vessels over.

Sing a happy tune and trust karma to do the rest

[bayleaf]

Eddh said:

What should they do instead? Wait in line and then slow down the 20 cars that get through the lights on the same rotation as them?

I suppose so! At least they haven't overtaken the cars to get into that position.

[bayleaf]

Banana Boy said:

I'm not condoning their actions in any way (mostly because I probably wouldn't have done this myself being a cyclist who also drives etc.), but before you commit murder or cause yourself to spontaneously combust, just work out how few seconds they realistically cost you in your journey... I'm sure it's frustrating but probably not worth busting blood vessels over.

Sing a happy tune and trust karma to do the rest

I was quite calm really. The level of selfishness was annoying though, as is the fact I was going somewhere fairly important and he was on a jolly.

You should point the same observation at him though - what did he actually gain by doing it in his overall journey?

[popeyewhite]

Eddh said:

What should they do instead? Wait in line ..

Perish the thought.

Eddh said:

..and then slow down the 20 cars that get through the lights on the same rotation as them?

If you mean those that turned up after the cyclist then that would be quite fair i would have thought.

[Dimski]

bayleaf said:

I was quite calm really. The level of selfishness was annoying though, as is the fact I was going somewhere fairly important and he was on a jolly.

You should point the same observation at him though - what did he actually gain by doing it in his overall journey?

I commute on my road bike and leave a suit in the office; you have made, what would have been in my case, an incorrect assumption.

However, I must admit, I will bend/break rules if I think it will help traffic. For example, in the situation you describe above, I might filter through to the front, and if the roadworks are on a section that is uphill for me (and therefore slow) I may run the red and pull into the closed lane. Obviously with several caveats for safety! That way traffic can get by easily in the open lane, I'm out of the way, easier for all.

I could get annihilated for that admission by militant cyclists, but as I said, I would only do something like that in certain circumstances, and with lots of caveats.

To turn this round, the number of times a car driver has pushed past me just before a decent then held me up all the way down the hill is quite annoying. It does happen both ways!

[WarrenG]

I suppose you are one of these outrageists that will rush to overtake the cyclist approaching a queue of traffic, often perilously close to both the cyclist and oncoming traffic (especially if the traffic is other cyclists) and then want to empurple with rage when we breeze by to join the front of the queue. I see this very often a level crossings. Get over it.

[bayleaf]

That's not a good example of it happening the other way round really. If a motorist overtakes a cyclist before a hill, he's not to know if the cyclist is about to go faster than him and it's a reasonable assumption that the car will be faster.

Cycling in front of a line of traffic that's being held up by a traffic light and then cycling away at >20mph in a 40!limit has very obvious consequences that are foreseeable.

[bayleaf]

WarrenG said:

I suppose you are one of these outrageists that will rush to overtake the cyclist approaching a queue of traffic, often perilously close to both the cyclist and oncoming traffic (especially if the traffic is other cyclists) and then want to empurple with rage when we breeze by to join the front of the queue. I see this very often a level crossings. Get over it.

Why would you suppose that from what I've said? You sound like you've just leapt to the defence of cyclists without really engaging your brain.

[Dimski]

bayleaf said:

Cycling in front of a line of traffic that's being held up by a traffic light and then cycling away at >20mph in a 40!limit has very obvious consequences that are foreseeable.

Indeed, which is why I said I try to stay out of the way. However, I can justify it from the cyclists point of view. To be in the middle of a line of cars is not the best place to be. The front of the queue is, because that way as a cyclist you can ride defensively, and stop the cars behind from trying to overtake where there probably isn't really room. You control the traffic. Should a Horse drawn cart, traction engine or tractor happen to be in front of you, you just have to follow them at their speed. I'm afraid the same is true for cyclists.

For me, this is an area where I don't always agree (with them, actually I agree with you). Having 10 angry cars behind is not a great Idea IMO, which is why I will do things like I mentioned above to allow cars to get past easily.

bayleaf said:

That's not a good example of it happening the other way round really. If a motorist overtakes a cyclist before a hill, he's not to know if the cyclist is about to go faster than him and it's a reasonable assumption that the car will be faster.

It is a good example, but you may be right about it being a reasonable assumption. However, many cars do not look further than, "MUST GET PAST CYCLIST!!!" and simply don't look ahead to slowing traffic or other hazards which would affect their speed. I can think of two sections on my way to work where I have often been held up after cars push their way past for no benefit.

Edited by Dimski on Monday 4th April 19:58

[m444ttb]

I'd do it I think. Not having to wait in line is part of the pay back for getting cold, wet, sweaty etc. It sounds like it cost the drivers no real time.

[okgo]

bayleaf said:

If there are road works and a lane is closed for several hundred metres with traffic lights to control the traffic...please don't be a selfish, thoughtless idiot and cycle past the queue of stationary traffic to get to the front of the lights only then to hold up the entire stack of cars you passed earlier as they're stuck behind you in the now single lane.

Someone on a nice roadie did this to me (and 20 others) yesterday in Cobham and I was almost homocidal with rage.

OK?

Probably me. And I'll do it again and again as that's why people ride bikes with or without engines. Get over it.

[WinstonWolf]

bayleaf said:

That's not a good example of it happening the other way round really. If a motorist overtakes a cyclist before a hill, he's not to know if the cyclist is about to go faster than him and it's a reasonable assumption that the car will be faster.

Cycling in front of a line of traffic that's being held up by a traffic light and then cycling away at >20mph in a 40!limit has very obvious consequences that are foreseeable.

Being held up in getting to the next jam?

[Johnny]

I did exactly this last Friday. I made sure I was away and up to speed ASAP, pulled in at the other end quickly to ensure everyone could come past me.

No one got upset, I didn't get bibbed or abused.

I don't see why I should have to sit behind the queue of cars that just overtook me knowing there was a red light just ahead.

[Johnny]

swerni said:

Johnny said:

I did exactly this last Friday. I made sure I was away and up to speed ASAP, pulled in at the other end quickly to ensure everyone could come past me.

No one got upset, I didn't get bibbed or abused.

I don't see why I should have to sit behind the queue of cars that just overtook me knowing there was a red light just ahead.

Were you in pink again? That could causes someone to be homosexual with rage.

FTFY

Yes, yes I was.

[otolith]

Only if you agree not to pass bikes in the bits where yours is the faster mode of transport. Fair's fair.

[Black can man]

bayleaf said:

If there are road works and a lane is closed for several hundred metres with traffic lights to control the traffic...please don't be a selfish, thoughtless idiot and cycle past the queue of stationary traffic to get to the front of the lights only then to hold up the entire stack of cars you passed earlier as they're stuck behind you in the now single lane.

Someone on a nice roadie did this to me (and 20 others) yesterday in Cobham and I was almost homocidal with rage.

OK?

I was riding in Cobham yesterday , hope it wasn't me that made you're journey 3 minutes longer.

[popeyewhite]

m444ttb said:

I'd do it I think. Not having to wait in line is part of the pay back for getting cold, wet, sweaty etc. It sounds like it cost the drivers no real time.

A pleasant and rational comment, which counters the OPs statement nicely.

okgo said:

Probably me. And I'll do it again and again as that's why people ride bikes with or without engines. Get over it.

This is confrontational, puffed-up and self-righteous. When cyclists contemplate on PH as to why they get a seemingly hard time on here, just look at similar comments to the one above.