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Crossing of Buckingham Palace Road and Grosvenor Place, and the next junction up. They've been there all week. Not convinced it's a good use of resources as I've never thought of it as an RLJ hotspot.
#Where I thought then. Sometimes I go straight ahead down Beeston Place and round to Victoria Street, or I go left and right into Palace Street, or up to Birdcage Walk, depending on my mood.
Not a junction I see a lot of RLJs though - the cross traffic to Beeston Place is moving very quickly so it would be a pretty suicidal move.
The other junction I mentioned would be a better spot; though a lot of the RLJs I see there are mainly people who know the timings of the multiple traffic lights and take a chance to get ahead, so creep past the ASL (which is usually full of motorbikes and mopeds). With the volume of numpty coaches out of Victoria Coach Station and the open top tourist buses for whom I have no words bad enough, I can see their point.
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mass call-out
http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/views-Bristol-Bath-cycle-path/story-17062294-detail/story.html
I used to use that path for interval training before I moved back to London a year ago. It's long, straight, sheltered from wind and with few interuptions so provides a perfect traffic-free place to train.
It's also fucking dangerous.
There are pedestrians casually strolling along enjoying the view. There are dogs running around off leads. There are parents riding along with their young children wobbling along behind them, discovering the joy of cycling for the first time.
...and there are road cyclists hurtling along the narrow path at 25-30mph.
I'm surprised the council has never done anything about this as I've witnessed quite a few near misses whilst using it.
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A few weeks ago this class A idiot almost gets taken out at the junction of Notting Hi Gate and Campden Hill. He shouts at the "offending" mini cab driver who was going though a late amber whilst he was going through a red... I was waiting to be a witness, on the side of the cabbie.. :-)
He was riding a white Cannondale Bad Boy....and looked a right knob as he proceded to rlj all the way to Chiswick. I still beat him!
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A few weeks ago this class A idiot almost gets taken out at the junction of Notting Hi Gate and Campden Hill. He shouts at the "offending" mini cab driver who was going though a late amber whilst he was going through a red... I was waiting to be a witness, on the side of the cabbie.. :-)
He was riding a white Cannondale Bad Boy....and looked a right knob as he proceded to rlj all the way to Chiswick. I still beat him!
Ha Ha, I see this guy quite a lot on my commute. He does lots of undertaking, I saw him a few days ago coming up to a red light undertaking a stationary bus, the light turns green as he is doing this and he ends up grounding his pedals on the kerb. Also saw him this week in Shepherds Bush, jumping red light and narrowly avoiding getting hit.
His bike has a hub gear, and his chain is really really slack. His bike handling skills are pretty bad too - lots of wobbling around when he is filtering through traffic.
All round dangerous kind of rider.
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^^Badboy rider. Does he wear full lycra?
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I also ride like I rode my motorbike. It certainly has made me more observant. It still doesn't stop other people thinking "oh it's only a bicycle", "he'll stop"- "I've plenty of time" etc. The sounds of vehicles make people think twice about making a move.
Not directly related but what is about people that choose to cycle that rarely see fit to allow others to go i.e. I'm riding along, I see someone looking to pull out from a side road or turn right across my lane and I stop, gesticulate to allow them to go but cyclists still continue to pour through confusing matters??
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Because 'courtesy causes confusion.'
s
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Originally Posted by Londonlax
Police were doing a blitz on RLJs at the junction of Southwark Bridge and Southwark St today. As a rule I don't jump reds myself so no problems I'm thinking. I pull up at the red light in front of a black cab turning left, I am intending on going straight ahead.Of course I hadn't noticed that the cab is sitting in the advanced cycle box and consequently I'm in front of the forward stop line. The light drops to amber and I'm about to pull away when I get a police officer on the curb yelling at me to stop because he wants to speak with me.
He is telling me I am breaking the traffic rules which is a £30 fine and I'm trying to explain to him I need to be out in front of the left turning taxi to be seen instead of waiting in his blind spot. Meanwhile the traffic is now turning left and taxis and huge coaches are making the left turn around me whilst the officer stands on the curb lecturing me about the problems of bad cyclists. I was getting a bit panicky about the coach turning across me and the guy seemed to sense this because then he decides wave me on and not fine me 'this time'. I am still pretty worked up about the whole situation however.
I think it is ridiculous that I would need to stay back alongside a left turning vehicle when it is occupying the cycle box.
Let's go through this again:
The advanced boxes are NOT enforceable*. If there is a motorist in the box why can't you wait directly behind that vehicle in the middle or to the right of that lane? This way your road position tells everyone behind that you're going straight ahead.
I keep hearing people say it's safer to be in front of cars. Hang on. If that car is going forward the safest place is surely behind it, or am I missing something?
