drossall wrote:EnquiringMind wrote:It's never caused me any loss of sleep, as it's hard to see who is disadvantaged...
The only problem with that approach is that it's also used to justify ignoring speeding laws.
I'm not sure the two are really comparable, since vehicle A going faster than vehicle B is clearly different in some self-evident ways.
On the other hand, consider the example of two people walking along with bikes. The pavement isn't wide enough for them both (perhaps at a sign) so one steps onto the road. If the situation is right (or wrong!) it seems he may now be committing an offence (propelling a vehicle past a traffic light) where his companion is not - even if both have returned to the pavement.
Alternatively, consider the students I often see walking around campus, one or two of whom in a group of ten may have bikes along (but aren't riding). It seems laughable to say that if one of them sawed their frame in half, they could wheel the scrap metal over the road no problem, but the one who didn't is in some way like a speeding driver (or drunk driver, or suicide car bomber maybe?)
What about cross-overs like prams which you can ride (I saw one of these online - the front wheel unfolds to the rear to make it a bit like a novelty ice-cream or coffee venture upright trike). Would you be like a speeding driver if you pushed it across the road in "bike mode" but like a non-speeding driver if you push it across in pram mode?
Or does the fact that it's presumably legally a type of bike mean that while the other parents crossing the road are good upstanding citizens, you are morally repugnant if you don't break off your conversation and wait for the motorists to get a green light, then dash across in front of them (or similar).
Naturally this all seems a bit absurd. While it's true that ignorance of the law is no excuse, is there not at least a partial mitigation that comes from following the Highway Code? As we've seen up-topic, the HC suggests in more than one place that wheeling a bike might be the preferred option, and at no point discusses the niceties of how you should interact with red lights and other infrastructure in the role of pedestrian pushing bike.
I can think of at least one local junction where, it seems, to make the right turn on foot advised by the HC one would need to dismount, run across the left-filter lane traffic (which has a green light) and then back across all the traffic lanes to stay legal. Seems a bit more sensible just to get off and walk across directly?
Ayesha wrote:I chose to relax and catch the next train, reducing anxiety.
After all, cycle commuting is supposed to alieviate anxiety caused by traffic.
That seems to be more of a justification for walking over than waiting!
Holding up the main road with my right arm stuck out - I do this routinely since most of the time traffic lights don't turn red as I arrive (although on some days I wonder!). It's fine, but when I can save several minutes by pushing my bike and 20-30 drivers are thereby avoided an extra delay while we all wait for a stream of oncoming traffic... certainly seems to alleviate a lot of anxiety
Some junctions, obviously, are wide enough for traffic to pass right-turning traffic on the inside, and others don't have a huge stream of oncoming traffic to create extra delay, but YMMV.