Why do some cyclists not want to stop at red lights?

[Puppytrashedmysofa]

Had a day off last week so took son up to London to see the sights.About to cross with six seconds to go when my son held me back.To my right was a helmet jiggling about trying to not put his foot down. Fully crossed that road and about to cross another I saw another gent in his fifties looking to cross when I bike swerved round him at speed.He said something to him and the biker told him to FU.Guy then crossed the road , all the cars had stopped.
I asked son why you held me back.He said biker was going so fast he had to swerve all over the road to stop.Of course my son reported to my family that he saved my life today.
My son said none of the bikes stop at reds where he works.
I ride a track bike occasionally and a motorbike and I know if I didn't stop it could be fatal.
My son said I should have looked right ,was I in the wrong?
Just interested.

They're not that ridiculous - I've never used them but DH did when he used to do a long commute to work. They make you more efficient because you're not working to keep your feet on the pedals.

Jealous of you living in Germany with all those lovely bike tracks!

There’s a crossing outside DD’s school. A pelican crossing. Bikes regular go through when it’s red. This is when small children sometimes as young as 2 are crossing. I’ve had to teach dd to look carefully out for cyclists just in case they swerve around the stopped cars and carry on. It’s happened a few times and children have nearly been hit when the cyclist is travelling at speed and doesn’t bother slowing down.

Also dd nearly got taken out by a cyclist on the pavement on Friday. 3 young men maybe age 18-21 ish travelling at speed. Dd was waiting for me near a zebra crossing to catch up with her, they came up behind her and cyclist had to suddenly stop before hitting her. He was apologetic tbf.

There a lot of whatabout all the bad drivers on this thread. There are lots of bad drivers but as a pedestrian I can tell you that all my recent near misses have been down to cyclists (usually jumping red lights or cycling on the pavement).

He probably wasn't making a sensible decision, he was probably a twat. I'm not sure that anyone has been on here saying he wasn't.

You would be well advised to look both ways before crossing a road and not just depend on the lights. Especially in London.

That’s my point though. It’s not always safer for all

Well campaign to your MP to get the LAW changed. We can't all go around ignoring laws that we feel shouldn't apply to us. The LAW says you stop at red traffic lights. No negotiation. It's the LAW. There'd be absolute carnage if more motorists just ignored them when they thought it didn't matter!

It’s never safer for the pedestrians if people jump red lights. As a cyclist you should be aware of more vulnerable road users.

It is different in some other countries regarding going through red lights but I’m happy with the law as it is here.

Did I say I jumped them at pedestrian crosssings?

And yet you still advocate ignoring the law to suit you? Not sure how you can be happy with a law that you're happy to break.

Why do you think I didn’t look? I live in London so aware that cyclists regularly break this law and tend to check.

Yesterday’s incident happened at a complicated three way junction with cars on green but the bus/cycle lane on red, allowing pedestrians to cross part of the road. If you were not familiar with it you may not realise. He almost certainly thought it was safer for him to go forward but didn’t realise that pedestrians were about to cross.

Me looking right for cyclists who may possibly be ignoring a red light wouldn't help as I am blind and wouldn't see them. I rely on the spinning cone under the button box to tell me it's safe to cross.

It’s rare to have traffic lights in London where pedestrians aren’t crossing.

I assume cyclists run red lights to get ahead of traffic, otherwise why do it? I really wish they wouldn't though as it's so dangerous 😕
I'm a car driver and a few years ago I stopped at a red light at a pedestrian crossing adjacent to a school, but the cyclist alongside me didn't stop. Unfortunately a child was hit by the cyclist and sustained injuries as a result. The cyclist failed to stop and didn't look back.
I reported all this to the police but because I couldn't accurately describe the cyclist or the bike, the police could take no further action. 🤔
I think the time has come for cycles to be licensed and their owners to be insured. Cyclists enjoy freedom of the roads but some have no sense of responsibility for their actions. As a car driver if I hit a pedestrian I would have the book thrown at me and rightly so.

As I posted above, motorists ignore all kinds of laws (speed limits, not using phones, driving across pavements etc) when they think it doesn't matter.

MPs are entirely uninterested and any pro-cycling move in this country would get the Daily Mail types agitated and stirring up culture wars. Tories are more interested in vilifying cyclists and airing the old 'you don't pay road tax' chestnut.

As a cyclist, you know that the roads were built for cars and the laws were made for cars and you are an afterthought. For example, cycling on a pavement has never had specific legislation, it's covered by an 1835 law designed to cover horse carriages. https://roadlawbarristers.co.uk/wanton-and-furious-cycling-a-guide-to-the-road-traffic-laws-that-apply-to-cyclists/

Plenty of the cycling infrastructure would cause you harm if you followed instructions without thinking twice. Bike lanes with poles in the middle of them etc. This is because cycling infrastructure is very often put in place when councils have a little bit of budget left so they paint a few more metres of bike track here and there so they can claim they have more bike track and get the same funding the following year, without the track being in a useful place or competently designed.

It's not an excuse for jumping red lights where pedestrians are crossing, or routinely jumping red lights. But as a cyclist you're negotiating roads that weren't designed for you. And some traffic lights are absolutely needless.

Did I say I live in London?

@karmakameleon sorry, getting you confused with OP who said 'My son said I should have looked right ,was I in the wrong?'

I was in Paris last week, crossing a road on a green light & a cyclist charged straight past, almost hitting me.

The bright side was that the other woman who was crossing & I had an enjoyable few minutes’ rant together and I learned some new French words.

If on my own at dead of night in some areas, stopping risks having your bag snatched or worse (this happened to me when younger).
Obviously not in the OP situation but do look before crossing and don't even suggest cyclists are worse than drivers because the stats show they aren't.

Happens almost every day in my area, funnily enough never been almost squashed by a car running a red light despite cyclists claiming to be safer 🤷

they aren't ridiculous while you're training/racing
they are utterly ridiculous if you wobble around trying to stay upright when you should be stopped, with your bike under control, at a traffic light

I do enjoy the cycle paths though - i can cycle to football 18kms away with only 1km of that on an actual (barely used) country road. the rest is all dedicated cycle paths :)

I imagine the same is true of most urban and suburban areas. Unless you cycle very rurally (and rarely see a traffic light) I can’t see how you come across many where pedestrians aren’t crossing.

It’s really not to do with being impatient. It’s just so much easier not to have to come to a stop and put your foot down when using pedal clips. Which is why I will slow down, back pedal, balance on the pedals etc, anything to prevent having to unclip.

I’ll carefully sneak through a red light, stop sign etc if I can see there’s no traffic or pedestrians.

The only fall I’ve ever had was a clip slip, in heavy traffic on a main road. If I’d fallen in front of a car I could have been badly injured.

As with drivers, some cyclists think the rules don’t apply to them or their thinking is along the lines of “it won’t happen to me”.
Quite often though they do get hit by another vehicle or worse, they hurt someone else.

Can’t you? Oh well

I do, and as an experienced cyclist who knows their route well, it’s aware of the potential hazards and is capable of making the best decisions for all, you’re probably not in the best position to question me.