ASL vehicle offender

Unfortunately the law is a bit vague here (as outlined up there ^), so even if they did know what they were doing, the rozzers could't do anything.

i have a new tactic for this, i dont bother trackstanding, i just use their car as a rest for my hand, i usually do it behind the driver to be a little safer, but in my mind its a small victory.

There have only been two ASL tickets issued. Both a long time agoo. The police ignore ASLs as do all other motorists. The behaviour of the police brings the law in general into dispute. How can you have a law that even those who are supposed to enforce it ignore?

If stopped for an rjl offence, it might be worth pointing to the fact that the asl was fully occupied and that one was seeking to place oneself into a position of safety in front of the illegally driven cars. I doubt it would work but might be worth trying.

i have a new tactic for this, i dont bother trackstanding, i just use their car as a rest for my hand, i usually do it behind the driver to be a little safer, but in my mind its a small victory.

Normally I just pull in front and do the whole "look back and shake head" thing however that is a genius bit of passive-aggressiveness. I shall incorporate this into my commute from this day on.

There have only been two ASL tickets issued. Both a long time agoo. The police ignore ASLs as do all other motorists. The behaviour of the police brings the law in general into dispute. How can you have a law that even those who are supposed to enforce it ignore?.

Ever? As in the last 18 months? That is sad really.

I wonder if you could get the police, as an institution, to be declared "anti-cyclist."

Unfortunately the law is a bit vague here (as outlined up there ^), so even if they did know what they were doing, the rozzers could't do anything.

Well, the law is actually fairly clear. The problem is that it makes enforcing ASLs more difficult (not impossible, as police sometimes claim).

Don't get too caught up in demanding ASL enforcement as a kind of token return gesture in exchange for RLJ enforcement and the like. ASLs aren't a very good idea in any event (they were created partly in response to the fact that many cyclists always try to filter to the front, regardless of circumstances, when it is much better advice to sometimes stay back and take up a clear and visible position in the queue), and there are much more important types of enforcement that we should demand, such as speed enforcement or vehicle checks (insurance, HGV safety, etc.).

I'm personally quite relaxed about ASL encroachment, as I think that the basic concept simply isn't very good.

Which is worse, drivers that hog the ASL or cyclists that hog the left hand side of an ASL when they're not turning left?

How do you hog the left hand side of an ASL?
Presuming it's a red light and you've stopped. Job done.
People behind can wait.. unless you're one of those 'nodder undertakers' we hear so much about?

To play Devils advocate, i think that half the time cars who are stopped in ASL's are there because they were in traffic when the lights turned Red, leaving them in the ASL - this is part of the reason i think ASL's are stupid, because the majority of them are in places were a car is likely to end up in them during rush hour just because of the traffic flow.

Of course there are always the cunts who go in when the road is clear, but when i am driving in town i quite often find myself stuck in an ASL, despite trying not to, just because the lights have changed and i am in a que.

They are nothing more than a token gesture so that the government can say, we spent X on doing this for cyclists. In fact i tend not to use them, because i feel that many of them place you in a dangerous position in front of the guy who has been in his car for an hour, on a mission to get somewhere, who wants to nail it when the lights go green.

I cant blame the police for not giving a shit - i know some coppers and they dont give a shit about RLJing either, and view having to do RLJ blitzs as the worst duty out there, since again they are only doing them so the government can tell motorists who complain that they are taking some action.

ASL's are just a WOFTAM, like most of the "Cycling Friendly" schemes the idiots upstairs come up with

How do you hog the left hand side of an ASL?
Presuming it's a red light and you've stopped. Job done.
People behind can wait.. unless you're one of those 'nodder undertakers' we hear so much about?

I think its the nodder undertakers that do it... I often get up to some lights, but leave a little gap between me and the pavement as I wait dutifully for the green light to allow me to turn left... hey presto, someone comes up the inside of me and usually cycles very slowly straight on, so you either cut them up or have to now hang back and look like you are blocking cars.

To play Devils advocate, i think that half the time cars who are stopped in ASL's are there because they were in traffic when the lights turned Red

Yes that's definitely true but there are still lots of people who drive right on to it when the light is already red, and loads more who drive halfway on it as if to say "well I don't really want to observe this but I suppose I should".

However Oliver probably has it right ie who gives a shit really - I should unclench about it.

A month or two back I saw a police car waiting at a red light in Kentish Town parked 3/4 of the way into the ASL, they weren't on a call. I thought this doesn't send out a very positive message to other vehicle users, cunts.

I just treat'em like another gap in traffic, if they're empty pull into them, if not find another (safe) gap. Unenforced, they're a pointless source of conflict really, i.e. "you're in my bit of road, no you're in my bit", etc., etc.

...
I'm personally quite relaxed about ASL encroachment, as I think that the basic concept simply isn't very good.

Oliver Schick does it again, on-the-fucking-money as usual.

Sometimes I think I love you Oliver. Then you post one of your 'funnies'.

Oliver Schick does it again, on-the-fucking-money as usual.

Sometimes I think I love you Oliver. Then you post one of your 'funnies'.

