For safety's sake - cyclists should jump traffic lights

I regularly break the law. Most days, for instance, I jump traffic lights. And now after reading this report I feel more than justified in doing so: it's much safer for me to ignore red lights and follow my own instincts. Yes, I'm a cyclist.

I think the Highway Code needs revising: cyclists shouldn't have to obey traffic lights. First, think about what traffic lights are for. They exist to help ease congestion by managing the flow of traffic, and to make the roads safer. But cyclists, unlike cars and lorries, don't cause congestion so they don't need to be managed. And traffic lights certainly don't make life safer for cyclists.

In fact, traffic-light junctions are one of the most dangerous parts of a cyclist's journey. As The Times report shows lorries quite often can't see cyclists who are ahead of them and on their left; hence why they have a habit of squashing them as they make a left turn. Drivers also tend to become mini-Schumachers at traffic lights, pulling away very quickly as if in a race. And, drivers also tend to watch traffic lights forgetting to look out for what other road users are doing.

So, it's often safer for cyclists, if they can see the road ahead, to jump lights. I trust the judgment of cyclists because they tend to have a more highly developed sense of risk than drivers: well, if you make a mistake you take the bigger hit. Knowing that your brain may be sprayed across a road does concentrate the mind.

Of course, we could take a further step and abolish all traffic lights.

Robbie Millen   

Comments

[Adam]

Have you considered pedestrians? Thought not.

[Jonathan Todd]

Good question, Adam. I already find cyclists a real menace to pedestrians at lights.

[Paul]

As a fellow cyclist, I must express my profound disappointment at this piece. Whatever you think of traffic lights, the law is the law and should not be broken. Even if you lobby for cyclists not to have to obey them, cyclists are not exempt from traffic laws.

Until the law changes, stop making excuses and obey the law.

[Barry Bethel]

Oh come ON. Pedestrians are even worse than cyclists at disobeying traffic signals and you know it.