If these are actually "traffic lights"?
Posted: 7 Aug 2019, 10:25pm
A few days ago I cycled the most recently completed phase of the Leeds/Bradford cycle superhighway (from canal road Shipley into Bradfornd) and it has a fair number of this type of lights on it:
So you basically arrive and press the button and then wait and wait and wait, even though you are looking at an empty road. So the thing is are these types of lights an actual "traffic light" or "traffic signal" or whatever from a legal point of view? If they are then ignoring them (like many of the pedestrians using the adjacent pedestrian crossing do) is in theory "jumping a red light" and a bad thing. I only very occasionally use this route so I didn't really mind waiting, but I can imagine that if you used it as part of a commute then having to wait as long as I did would soon get to be rather frustrating and I'd be tempted to just ignore the (rather nicely constructed) cycle way and simply ride on the road as in many places these lights are positioned when the cycle way switches from one side of the road to the other or in some cases when a side road joins the main route (and so cuts across the cycle way) and in both these cases a cyclist on the road would not have to wait.
There are also many large painted warning signs on the way surface just before points that entrances to private factories/yards/car parks etc. cross the cycle way. The way these "junctions" appear to me clearly indicates that the cycle way has some sort of priority (no give way lines and the green cycle path paint just continues on), but I do wonder what will happen when (and it probably is when) there is a collision between a cyclist and a vehicle at these points. Can a driver claim that the painted sign means that a cyclist should give way? It's a tricky thing to get right, obviously warning of the possible danger is a good thing, but we don't have these things painted all over a normal road for every side entrance etc.
I also noticed that at one point the cycle way passes right past a no entry sign that has no indication that this only applies to cars etc on the adjacent road. I guess this will get sorted at some point. But it does raise the issue (like the above) of the exact status of a cycle way and the signs etc. around it.
Has anyone any experience of this sort of thing in other areas?
Some pictures of parts of the new cycle way https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... /#gallery0
and comments here: https://road.cc/content/news/261283-new ... esponsible
So you basically arrive and press the button and then wait and wait and wait, even though you are looking at an empty road. So the thing is are these types of lights an actual "traffic light" or "traffic signal" or whatever from a legal point of view? If they are then ignoring them (like many of the pedestrians using the adjacent pedestrian crossing do) is in theory "jumping a red light" and a bad thing. I only very occasionally use this route so I didn't really mind waiting, but I can imagine that if you used it as part of a commute then having to wait as long as I did would soon get to be rather frustrating and I'd be tempted to just ignore the (rather nicely constructed) cycle way and simply ride on the road as in many places these lights are positioned when the cycle way switches from one side of the road to the other or in some cases when a side road joins the main route (and so cuts across the cycle way) and in both these cases a cyclist on the road would not have to wait.
There are also many large painted warning signs on the way surface just before points that entrances to private factories/yards/car parks etc. cross the cycle way. The way these "junctions" appear to me clearly indicates that the cycle way has some sort of priority (no give way lines and the green cycle path paint just continues on), but I do wonder what will happen when (and it probably is when) there is a collision between a cyclist and a vehicle at these points. Can a driver claim that the painted sign means that a cyclist should give way? It's a tricky thing to get right, obviously warning of the possible danger is a good thing, but we don't have these things painted all over a normal road for every side entrance etc.
I also noticed that at one point the cycle way passes right past a no entry sign that has no indication that this only applies to cars etc on the adjacent road. I guess this will get sorted at some point. But it does raise the issue (like the above) of the exact status of a cycle way and the signs etc. around it.
Has anyone any experience of this sort of thing in other areas?
Some pictures of parts of the new cycle way https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/ ... /#gallery0
and comments here: https://road.cc/content/news/261283-new ... esponsible