Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?

I am EXTREMELY glad to hear you are ok.

Thanks! So am i!

Yeah, was the tail end of amber, but normally, I'd say this is the safest time to navigate this junction if you've had the right turn green. There is a decent gap till the other lights go green, and anyone heading south should have been held for a while. The only thing you'd need to watch for is peds crossing just after you've turned right, as most don't wait for a green man.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye out now and see if that right filter light ever doesn't go on. Seems odd, as its part of a "superhighway" and plenty of cyclists wait in the little blue box in the middle of the two lanes, so sensors wouldn't necessarily pick them up.

Personally I think it's far more likely that the lorry saw an empty (minus you obviously) junction and just thought fuck it and went through, than it was a breakdown in the lights and timings at that junction.

Otherwise you'd have to get off your bike and wait at the junction for no right turning traffic (when will that happen at commuting times?) to see if it doesn't trigger. Whereas if you are always there trying to turn right my guess is that it will trigger and you'll corrupt your own experiment.

Yep.

My mood also wasn't helped by a fellow cyclist coming past shortly after saying "you wont try that again will you". I wanted to catch up and explain, tell him i'd cover it all off on an internet forum and that I'm a careful cyclist who understands risk/reward as an experienced year round commuter, but my legs were too wobbly.

It appears most road users do not appreciate that amber is actually a STOP light.

Glad you are ok

Is it not "stop if safe to do so"? Was told that once I think - not sure how true and too lazy to look up!

Well, yeah, I could have jammed the anchors on and stopped in the initial ASL, but anyone else behind me would likely not be expecting that.

The "amber" part of my story is to illustrate that, when it turned amber I assumed that the green right turn was also in play - as that is the standard cycle of lights. As a result, I wasn't really checking for anyone coming from ahead of me. That's why I posted it in the "bad cyclist" thread. I assumed it was clear which is an absolute no no for urban rush hour cycling.

I'd go through that amber everyday of the week. The timing was not tight and I'm not heaving on the brakes that late in the day. I've been rear ended at zebra crossings enough times to have learnt that lesson.

That right is iffy and I don't like it. The junction has one of those two stage right turns for the bike lane doesn't it? ie. Stay left and join the embankment in front of the waiting traffic coming across you and go on their green. You also then get every hero blast past you for taking the pole position they sprinted so hard for. It's a bit cycle infrastructure 100% all in but less death defying.

Is it not "stop if safe to do so"

Yes, which should be interpreted as stop for the majority of occasions.

If you are going through the tail end of amber it means you were probably approaching the junction too quickly.

https://www.highwaycodeuk.co.uk/light-signals-controlling-traffic.html

RED AND AMBER also means ‘Stop’. Do not pass through or start until GREEN shows

AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident

Yep, I think I've seen a handful of people do this in the years I've been riding round here. Depending on whim my commute either goes all the way along embankment from Fulham or joins here at Chelsea Bridge.

The design is pretty crap. If you're confident enough to get in the right hand lane as you come over the bridge, there is a nice big ASL and space to wait in the middle of lanes.

If you're less confident, you can keep to the inside and wait where you suggested. The big issue with this is it means less confident people have to be careful not to be left hooked getting to that safe spot. The road is often chock full of buses and lorries, and that left cycle lane leads you right into left hook territory.

On amber lights, I'm not changing that part of my cycling. I am 100% sure I'll get in more accidents by being fully aligned with the highway code on it as I'll be stopping when people don't expect me to (even if they should expect me to). Do you agree with this thought process?

It doesn't help that I ride fixed a lot (not today though) and people get even more caught out by the lack of freewheeling when braking.

The big thing that was dangerous here was not me going through amber, it was whether the cycling of lights is variable. If not, the bin lorry blasted through on red a good 20 seconds after it would have gone red for him.

If they are variable, this seems to be asking for trouble. I should have seen that the green right turn arrow was not illuminated, but as I assumed it always was at the end of that phase, I got myself into a sticky situation.

I'm not sure which of these scenarios is what happened.

It does sound like the other driver may have blasted through a red light, you might wish to go and check the phasing at some point.

Do you agree with this thought process?

I understand your thought process. ;-)

I aim to reduce my speed when approaching traffic light controlled junctions, so if the lights change I can safely stop. I strive to drive and cycle in the same fashion.

When delivering lorry driver CPC training it always amazes me how many drivers take the "all cyclists jump red lights" but completely fail to understand that amber is also a stop light. It is such a common misconception, but for me if I roll through an amber light then it generally means I have not been reading the road, approaching the junction at an appropriate pace and as such have failed to manage the road and elevated the level of risk for me and other road users.

Yeah, you're right, it's not a popular option. I do either depending on the lay of the land as I get there. Or just sack it, go straight on and get to wherever 10 minutes late. Good to have options.

Thanks for the sketch. There really shouldn't be any variability in whether the green right-turn arrow is shown. Arrangements like the ones at this junction used to be more common, but have mostly been replaced with split-phase arrangements now, I think. The only one I use regularly is that at the junction of Newington Green Road, Ball's Pond Road, Essex Road, and St Paul's Road, and there definitely isn't any variability there.

If you have time, the following would be a good exercise. Leave ten minutes early tomorrow and stop at the junction and observe it for a while. This may sound boring and a bit trainspotterish, but in this case it should help you process what happened a little. (It is generally a good thing to do when you're getting used to a new route and aren't sure how the junctions work. It doesn't take long and prepares you for riding through it properly. There are usually only a couple of places on people's commutes that cause them difficulty at first.)

Wait for a while at each of the corners of the junction. Walk your bike across the pedestrian crossings and perhaps wait on the splitter islands if you want. Look at the traffic signal phases and driver behaviour. Note any instances of conflict. There may not be any need to do this in your case to understand the junction better, as perhaps with the exception of the arrangements you question you probably already do, but it may just be a good way of taking stock. Obviously, you'll want to pay particular attention to whether the right-turn arrow does come on in a variable way. (I doubt it, and like the others above I think the driver probably ran the red light.)

Had a couple of attempts but can't get it going again, unsure if it's the cables or the light now tho as I noticed a big snag by one of the cable ties. I'll pop into a shop and grab a cable then see how it goes from that.

Edited not for the sake of my own embarrassment but that of the accused, who I've PMd

@Velocio ?

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/13917826/

Snap

Well that's rather awkward. Way too late for an edit though.

Shit riding and hard to imagine what the excuse might be, very disappointing.

I recall this happening before. There's definitely a doppelganger out there :-)

Stop, unless unsafe to do so. Rather than stop if safe.

AMBER means ‘Stop’ at the stop line. You may go on only if the AMBER appears after you have crossed the stop line or are so close to it that to pull up might cause an accident

That'll be me.

I shouted "hey" loudly to all the pedestrians who were crossing in their red against the main carriage way green as several were looking at their phones and not the road.

Appreciate the call out on here though... I'll be more mindful that shouting anything perhaps isn't effective, and I should be aware of how things are interpreted and received.

Going to revert to sonar bells.... Ping... Ping.. Ping . Ping. Pin pin pin pppp.

.

Its just people. People are cunts. People behind handlebars or steering wheels.

None of that is life threatening comparing to every 3rd cunt behind wheel looking at their phone.