Com me, then, biatch.

^ See? That was a funny!

I'd be rich for the amount of cars that do the ASL front of my house.

To play Devils advocate, i think that half the time cars who are stopped in ASL's are there because they were in traffic when the lights turned Red, leaving them in the ASL - this is part of the reason i think ASL's are stupid, because the majority of them are in places were a car is likely to end up in them during rush hour just because of the traffic flow.

Of course there are always the cunts who go in when the road is clear, but when i am driving in town i quite often find myself stuck in an ASL, despite trying not to, just because the lights have changed and i am in a que.

They are nothing more than a token gesture so that the government can say, we spent X on doing this for cyclists. In fact i tend not to use them, because i feel that many of them place you in a dangerous position in front of the guy who has been in his car for an hour, on a mission to get somewhere, who wants to nail it when the lights go green.

I cant blame the police for not giving a shit - i know some coppers and they dont give a shit about RLJing either, and view having to do RLJ blitzs as the worst duty out there, since again they are only doing them so the government can tell motorists who complain that they are taking some action.

ASL's are just a WOFTAM, like most of the "Cycling Friendly" schemes the idiots upstairs come up with

If the road is not clear in front of you, then you are not supposed to move onto the junction.

I know this does not work in practice.

If the road is not clear in front of you, then you are not supposed to move onto the junction.

I know this does not work in practice.

Like Quarterbridge Roundabout?
;-/

QB ha. Cars here should be cheaper as nobody indicates. They should also come with left and right written on the windscreen.

QB ha. Cars here should be cheaper as nobody indicates. They should also come with left and right written on the windscreen.

Half of them would get it wrong...
My Mum has never taken a UK test. She's been driving on the basis of her Manx test in the 1940s.

I don't think there were any traffic lights on the Island then, let alone roundabouts. For some reason she doesn't do motorways.

Thank God...

I think its the nodder undertakers that do it... I often get up to some lights, but leave a little gap between me and the pavement as I wait dutifully for the green light to allow me to turn left... hey presto, someone comes up the inside of me and usually cycles very slowly straight on, so you either cut them up or have to now hang back and look like you are blocking cars.

Ah, yeah, I get that all the time. I just see how fast I can pass them again.
Lowest pedal stroke count to destroy the nodder wins.

Does anyone else notice new bad habits suddenly taking hold? There was a sudden huge rush of motorcyclists cutting me up in bike lanes and crowding me out of the ASL as soon as they were allowed in the bus lanes - and just in the past week I've noticed drivers doing this annoying thing of stopping at the first line, but then slowly and deliberately rolling up past the ASL, and often right over the pedestrian crossing, whilst waiting for the lights to change. Some of them even end up 'anticipating' the lights by a couple of seconds, and most of them seem to be what I'd consider higher-risk vehicles - i.e. HGVs, 4x4s, wankers in sports cars.

Or is it just me? (I spend far too much of my life getting annoyed by things like this. (But then, the annoyance was somewhat exacerbated by seeing a cyclist knocked down by an RLJing lorry last week.)

Emilia, with motorcycles and scooters, yes it's almost required for them to be on the ASL, (especially on that popular junction on Clerkenwell Road/Gray's Inn Road).

As for 4+ wheels vehicles, it's more of a hit or miss, since sometime they don't go on ASL, sometime they do, having said that if you end up thinking about how many cars drive on the ASL, you'll notice cars on the ASL more often, not realising the other number of cars not on the ASL.

I'm not really bothered by it anymore, cyclists manage to get by without the ASL, if a car blocked it, it's not the end of the world, it just mean you'll need to move forward a bit more (it's not a valid reason for RLJ, unless there's an HGV behind you whom they couldn't see from above and the only way to get out of the way is to move forward).

I'm quite tempted to make this into a sheet of stickers and stick it on the side of any cars/vans that piss me off by ASLing.

I definitely don't think 'anticipating' the lights is that common, most drivers and motorcyclists don't RLJ, to be fair, or creep over the pedestrian crossing, the huge majority at least. Creeping over the ASL is a different matter though.

It pisses me off because if I'm coming up the outside and a car has come over the ASL and there's an island thing in the middle you can get stuck behind the island if you don't merge into the traffic, if they leave the gap you can just pull across safely before the island, if that makes sense.

Does anyone else notice new bad habits suddenly taking hold? There was a sudden huge rush of motorcyclists cutting me up in bike lanes and crowding me out of the ASL as soon as they were allowed in the bus lanes - and just in the past week I've noticed drivers doing this annoying thing of stopping at the first line, but then slowly and deliberately rolling up past the ASL, and often right over the pedestrian crossing, whilst waiting for the lights to change. Some of them even end up 'anticipating' the lights by a couple of seconds, and most of them seem to be what I'd consider higher-risk vehicles - i.e. HGVs, 4x4s, wankers in sports cars.

Or is it just me? (I spend far too much of my life getting annoyed by things like this. (But then, the annoyance was somewhat exacerbated by seeing a cyclist knocked down by an RLJing lorry last week.)