Why do some drivers stop in blue cycle boxes at traffic lights

[microfight]

I was just wondering why some drivers stop in cycle blue boxes at traffic lights and seem to totally ignore that they are there for a reason thus making it more dangerous for cyclists to cycle?

i cycle, a lot, but i also have a car i use occassionally in town when transporting lots of stuff..

i have ended up in the box usually when i thought i was going through on green but then a bus has stopped just over the junction or something and i've ended up stuck and the lights change.

but yes, it's very annoying as a cyclist when people do this deliberately as the cycle 'refuge' is very helpful in increasing cycle safety at junctions.

Christ the love and warmth shown to cyclists makes my blood run cold. Just what Riveninside said, if they weren't on a bike they'd be in a car in front of you in the queue of traffic. What's the matter, are you a bit jealous, a little too lardy and out of shape to get on a bike? Don't worry just haul yourself back in your big 'sporty' 4 by 4 and slowly keep getting even more unfit. Oh and the idiots ambling right down the middle of a shared use path really get on my nerves, cycles are quiet (lack of an engine you see) so it makes sense to pick one side or another of a footpath, rather than waddling right down the middle utterly unaware of anyone around you, so people can get past you without having to ask your permission every time. The hint is in the name 'shared' use.

And quite agree a shared use footpath is a highly inappropriate place to walk a dog off leash - potentially endangering all cycle users of the path. Not that it sounds like some dog walkers could care less about anyone other than themselves. Can't think how those slanging matches happen.

microfight - all I am saying is they could use some common sense. It is always blokes and they always look the same - red faced, angry looking, miserable lycra men with fat sweaty arses.

mdowdall
Do you have a link to the path? I would be interested to see how wide it is and how appropriate it is to have a dog off a leash whilst pedestrians and cyclists are sharing the space.

poppet and rivenside
Would you like to join me in the get off your bike and into your car day, I have started a post on it on here

Oh, god, I hate people who do this. Or who say 'oh, I just didn't see it' (erm, shouldn't you be looking then?!)

I had this argument once with my then-boyfriend:

Me: Oi, you're driving into the cycle box.

Him: It's ok, there aren't any cyclists there.

Me: Um, no, but the idea is they can come through the queue and line up there to go when the light is green.

Him: But that would slow me down!

Me:

mdowdall and Northernlurker 18:39/18:40 - My DH wears tight lycra shorts and several of my friends have looked enviously at his behind so I must disagree.

microfight, it is the River Aire and I access it in a small suburb just outside Leeds. It's a cracking walk, and I access it via a footpath 200 yds from my house. It is full of dog walkers and most have dogs off leads as it is ideal place for them to exercise.
I admit to being a grumpy bastard,.however, much nicer and more friendly dog walkers than me regularly tell me about their run ins with lycra clad cyclists.

Heh micro

1. Because there's never a cyclist in it.
2. Because if there WAS a cyclist they'd blow the red light and keep going.
3. Because the vast majority of cyclists give no respect to other road users so I won't give them any back.
4. Because they don't pay road tax and aren't licensed and I do/am.

Northernlurker - I have neverseen a cyclist stop at a red light in the 9 years driving around Leeds. I think cyclists are a menace and shouldn't be on the roads.

I thought cycle lanes/boxes were green? Maybe i need my eyes tested.

Well curlyboy - with observation (or lack of it) like that I think you're a menace and certainly shouldn't be anywhere near a road! Many cyclists do pay road tax and insurance actually as they drive as well. They just don't behave like idiots who can't get anywhere unless an engine is involved. I think riding a bike through a city centre should be a compulsory part of learning to drive. Would help some of the twats behind a wheel be rather less so.

Omg because there's never a cyclist in it that comment is so funny and shows just how unaware of how cycling works you are! Well done curlyboy you have just show how ignorant you are!

My main reason for calling cyclists menaces have to do with riding on country roads. The number of times I have come around a blind bend at speed to see a cycle in the middle of my lane or riding two abreast are uncountable. This of course causes me to take evasive action like swerving into on coming traffic or slamming my breaks. They seem to have no concept that they are on a road with a 60 mph speed limit where there isn't enough room for two cars and them on the road.

Roads are dangerous. They have been built with cars in mind, not bikes. It's ridiculous to me why anyone would put their life at risk just to save the planet/money or get some exercise. If there was a dedicated cycle lane, like there is in Chicago for instance, it would make more sense.

Yes, I AM the twat in the hot hatch driving an inch from your handlebar. It's probably because there is a lorry coming the other way and I can't be bothered giving you more room.

He has, hasn't he micro!

Personally, I don't cycle and despair of a lot of the cyclists in my area ... but don't drivers realize that they could do serious damage to someone on a bike and playing tit-for-tat is just .... stupid?

I'll rephrase that microflight. There is never a cyclist in it OR do I ever see one filter through traffic and try to use it.

Actually, most country roads were designed for horses and carriages ...

do you not think not driving road blind bends at speed would be an answer? If you did that an a car was there what would you do?

"Roads are dangerous. They have been built with cars in mind, not bikes"

Actually curlyboy most country lanes were built with horse and carts and bicycles in mind way before the invention of the motor vehicle. Doh! This includes most roads in London, built for horse and cart and bicycle!

Bit of an own goal that argument!

"OR do I ever see one filter through traffic and try to use it."

Maybe that's because you are in it

This argument could go round in circles but I come back to my original premise that cyclists are...cunts In fact there are a fair few along the River Aire near me who are very close to seeing the back of my hand.

The phrase I laughed at most from curlyboy is his statement that when he goes round a blind bend at speed a bike is in HIS lane!!

How about not doing blind bends at 60mph. There might be. A horse and rider arou d the corner. Honestly.
You sound like a dangeeous driver curlyboy

When dh cycles its in normal clothes. And he is often out cycling dd in the wheelchair bike. It takes a lane. But he encounters twats who try to squeeze past rather than showing soem patience. He and dd have as much right to be on the road as a car driver.