Is it acceptable to jump a red light....

[Kermit power]

When it's a pedestrian crossing, the person who pressed the button crossed before it even turned to red and buggered off into the distance, leaving no pedestrians within 50 yards of the crossing? I had this four times on my ride in this morning, and it bugs the hell out of me!

I think it would improve matters significantly if these had flashing red lights instead of solid ones maybe, to say that you only had to stop if there was actually someone using the crossing?

[GaryGlitter]

Not learnt how to do a track stand yet or is it ruining your Strava segments?

[Rob_T]

would you jump it in car?

[supersport]

If they had flashing red lights then it would be little different to a zebra crossing. The point about "would you do it in a car is valid", it's not as if you are loosing much time is it.

As a pedestrian I have recently come very close twice to being run over by cyclists going through a red light at a crossing. If I was to do that to a cyclist in my car I would be pilleried as the devil!

As cyclists we have to follow the rules of the road, it aint difficult and to my mind running red lights is plain stupid.

[Kermit power]

GaryGlitter said:

Not learnt how to do a track stand yet or is it ruining your Strava segments?

Neither really. There are over 80 sets of lights on my commute, so I get stopped often enough as it is, without the extra frustration of having to stop needlessly.

[Kermit power]

Rob_T said:

would you jump it in car?

I'm very tempted to, but I don't actually jump them on the bike, so it's a moot point. It is something where an easy law change could make people's journeys just a little less frustrating though.

[donfisher]

Simple answer – wait till it goes green. A red is a red and as someone on here posted a while back, the cycling community should stop at all reds, and lead by example.

However, common sense says, if it’s clear, and you are absolutely 100% sure that there is no one about to cross AND you’re 100% sure no one will see you, you can make your own mind up.

[Birdthom]

If you can see clearly and there is no-one near the crossing and no danger is caused then personally I don't have a problem with that at all. Wasn't there a philosopher who once said that it is the height of madness to sit at a red light at a deserted crossing when you know nothing's coming? I wouldn't do it in a car though, so my answer is technically wrong and not justifiable in any way.

[Kermit power]

supersport said:

If they had flashing red lights then it would be little different to a zebra crossing.

When I initially wrote the post, I did think about that. I assume that they have pedestrian lights rather than zebra crossings because the flow of pedestrians across a zebra crossing could potentially be heavy enough to stop road traffic flowing for longer than is acceptable.

I suspect most people think a zebra crossing is an otherwise perfectly acceptable form of crossing? As such, flashing red lights would indeed perform the role of a zebra crossing, but with the added advantage of only working in short bursts.

supersport said:

The point about "would you do it in a car is valid", it's not as if you are loosing much time is it.

It's not the time lost that frustrates me - it's the stop/start nature of it. A combination of normal and pedestrian lights through the likes of Clapham and Balham can leave you stopping every couple of hundred yards if you're unlucky!

supersport said:

As a pedestrian I have recently come very close twice to being run over by cyclists going through a red light at a crossing. If I was to do that to a cyclist in my car I would be pilleried as the devil!

That assumes that as a pedestrian you were at the crossing to start with? I have absolutely no problem with stopping for pedestrian lights that have pedestrians at or even near them. It's the ones which are surrounded by dozens of yards of empty pavement that get me.

supersport said:

As cyclists we have to follow the rules of the road, it ain't difficult and to my mind running red lights is plain stupid.

I do follow the rules. This doesn't necessarily mean the rules make sense!

[CaptainSlow]

I'm going against the grain here but in the scenario where I have seen the person press the button and then cross the road and there is no one else involved then yes I would.

Likewise as a pedestrian, if I see there is a gap in the traffic, I'm happy to wait for a few cars to go by and not press the button on a crossing.

[Laurel Green]

CaptainSlow said:

I'm going against the grain here but in the scenario where I have seen the person press the button and then cross the road and there is no one else involved then yes I would.

Likewise as a pedestrian, if I see there is a gap in the traffic, I'm happy to wait for a few cars to go by and not press the button on a crossing.

Same here. It might well be wrong but, it can put some distance between the following/waiting traffic, thus less holding up or danger to oneself from overtakes.

[miln0039]

In theory absolutely not.

In practice....I have to say, most of the time once it is clear I will crack on.

I'm sort of ashamed....

[hurstg01]

Some of the crossings near my work take so long to change to red once you have pushed the button to cross, there may not have been a gap to cross at button-push time but after 45+ seconds or so of traffic, a gap comes, I'll walk cross. There may then be a time when there is no pedestrian at the crossing but the lights then go red, bringing the red mist down on riders / drivers who feel they are OK to shoot through the red light.

Keep it safe - 'proceed with caution [I think that's the terminology used nowadays for approaching a green light]' on green, stop on red.

[Rolls]

Pedestrian only crossing, with absolutley no chance of anyone moving on to the crossing before it goes green again - I'd jump it. (flame suit on)
You're not putting yourself, or anyone else at risk..
With a similar number of lights on my commute I have to do this at least once each time I'm on the bike - common sense has to prevail at some point on my ride IMO.

[Gwagon111]

Cyclists who run red lights are absolute cretins. That's from a cyclist.

[Watchman]

I would have said that there's never a good reason to jump a red light. But then I read this:

Kermit power said:

There are over 80 sets of lights on my commute

... and I'm trying to think how frustrating it must be.

I'm going back to one of my previous arguments, that some cities should ban cars altogether. Or at least confine them to a very limited number of streets/roads.

[Fastpedeller]

Kermit power said:

When it's a pedestrian crossing, the person who pressed the button crossed before it even turned to red and buggered off into the distance, leaving no pedestrians within 50 yards of the crossing? I had this four times on my ride in this morning, and it bugs the hell out of me!

I think it would improve matters significantly if these had flashing red lights instead of solid ones maybe, to say that you only had to stop if there was actually someone using the crossing?

I think in the circumstances you've given I'd wait (as someone else has commented what would you do if you were driving a car?)
However there are circumstances where it would be justified to jump........
I used to regularly be at a junction where I was in a RH turn only lane, but there was a loop in the road which sensed cars but couldn't sense the bike - sitting at the junction one Sunday morn for 10 minutes once I had to jump them (after carefully looking for other traffic of course). It was a regular 'law break' of mine to jump them, rather than either face a long wait (or more worryingly) wait until a ton of vehicle arrived, and maybe drove into the back of me!

[graememac]

The amount if cars i see jumping red lights on my cycle to work is more than enough.when the lights go to amber then red there's usually someone still willing to drive through the lights once I have stopped.
People who think this is exclusive to cyclists need to open their eyes

[anonymous-user]

Depends on the circumstances to be honest, if there are no other road users around and no pedestrians on the crossing then i'll go through red lights. However, if there are people around, either pedestirans or cars, I obey them all, normally I am grateful for the breather but most of the time I just dont want to fuel the anti-cyclist angry mob also inconvenienced by the lights.

[anonymous-user]

Nothing to add re. would I or not, but the latest pedestrian crossings have a sensor on them which detects if someone's pressed the button and buggered off, cancels the demand. Hopefully as they're rolled out they'll improve the situation.