Do Dutch Cyclists Jump Traffic Lights?

General cycling advice ( NOT technical ! )
Stevek76
Posts: 2085
Joined: 28 Jul 2015, 11:23am

Re: Do Dutch Cyclists Jump Traffic Lights?

Post by Stevek76 »

axel_knutt wrote: 6 Aug 2022, 1:07pm
rogerzilla wrote: 6 Aug 2022, 10:16am Red light jumping is more of a London thing in my experience
I don't have any difficulty at all in seeing why cyclists are more likely to jump red lights in large cities, it's all about the energy wasted by stopping.
Generally peak time commuters are worse for it in my experience, particularly the more limit pushing jumps rather than the more cautious roll through a deserted junction you might see outside those times (and which i am guilty of at times) and i think that tends to be amplified in large and particularly capital cities in any country. People using all modes of transport tend to be more likely to be impatient and in a hurry in such places.

Even the Dutch occasionally do as far as I'm aware but I'd say that the theory that infrastructure can be designed to reduce rule breaking is at least a generally accepted notion amongst the more enlightened parts of the transport professions. Cyclists generally have much more priority in the Netherlands, cycle times are kept shorter and, as mentioned up thread, junctions of often coordinated around bicycle travel times, not car ones. In some of their cities they've been designing out car use long enough that they've more recently been taking out signals altogether, they're not needed where motor traffic flows are low.

An example of bad design that will inevitably exacerbate cyclist RLJing is happening in Ireland and specifically Dublin. After initially dabbling with the idea of proper Dutch style junction design they decided they could do better ( :roll: ) and have been adding pointless signal controls where pedestrians cross the cycle track rather than eg zebra markings. Compliance rate with these is likely to be very low.
The contents of this post, unless otherwise stated, are opinions of the author and may actually be complete codswallop
DurableAce
Posts: 131
Joined: 8 Jun 2009, 8:12pm

Re: Do Dutch Cyclists Jump Traffic Lights?

Post by DurableAce »

An interesting perspective that complying with the law in the interests of everyone's safety is a waste of energy.
User avatar
TrevA
Posts: 3551
Joined: 1 Jun 2007, 9:12pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Do Dutch Cyclists Jump Traffic Lights?

Post by TrevA »

axel_knutt wrote: 6 Aug 2022, 1:07pm
rogerzilla wrote: 6 Aug 2022, 10:16am Red light jumping is more of a London thing in my experience
I don't have any difficulty at all in seeing why cyclists are more likely to jump red lights in large cities, it's all about the energy wasted by stopping.

If you live in a city that's too big to be able to escape the built up area you're condemned to a life of incessant stop-start cycling, and all the effort and frustration that goes with it. It would be enough to make me give up cycling. On the other hand, if you live in a small-medium town where you can be out of the built-up area in a few minutes, so you only have to stop occasionally, then you don't accumulate the same level of frustration. It's the same with cycle paths: if you build one that requires people to keep stopping then either they won't stop, or they won't use it.

It became all the more obvious to me when my health had deteriorated to the point where I could no longer cycle far enough to get out of town.
We moved from the Nottingham suburbs to a small market town about 10 miles away, for exactly the reason that we can get easy access to the countryside. From my old house, I’d have 5 miles of “bricks and mortar” and fairly busy roads, just to get onto some decent quiet roads. Now, I can be on a quiet country lane in 2 minutes from my house.

My son lives in London and has to ride for miles to get out into the countryside. You can see why Richmond Park is popular with cyclists, as it’s a green oasis in in an urban desert.

If you ever watch some of Cycle Gaz’s videos on YouTube, it’s often the slower riders who will RLJ, while he stops at red lights, so he’s constantly catching and passing the same riders.
Sherwood CC and Notts CTC.
A cart horse trapped in the body of a man.
http://www.jogler2009.blogspot.com
gxaustin
Posts: 890
Joined: 23 Sep 2015, 12:07pm

Re: Do Dutch Cyclists Jump Traffic Lights?

Post by gxaustin »

On Lejog the nearest we came to a collision was when a Dutch motorist missed my friend by a couple of inches. So not all Dutchmen are saintly.
Post Reply