is it ok to jump a red when there are no cars or traffic around

arcon5

I did this about 3 years ago @ circa 1AM... waited at lights for a couple of minutes and they just didn't seem to be changing so looked everywhere, saw nothing and went for it. Unfortunately as I did it a police car was about 1/2 mile back just come round the slight bend so saw me.

I now have a TS10 and it cost me an extra 10 minutes in the end

Tilt

RichardD1970 wrote: »

Take a cyclist off his bike and put him in a car/van/lorry/bus or whatever and they will still have the same road sense (or lack of) and disregard for the rules of the road. The method of transport changes but not the user.

Hmm, so you are saying that a cyclist driving a car/van/lorry/bus will still drive the wrong way down one way streets, drive along pavements to avoid traffic light junctions, always drive at night without lights on, routinely drive through red traffic lights, drive across pedestrian crossings, drive the wrong side of keep left bollards in heavy traffic, drive the wrong way around traffic islands are you?

brat

arcon5 wrote: »

I did this about 3 years ago @ circa 1AM... waited at lights for a couple of minutes and they just didn't seem to be changing so looked everywhere, saw nothing and went for it. Unfortunately as I did it a police car was about 1/2 mile back just come round the slight bend so saw me.

I now have a TS10 and it cost me an extra 10 minutes in the end

If what you say is correct, you would have a defence in that you believed they had failed, presuming...

• that "a couple of minutes" was 2 minutes, not 30 seconds - this being much longer than those lights normally take to change
• there was no other regular traffic flow keeping the other route on green.
• "went for it" means proceeded with great care.

neilmcl

I don't think "a couple of minutes" is really long enough to determine if a set of lights is working or not. I've been at plenty of working junctions where you could easily be waiting this long.

brat

neilmcl wrote: »

I don't think "a couple of minutes" is really long enough to determine if a set of lights is working or not. I've been at plenty of working junctions where you could easily be waiting this long.

I guess it depends on the lights, and how familiar you are with them. If they normally change as soon as you get to them when there's no other vehicles around, and now you're waiting more than two minutes with no vehicular movement, it might be reasonable to assume there's a problem.

skivenov

kazmeister wrote: »

RED = Stop
ORANGE = Stop
GREEN = Go

GREEN = Proceed if it is safe to do so.

I know this because I once didn't proceed at a green light due to someone walking out in front of me. The car behind me on the other hand took the green light to be a starting pistol. That was an expensive education for him as we extracted his radiator from my towbar :doh:

sarahg1969

Sgt_Pepper wrote: »

Rubbish, they do it when you go through a speed camera.

Tilt wrote: »

Err, what about traffic light cameras? Don't they issue FPN's from those anymore?

Was the dashcam calibrated, was the operator trained, and was there proof that the evidence was not tampered with and was absolutely correct?

Was it handed over to the police within the 14 days required to serve the NIP on the RK?

I don't think it's just as simple as taking film from someone's dashcam and sending out a NIP.

arcon5

brat wrote: »

If what you say is correct, you would have a defence in that you believed they had failed, presuming...

• that "a couple of minutes" was 2 minutes, not 30 seconds - this being much longer than those lights normally take to change
• there was no other regular traffic flow keeping the other route on green.
• "went for it" means proceeded with great care.

Okay... if i'm honest, when I say "a couple of minutes" I mean about 20-30 seconds and was just being unnecessarily impatient

RichardD1970

Tilt wrote: »

Hmm, so you are saying that a cyclist driving a car/van/lorry/bus will still drive the wrong way down one way streets, drive along pavements to avoid traffic light junctions, always drive at night without lights on, routinely drive through red traffic lights, drive across pedestrian crossings, drive the wrong side of keep left bollards in heavy traffic, drive the wrong way around traffic islands are you?

If that is their mentality then yes, if they thought they could get away with it and it saved them a couple of minutes. You only have to watch the police camera shows to see that they will.

People who have no regard for the law have no regard for the law in any situation, they don't turn into saints for specific occasions!

Tilt

RichardD1970 wrote: »

If that is their mentality then yes, if they thought they could get away with it and it saved them a couple of minutes. You only have to watch the police camera shows to see that they will.

People who have no regard for the law have no regard for the law in any situation, they don't turn into saints for specific occasions!

There's no hope for you then.

Dosn't matter what you say, iv'e seen more cyclists break the traffic laws on a daily basis than other road users.