RLJ (Red Light Jumping). (The definitive bikeradar thread)

I gave up the cheap reckless thrills of RLJ about a year ago. I am now what you may consider a 'sensible cyclist'. Sure it takes me around 10 minutes longer to get anywhere, but I feel better that I am not endangering my health and respecting other road users.

From reading bits about others riding, and seeing other fixie skidders fly through traffic no braks willy nilly with quite frankly brutish arrogance. I feel there is an overwhelming sense that this irresponsibility and mindless endangerment is the status quo for this lifestyle and feeling of most riders here. Is your life that terrible that you need to indulge in pavement cycling, pedestrian crossings & RLJ?

I just wanted to state my abstinence to balance things out a bit. And see if there is anyone else who feels the same.

I've never jumped red lights...

for me, it depends on the situation. A lot of the time, I will wait. However, I will not wait at a pedestrian crossing if it is safe for me to carry on... e.g. right at the start of the ped green phase, move into the centre of the road and go through, right at the end, start early or, just go if nobody is crossing. Of course, this depends on how good the visibility is. If there are loads of parked cars or poor visibility of the waiting area, I slow right down and might stop regardless of number/density of people crossing. Big junctions are a stop for me, unless I am merging with traffic approaching from the right (excluding big roundabouts, where you should ALWAYS stop if there are lights). Even then, that requires a complete slow down or a stop to wait for a suitable gap. IMO, this should be a legal maneuver anyway, as it is (I believe) in other countries.

I always jump red lights...

in all honesty i feel this thread is conceited. RLJ yes, no, sometimes or always .... does nothing to convince me your a better person.

Are there any vows to be made, abstinence ring or bracelet?

I do RLJ sometimes (only pedestrian crossings when there's no civilians), I do pavement if there are roadworks, busy junctions without pedestrians, middle of the night etc. Mostly I try to adhere to the Highway Code.

in all honesty i feel this thread is conceited. RLJ yes, no, sometimes or always .... does nothing to convince me your a better person.

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.

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 true. Drivers do the same. Like bloody sheep.

Have you been to AA or to the young offenders? This is how it works. Watch and learn.

-=yawn=-

its a non issue. If you do great, if you don't great. Why the fuss? DFP is your life really that empty that you have to pass time with this?

I was just harmlessly mocking the abstinence thread whilst actually wanting to hear some actual feelings about choosing to cycle sensibly, being patient and stuff.

Ed kind of got it spot on, thats pretty much how Ive ended up. I always feel ashamed to RLJ - I try to get some respect of drivers. I wait patiently in ques of traffic at times instead of rushing past everyone then expecting a driver to be nice enough to give way.

Also, something that I find painful to watch. Is cyclists who ride as a mixture of car, bike and pedestrian following rules and ettiquette of none. Just barging past everthing, riding over zebra crossings, jumping onto pedestrian islands in the middle of negotiating a junction as traffic etc. and always expecting either pedestrians or drivers around them to get out fo the way or stop for them.

Dont have a superiority thing over them though, just find it utterly cringeful.

Dont have a superiority thing over them though, just find it utterly cringeful.

To be honest, the more hipster you are, the more friggin' d-locks you have in your pockets, messenger bags on your backs, bloody Arrospoks, Campagnollo hats, Rapha garments, rolled up jeans and you RLJ, you look more like a brainless dick.
Simples

So what? This isn't a perfect world. Accept it and just move on.

Then what stop you from making it so?

I rather live trying to change the unmorality natural of humanity than die a bitter cunt.

That dawg like to read things he doesnt like to read about things he doesnt like to believe.

That dawg like to read things he doesnt like to read about things he doesnt like to believe.

I'll just down that glass of wheat beer and I will rep it!

sensible or not, why do you have the need to jump a red light in the first place?

you're a throll and I claim my tuppence, considered you ignored.

Mind you, it's well deserved. You could learn a lot from Ed

In all fairness I agree with that statement.
(...)
That dosn't mean I can't have my own opinion and it doesn't make it any less valid.

You see...
Hey DJ! Just... just stop the tape... Rewind... Here! Here's the problem.

There is a lots of thing that are wrong in the world, thing we never even know of, like the President of Peru just sold part of the Amazon jungle whose indigenous native were still being slaughter by the police simply because of rich cunt wanting to build factories or houses on the land, the indigenous people of Peru has been slowly wiped out of the map for decades simply because of the greed and unmorality of humanity.

we never heard news about that, we only seen small newspaper clipping about it several pages away from the front page of Katie and Peter, they deposed of the dead indigenous (men, women and children) and falisfed the census to make it look like there's a lots less indigenous native in Peru than there are.

Also the anchovies will soon disappear in Peru because again the Peruvian government has been accepting bribe from Japanese, Philippine, etc. company to overfish the rich achovies of Peru (because they couldn't do that in their countries due to their local law forbidding it) and to force the local small fishing company out of the way so they can get the most anchovies, soon there will be no anchovies left in Peru leaving the already crippled local fishing company out of a jobs, anchovies in Peru will soon be extinct within the next few years, simply because of greeds.

No one know that, expect for those who live in Peru.

that's just a mere 1% of what wrong with the world, don't ever tell me that I have too much passion for bikes that give me tunnel vision.

And tuna, Ed. You forgot North Atlantic tuna

The thing about the North Atlantic tuna, is that we heard about it happening, and there's a reasonable (if not enough) coverage on it.

the peruvian anchovies doesn't, the Peruvian government managed to keep it quiet by closing down local fishing company and bribing the press not to talk about it, google it and you'll only see the 1960's one.

The thing about the North Atlantic tuna, is that we heard about it happening, and there's a reasonable (if not enough) coverage on it.

We've heard about it, because we eat tuna in the UK and anchovies for many are just a foreign muck. I quite like them, though. I'm going to do some thinking now.

Tangent.......? I think we've just gone off on one.
RLJ. You do, you don't.
Aerospoke. You do. you don't.
Brakeless. You do, you don't.

Cycling doesn't need to conform to a particular set of beliefs of what is right or wrong. That's what makes cycling unique - the only thing that unites us really is two wheels.... everything added to those wheels are what we consider to be functional (or fuckin' hipster cool....... FIFTY DORRAH!)

sounds a bit like this, chinese whispers?

YouTube- Drag queen' floors thugs in Swansea, wales, uk street fight. (with music)

Dude, chinese whispers is not the preferred nomenclature

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