Apparently I've been jumping red lights forever

[mac96]

yellowjack said:

mac96 said:

It's quite clear really- green means go; red and amber means it will soon be green so wake up,but stay stopped.
Nevertheless at many junctions with good visibility, starting to creep on red and amber may not actually matter- but why take the risk, it will save you, what, 2 seconds?
OP's example from the dashcam thread showed someone accelerating firmly away on red and amber to deliberately create a near miss for dash cam footage, or for the fun of scaring the other driver. Looked like dangerous driving, not just light running.

Green does NOT mean "go". Green actually means "you may proceed if it is safe to do so". Something more than a few drivers need to wake up to.

If a cyclist crosses the stop line just as a green light goes amber (all of the bike over all of the line before the light changes), and is not particularly quick, then some retard "unleashing all the horses" on red/amber from the other direction is likely to cause a conflict. Or if traffic that entered a junction on a green light is still there, due to delays ahead, then there is every chance that you'll see one or more full phases of the lights pass before it is safe to proceed. The whole point of the red/amber phase is for you to wake up, stop picking your nose, engage a gear, and prepare to release the handbrake, while making all-round observations to ensure there's nothing to obstruct your way when the light goes green. If you've satisfied yourself that it's safe to proceed as part of the red/amber phase, then as soon as the light goes green, release the handbrake and pull away smoothly.

At least that's how I drive, and 90% of the time I'm away before the idiots who are rocking back and forth on the clutch, or who have (incorrectly) anticipated the green light. It's hardly difficult, and not at all emasculating. Maybe try it, see how it works out for you, OP...?

Well to me, all that 'if safe and clear' stuff is implicit in the word 'Go'. Obviously you don't go until it is safe to do so. True of any situation where you have priority- just because the other guy is wrong it does not entitle you to make the danger worse.

Unfortunately it seems you are right that some people need reminding of this.

[yellowjack]

mac96 said:

Well to me, all that 'if safe and clear' stuff is implicit in the word 'Go'. Obviously you don't go until it is safe to do so. True of any situation where you have priority- just because the other guy is wrong it does not entitle you to make the danger worse.

Unfortunately it seems you are right that some people need reminding of this.

So we are, after all, in agreement then. Good. Sadly, there are many drivers whose only interest when at a set of lights is the lights themselves. You can see them staring intently anticipating the red/amber phase, and they're straining the clutch to hold the car on the bite point ready to instantaneously unleash every horsepower they have the instant a light even thinks about changing. They don't check mirrors (lots of drivers seem to check Facebook more often than they check their mirrors these days) nor move their head/eyes to look at what is going on around them, just "Green. Go. Vrooooom!", cross fingers, and hope that anyone/everyone else is out of the way.

Worse still, they're the type who is so fixated on their one aim, that they fail to register that there's a left turn filter on the lights, and more than once I've seen some idiot 'floor it' off the lights to go straight ahead when that light is still red but the turn filter arrow has changed to green. I've yet to see a big smash as a result, but plenty of near misses. Folk just need to chill out a bit more.

It's quite bad on Castle Lane East in Bournemouth. Far too many people using a dedicated right turn lane to beat the queue in the straight ahead lane, and loads of lunatics roaring away the second the light goes green despite the red light and a queue of traffic at the next set of lights a few hundred yards along the road. Since when was it EVER good practice to accelerate AT a line of standing traffic?

Those drivers that regularly and habitually jump lights and pull out in front of others rely on the fact that most "normal" drivers care about their safety and don't fancy the hassle of a crash and insurance claim. So the "normal" driver gets out of their way. That is all well and good, right up until they meet someone with a similar poor attitude on the road and it goes spectacularly wrong.

[Dave Hedgehog]

blueg33 said:

garyhun said:

SOL111 said:

Do people really get beeped at for not going on amber? I don't drive in London a great deal but have done a few trips recently and have never noticed

It has never happened to me in almost 40 years of driving.

Nor me

i have never seen it in 30 years of driving in london, 3 seconds on the green and they will let you have it

[roadsmash]

Roofless Toothless said:

Well, Roadsmash - and what a wonderfully appropriate user name that is - I readily admit that letting somebody else go in front of me across the minefield is not the most altruistic aspect of my personality, but I believe that we all have to take responsibility for our own safety on the road. Of course, I could still step on a mine while following on second, and nothing guarantees safety.

The point is that I am reducing risk, which is all that one can do. It is not a case of 'might as well just go'.

Your last paragraph is hyperbole and conjecture. I don't know how to go about responding to that.

Appreciate all of your points but you are absolutely not reducing risk at all.

[markyb_lcy]

nonsequitur said:

Or, for us oldies, handbrake / neutral at any stop of more than a few seconds. Moribund currently, it would seem.

In my other car (sans-hill hold 15yr old sports car), I'm quite guilty of sitting with my foot on the foot brake if it's flat or not much of an incline. If the latter and someone gets up really close behind me then I'll switch to handbrake as it can be quite worrying when someone rolls back toward you, even if for only a split second.

Always neutral tho when stopped unless I know the lights are going to change before I get chance.

[Ian Geary]

I bet there's something else you do that's breaking the law "without knowing"

When waiting at a zebra crossing,when do you pull away?

- when the ped has exited the other side of the crossing or
- as soon as they walk past your bumper?

I only mention this as I have literally just walked across a zebra crossing and had the waiting car waft my knees as it drove off.

(I didn't hit it though as I could tell it wasn't leased )

[Some Gump]

Graveworm said:

The primeval lash out instinctively etc. has been tried many times in assault claims. It doesn't stand up to any scrutiny with science. It only partially holds true for muscle memory with highly trained individuals. The rest of the world has a flinch reaction that needs a conscious decision to then go on the attack. That's why, when people bump into one another in the street there are not bodies everywhere. What you are confusing it with is lack of control.

The doubling over and feigning injury etc is also known as being dishonest. Since you are willing to glibly admit you would do that, where it might have serious ramifications for yourself and others, why should anything you write here be believed?

Yes, but yellowjack is a militant cyclist.

The rest of us normal cyclists don't hit cars. We tend not to get angry on ph about drivers. We tend not to mention the army much. Our high viz tends to be gore or vision or more likely crane (from aldi thursdays) - not en rated fire retardant en388 authority giving high viz.

Please.don't tar us all with YJ's brush.

[blueg33]

markyb_lcy said:

In my other car (sans-hill hold 15yr old sports car), I'm quite guilty of sitting with my foot on the foot brake if it's flat or not much of an incline. If the latter and someone gets up really close behind me then I'll switch to handbrake as it can be quite worrying when someone rolls back toward you, even if for only a split second.

Always neutral tho when stopped unless I know the lights are going to change before I get chance.

It’s not hard to avoid rolling back even without the handbrake. It’s just feel and clutch control.

[markyb_lcy]

blueg33 said:

It’s not hard to avoid rolling back even without the handbrake. It’s just feel and clutch control.

Of course there are people who do a thing perfectly every time they do it and can jump in any car and do it at will

For the rest of us mere mortals there is a handbrake to rely on for those steep inclines, bumper tailgaters or slight moments of distraction and less-than-perfect concentration. YMMV

[Roofless Toothless]

roadsmash said:

Appreciate all of your points but you are absolutely not reducing risk at all.

OK, I'll just shoot away then in future. I'll let you know how I get on.