I remember that people says they RLJ because it's 'safer', if for instance, a HGV is behind them, but I realised that it's simply a load of old testicle, you can be safe without needing to RLJ, cycle training help massively on that.
When I was riding a couple years ago, I find myself being impatient, not liking the idea of slowing down temporary, and jump the red light simply because I'm on a small and harmless vehicle as well as seeing no reason why I should wait.
However I realised much later when I was talking with my mother (her job required a lots of driving), she found it very irritating that certain cyclists doesn't think the highway code applied to them and at that point I realised that jumping a red light does provoked some aggression from motorised vehicles as if you've barged in a long queue, not to the point of them getting angry enough to try and knock you off the road mind, after all the best way to commute is to go with the traffic, not against it, drivers do like cyclists who ride sensibly and stop at red light.
Nowadays I no longer RLJ, even at 12am when there's no cars about, the less I RLJ, the less impatient I feel, it doesn't feel like a drag anymore the more you stop at a red light, it just felt perfectly normal, after all we're on a bicycle, we're still going from A to B in quick succession than motorised vehicles during rush hour.
I also notice the lemming effect, when I stopped at a red light, 4 cyclists came up from behind and stopped as well, until a cyclists sped past and jump a red light, the 4 cyclists follow suit, so not only it's unnecessary, but also give a bad example to other cyclists, especially to the inexperienced one.
I remember that people says they RLJ because it's 'safer', if for instance, a HGV is behind them, but I realised that it's simply a load of old testicle, you can be safe without needing to RLJ, cycle training help massively on that.
When I was riding a couple years ago, I find myself being impatient, not liking the idea of slowing down temporary, and jump the red light simply because I'm on a small and harmless vehicle as well as seeing no reason why I should wait.
However I realised much later when I was talking with my mother (her job required a lots of driving), she found it very irritating that certain cyclists doesn't think the highway code applied to them and at that point I realised that jumping a red light does provoked some aggression from motorised vehicles as if you've barged in a long queue, not to the point of them getting angry enough to try and knock you off the road mind, after all the best way to commute is to go with the traffic, not against it, drivers do like cyclists who ride sensibly and stop at red light.
Nowadays I no longer RLJ, even at 12am when there's no cars about, the less I RLJ, the less impatient I feel, it doesn't feel like a drag anymore the more you stop at a red light, it just felt perfectly normal, after all we're on a bicycle, we're still going from A to B in quick succession than motorised vehicles during rush hour.
I also notice the lemming effect, when I stopped at a red light, 4 cyclists came up from behind and stopped as well, until a cyclists sped past and jump a red light, the 4 cyclists follow suit, so not only it's unnecessary, but also give a bad example to other cyclists, especially to the inexperienced one.