- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Police Hackney (via Roads&Transport MPS Twitter)Police in Hackney catch 18 red light jumping cyclists in 90 minutes
Safer Transport Team officers in Hackney fined 18 cyclists in the space of 90 minutes for jumping red lights at the weekend.
The Metropolitan Police Service’s Roads and Transport Policing Command tweeted that 14 officers in hi vis jackets patrolled the Hackney Road junction with Kingsland Road on Saturday evening. They were there as part of Operation ‘Vision Zero’, London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s bid to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads.
@MPSRTPC Hackney STT Officers were in high vis on @OpVisionZero along Hackney Rd j/w Kingsland Rd enforcing safe cycling. 14 officers in hi vis jackets didn't deter 18 cyclists from jumping red lights. All reported for offences & educated on safety. Cycle safely. Get home safely! pic.twitter.com/lPLKz8VlMF
— Roads&Transport MPS (@MPSRTPC) January 29, 2022
In the space of 90 minutes, the officers caught 18 cyclists jumping red lights in the area. The cyclists in question were lectured on road safety and handed fixed penalty notices of £50, to be paid within 28 days.
The police’s action earned praise from some quarters, with one Twitter account – associated with a group opposed to Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – writing: “Good that this is finally being dealt with. So many cyclists jump red lights and then scream at cars and pedestrians.”
The Roads and Transport team thanked the account for their support and said: “Be assured we will continue with the campaign to enforce cycle safety for all road users”.
Some used the news to call for more stringent rules concerning cycling, with one user writing: “Excellent work but highlights the need for cyclists to obtain a cycling licence and to display number plates. All light jumpers could have had their licences endorsed with three penalty points which would have been well deserved.”
> Dramatic cut in fines for anti-social cycling
However, others weren’t as impressed with the police’s work. One user asked the team “one day could you please send 14 officers to sit at the lights and look for phone drivers? A fiver says you’d get 18 in 10 minutes.”
The police responded: “We understand the risks posed by motorists using hand-held devices whilst driving. Our colleagues in the Traffic unit are dedicated to dealing with this daily.”
Last year Richmond Council was criticised for stopping children riding their bikes on undesignated paths in Sheen Common, and threatening them with fines of £60.
In December a man was fined £75 for riding through a pedestrian zone outside a tube and Overground station in north London, after he had missed the small ‘no cycling’ signs attached to bollards near the station.
After obtaining a PhD, lecturing, and hosting a history podcast at Queen’s University Belfast, Ryan joined road.cc in December 2021 and since then has kept the site’s readers and listeners informed and enthralled (well at least occasionally) on news, the live blog, and the road.cc Podcast. After boarding a wrong bus at the world championships and ruining a good pair of jeans at the cyclocross, he now serves as road.cc’s senior news writer. Before his foray into cycling journalism, he wallowed in the equally pitiless world of academia, where he wrote a book about Victorian politics and droned on about cycling and bikes to classes of bored students (while taking every chance he could get to talk about cycling in print or on the radio). He can be found riding his bike very slowly around the narrow, scenic country lanes of Co. Down.
Latest Comments
- Car Delenda Est 6 min 13 sec ago
it seems that a lot, if not most, driving instructors teach that you only need to indicate in the presence of other motor vehicles, cyclists and...
- Smoggysteve 2 hours 6 min ago
Electromagnets. Means you need a power source. Not the same. 🤦🏻♂️
- wtjs 2 hours 33 min ago
She clearly had no idea that she was doing anything wrong and had therefore decided I was being some kind of letch...
- Steve K 3 hours 9 min ago
It's worse than that - it is 50% heavier than they claim
- chrisonabike 3 hours 23 min ago
Thanks for the review! If it's this one it appears to be the Cyclops design (compare that to the Dutch urban cycle-priority roundabout here)....
- Cycle Happy 3 hours 37 min ago
Disable the speaker in two air tags. Very easy to do and numerous How To videos on YouTube. Then put a dead battery in one of the tags and leave it...
- belugabob 4 hours 40 min ago
Tiny little pencils?
- wtjs 4 hours 41 min ago
They were not playing ball at first, but I think saying he was going to go at 11am on Monday forced their hand and made it difficult to ignore ...
- ChasP 6 hours 7 min ago
I would imagine just to be able to sit down, if they wanted to pedal they could just get a bike?
- mdavidford 7 hours 42 min ago
Harsh on Ryan, but OK...
Add new comment
142 comments
And another thing. These protestors have now disrupted the Proms! I can't believe it. I know some working class people - well, not personally, who have been saving up all year to go and wave their little flags around. Shame on you JSO! I had a contretemps with some liberal lefties the other day - they were saying ''Ooh this tory government is rubbish''. I had to point out to them if it wasn't for this government we wouldn't have any of these food banks that people rely on. That soon shut them up I can tell you. Anyway back in the olden days my granddad got off his backside and got on his bike looking for work. Oh and Victorian values are great I think. Hot buttered scones for tea, lashings of ginger beer. Yay!