Also the indicating cab was at the head of the queue before you, why do you have the right to go in front of it? If you were waiting at an ATM would you allow me to get to the front because I had a bike?
- I personally question how much use these boxes are; Unless the lights are two phased i.e. cyclists go 30secs before vehicles you're still going to get caught up by motorists any way!
- I personally question how much use these boxes are; Unless the lights are two phased i.e. cyclists go 30secs before vehicles you're still going to get caught up by motorists any way!
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The advanced boxes are NOT enforceable.
They are enforceable, in the same way that normal stop lines are enforceable - but cameras are not set up to enforce them, and popo is often ignorant of how they are supposed to work.They can variously be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on location and prevailing traffic conditions.
They do seem to encourage cyclists to always try and get to the front of traffic though, which can't be a good thing.
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Let's go through this again:
The advanced boxes are NOT enforceable*. If there is a motorist in the box why can't you wait directly behind that vehicle in the middle or to the right of that lane? This way your road position tells everyone behind that you're going straight ahead.
I keep hearing people say it's safer to be in front of cars. Hang on. If that car is going forward the safest place is surely behind it, or am I missing something?
Also the indicating cab was at the head of the queue before you, why do you have the right to go in front of it? If you were waiting at an ATM would you allow me to get to the front because I had a bike?
- I personally question how much use these boxes are; Unless the lights are two phased i.e. cyclists go 30secs before vehicles you're still going to get caught up by motorists any way!
In a nut shell ^
- I personally question how much use these boxes are; Unless the lights are two phased i.e. cyclists go 30secs before vehicles you're still going to get caught up by motorists any way!
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I disagree MG, it is safer in front quite often and I try to get to the front when I can.
It is the whole principle of filtering but even better because there is often a space for you at the front in the box.
If you saw a huge queue of cars - would you just wait at the back?
It is always safer to be in the middle, rather than the sides - as we agree.
So why not take advantage of the time saving offered by the ASL.The cars are perfectly capable of overtaking you and even if you do wait at the back there will still be cars coming up behind you.
Also - as TW2 says - the boxes are perfectly enforceable - the police are just morons or have better things to do.
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If you saw a huge queue of cars - would you just wait at the back?
Depending on circumstance - yes. -
If you are behind a vehicle they would have to reverse to hit you- it's fairly safe.
However, if you are behind one vehicle then you are likely to be in front of another.
If you are directly ahead of them so that they can a) see you and b) not try to squeeze past you, then fine- however if there is not enough room to stop the squeeze then I would move to the front of the traffic.
If you are anticipating the flow of traffic then this situation is unlikely to occur unless filtering, and I would definitely agree that filtering until a safe spot appears and then being happy with it is better than trying to get to the front at all costs.
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They are enforceable, in the same way that normal stop lines are enforceable - but cameras are not set up to enforce them, and popo is often ignorant of how they are supposed to work.
Motorists in boxes ≠ Crime & fine.
They do seem to encourage cyclists to always try and get to the front of traffic though, which can't be a good thing.
Just about every single junction is littered with cyclists forcing their way to the front, causing bottle necks - irrespective of road condition - even when there is NO box. I'm struggling to see the point. Help me.
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I disagree MG, it is safer in front quite often and I try to get to the front when I can.
It is the whole principle of filtering but even better because there is often a space for you at the front in the box.
If you saw a huge queue of cars - would you just wait at the back?
It is always safer to be in the middle, rather than the sides - as we agree.
So why not take advantage of the time saving offered by the ASL.The cars are perfectly capable of overtaking you and even if you do wait at the back there will still be cars coming up behind you.
Also - as TW2 says - the boxes are perfectly enforceable - the police are just morons or have better things to do.
Being in the box as a driver is not a mandatory fine, so what's the point in wetting the bed when you find someone parked in it? (not saying you've personally soiled yourself)
Would I just wait at the back?
It's a dynamic thing. Depending on my time constraints, how far back I am and other road conditions then I'll often sit in the queue.
If you're quick enough sitting behind motorists often means on green you can follow in their stream and pass all of the tutting cyclists that awkwardly forced their way to the front anyway. It means I don't have to deal with dodging the stava heads/hybrids/fixehs during rush hour.Your point/question talked about "if there was a space for you at the front". Often the box is full or doesn't even exist! In the event it's full, surely moving with the traffic stream is the place to save time, no?
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Is it time to start calling out bad cyclists?
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@Multi_Grooves
Crossing of Buckingham Palace Road and Grosvenor Place, and the next junction up. They've been there all week. Not convinced it's a good use of resources as I've never thought of it as an RLJ hotspot.