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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 09:00 
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A hundred meters? Do you have radar?

No even my 60 year old eyes can detect another road user at 100 meters. An adult at 100 meters subtends an angle of one degree - about the same as the top line on an eye chart.

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Can you qualify your statement please .... I assume you are not simply charging across red lights all the time


Absolutely not. When cycling I never charge across a red light. When cycling I treat red lights as if they were STOP signs. I stop at the white line. Make sure that no pedestrians are wanting to cross (and that there are no police about :) )
Make sure that there is time to safely make my manoeuvre. If visibility is blocked so that I can't be sure that the road is clear then I wait for green.

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are you saying you stop at a crossroads, look each and every way and check all traffic and mammals with your thermal camera before proceeding to go over on red?

No I check with my peepers the same as I would at a STOP or GIVE WAY sign. If radar or thermal imaging is needed to check for safety then I accept the judgement of the lights and wait for green

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do you want to do away with all lights?

Not all of them. Many serve a useful purpose, enhancing traffic flow and increasing road safety. But many do the opposite, obstructing traffic without any obvious benefit in safety. I would change these lights so that green means you have priority and a flashing red light has the same meaning as a STOP sign

I am increasingly irritated by the way traffic lights are being used to slow traffic rather than to optimise traffic flow. Originally traffic lights had two movement phases and a short transition phase. With the simple rubber pad controllers a red light would quickly change to green on the approach of a vehicle if the other road was clear.
Many modern lights often allow only one road to move at a time, have long all-red periods so that non-existent pedestrians can cross and seem to have little adaptation to traffic volume. The technique of phasing lights so that vehicles travelling near the posted speed find a series of green lights seems to have been lost. Or even reversed to ensure that every light is met at red.
Apart from my PC, traffic lights are the only inanimate objects at which I routinely curse aloud. They are an insult to my intelligence and judgement and are turning motorists into unthinking zombies. [/rant]

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:06 
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Apologies. I thought you suggested giving carte blanche to all motorists to decide as-and-when to jump red lights, which would be an absolute recipe for disaster.

dcbwhaley wrote:
I am increasingly irritated by the way traffic lights are being used to slow traffic rather than to optimise traffic flow. Originally traffic lights had two movement phases and a short transition phase. With the simple rubber pad controllers a red light would quickly change to green on the approach of a vehicle if the other road was clear.
Many modern lights often allow only one road to move at a time, have long all-red periods so that non-existent pedestrians can cross and seem to have little adaptation to traffic volume. The technique of phasing lights so that vehicles travelling near the posted speed find a series of green lights seems to have been lost. Or even reversed to ensure that every light is met at red.
Apart from my PC, traffic lights are the only inanimate objects at which I routinely curse aloud. They are an insult to my intelligence and judgement and are turning motorists into unthinking zombies. [/rant]

Could not agree more :clap: I thought we were at odds there for a minute :drink:

Again, sort of on topic, where I live there has been a huge increase in what I imagine they call traffic calming, in the name of safety no doubt. It's the irritating practice of putting a small island, complete with bollard poking up, in the centre of single carriagway roads just behind where the buses stop so it creates a big tailback. As a result, you can never overtake a bus or go any quicker than it which, when dozens of people are getting off/on, can lead to such frustration that I have seen very dangerous and illegal overtaking manoeuvres.

I mention it here because, as a cyclist, it does me no favours whatsoever to be stuck in amongst traffic belching out smoke and drivers ready to do almost anything to get ahead or around. (This was the root cause of Wheelspin Willie carving me up whom I mentioned earlier. :x

Edit to add: These small islands are danerous on another level too! They encourage pedestrians to leap like a frog to the centre of the road ready for the next leap. I don't know what they're going to do so I slow right down in case they leap in front of me. :banghead: Who sanctions these bloody things? :hoppingmad:

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The views expressed in this post are personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of Safe Speed.
You will be branded a threat to society by going over a speed limit where it is safe to do so, and suffer the consequences of your actions in a way criminals do not, more so than someone who is a real threat to our society.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 11:57 
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Apology accepted :bighand:

Islands in the middle of SC roads are a real hazard for cyclists. The road width is often reduced to the point where a motor can just pass a cyclist but with absolutely no margin of safety. My preferred technique for overtaking cyclists (and my preferred method of being overtaken) is to hang well back until the other side of the road is clear then pass as rapidly as possible leaving a lots of clearance. When cycling I hate motorists who pass very closely and very slowly. Almost as much as I hate motorists who tailgate cyclists whilst waiting for an opportunity to pass.

Another problem with the islands is that they are often very badly illuminated. Either the lamp fails or the build up of dirt on them makes them almost invisible. Now, while I am with Weepje on the other thread about expecting unlit obstructions, I do feel that deliberately placing them in the road, and in the name of road safety, is a bit silly

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:17 
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Now that's an intersting point about these "islands" and road safety. Our local council have just "degraded" 80% of our NSL roads to 40MPH but have had to put these "islands" in the road in order to "justify" making them "less safe" in order to drop the speed limit. Where is the common sense in making a road LESS safe just in order to drop the speed limit?

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My views do not represent Safespeed but those of a driver who has driven for 39 yrs, in all conditions, at all times of the day & night on every type of road and covered well over a million miles, so knows a bit about what makes for safety on the road,what is really dangerous and needs to be observed when driving and quite frankly, the speedo is way down on my list of things to observe to negotiate Britain's roads safely, but I don't expect some fool who sits behind a desk all day to appreciate that.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 12:21 
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dcbwhaley wrote:
Almost as much as I hate motorists who tailgate cyclists whilst waiting for an opportunity to pass.


Some don't want to "wait" and squeeze by anyway, which is why it's advisable when on a pushbike to go primary at places like this so the people behind don't have the oppurtunity to try and squeeze by the side of you.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 24, 2008 13:04 
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Some don't want to "wait" and squeeze by anyway, which is why it's advisable when on a pushbike to go primary at places like this so the people behind don't have the opportunity to try and squeeze by the side of you.


No no, weepej. Cyclists have a RESPONSIBILITY to keep out of the way of cars so that the drivers can always travel at the speed that their, often impaired, judgement tells them is safe. [ironic grin]

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PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 18:07 
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one of my most favourite bits of road & cycle lane:
google maps link

i dont have good reason to ride along it very often, its a 40 if i recall with a cycle lane at the edge of each lane.
bizarrely where they put traffic islands there isnt enough room for a car and a cycle lane.. so the cycle lane stops.. just when some demarkation would actually be useful!

(meriden, one of the centres of england and home to the cyclist's war memorial)


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PostPosted: Thu Dec 25, 2008 18:29 
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one of my most favourite bits of road & cycle lane:


Unfortunately that type of ting is not unusual. Cycle lanes are very much a retrofit concept

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When I see a youth in a motor car I do d.c.brown


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