And another thing. When I go out on my bicycle I always wear my personal tabard and hang my car registration plate from my neck. Whenever I see another cyclist I shout '' Oy! Tabard'' They usually look at me in surprise and then give a cheery wave. I like to think I'm getting through to these thickos with their hive minds. If anyone wants to copy my fine example they can do, it's not hard
In life, reputations are generally earned. I don't want RLJ giving ME a bad reputation, thank you very much.
In life, reputations are generally earned. I don't want RLJ giving ME a bad reputation, thank you very much
Try not to torture yourself too much- where car drivers are the offenders, the police view (in Lancashire, at least) is that 'everybody does it, so it's completely OK if there's no collision', and that 'reputation' doesn't seem to have unduly traumatised drivers. The dodge the police use is 'risk based action'- the same trick they use for absolving drivers for close-passing cyclists: No Collision = No Offence. All of these cases resulted in no response from Lancashire Constabulary and no action, despite all registrations being identified- most people on here have seen most of these before
https://upride.cc/incident/lc11vep_kiavenga_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/px68nhc_toyotatrailer_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/yd18knj_vwgolf_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/f2yny_rangerover_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/pe62gyb_agila_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/mf09hyk_chevroletaveo_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/dl66xgz_lcctraffic_redlightpass/
In Lancashire, even the County Council Highways Department don't bother about red lights
https://upride.cc/incident/vo12hxu_berlingo_redlightpass/
https://upride.cc/incident/pn68kpg_hiluxtrailer_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/t90jdt_audiwithcaravan_rljatspeed/
https://upride.cc/incident/pk68zfl_32tonnetipper_redlightcross/
https://upride.cc/incident/ds6972_porsche_redlightpass/
https://upride.cc/incident/ye10aju_mini_redlightcross/
Pedantry - by your first sentence surely all you have to do is not jump red lights and *your* reputation will remain unblemished?
Or are we talking about stereotypes here? To avoid repetition, there is a Bad Cyclist stereotype- and there are some Bad Cyclists. I wouldn't suggest reinforcing it. However the stereotype will almost certainly remain regardless of how you and all cyclists you know behave.
There are plenty of examples of the stubborn persistence of largely unjustified negative stereotypes.
I'm glad they're dealing with this.
Because if they don't, at some point the idiots in govt will try to put a numberplate on my bike, like they attempted to in Italy.
So that's FIVE numberplates in total. FFS.
Doubt it. Even with a large majority and apparently willingness to go for things appealing to some of their core supporters the government has explicitly dismissed this idea - more than once IIRC.
That's not to say it *couldn't* happen (some core recent policies of current lot I'd personally have put in the "wildly improbable" category a few years ago ). I think you're safe for the near future though, whatever some other people do.
Also - busting RLJ cyclists will cheer some but will do nothing to change the opinion of those vexed by cyclists.
Of course, there is a legal way to go through a red light with a bike - dismount.
If I get trapped by a dodgy temporary light, I'll dismount, walk through and use the pavement or walk behind cones. I'll then remount at whatever point appears safe, the offence is passing the red light, though obviously don't want to get in legitimate light users way, including if the lights end up changing - I'm usually quite happy to be out of the way of motorists who are already frustrated by the lights and annoyed that cyclists don't have the courtesy to give way to them (though many are the temporary road works where I'll be held up by cars).
You have to be a special kind of dumb to go through a red light with 14 hi vis wearing police officers standing around.
Should have tried the "I panicked - because of all the police" line. Sure I've heard that somewhere.
A useful cycling tip here is. Dont cycle through red lights. If the law changes (maybe turn left on red) then you can. If you arrive at the light as it goes red and your going to fast to stop you get a special free pass. Actually if you can't stop your cycing like a div . Be fined and I have no sympathy.
Shouldn't it be 'as it goes amber'?
Anyhoo - presumably the same guideline would apply to motorists? (Yes, I am aware that is a Premium Whatabout, but I thought I'd check...)
Yes the guidline should apply to motorists.
Cyclists and motorists jump red IMO in different ways. Some cyclists will just cycle through a red regarding as a give way or warning where most car red light jumpers are going through as or just after it goes red.
But none of it matters . bike or car go through on red its an offense.
This behaviour seems to relate to unwillingness to stop and start again [weakness?] in London by 'Boris Bike' users who by definition are mostly non-owners of a bicycle so haven't been trained or thought about the consequences of their behaviour. The Advanced Stop Line makes this behaviour more of a risk because cyclists are stopped there so that the law breakers attempt to ride between them to RLJ. That's a close pass nobody deserves.
I would even welcome motorcycle riders using the ASL (off side) because their size and weight makes it apparent that there is no way through, though clearly the ASL is not for them.
The mainstream media lie that all cyclists jump red lights means that it does matter more that as cyclists we do not red light jump.
Pedestrians should not be in fear of unsafe crossing, and drivists should not be given any reason to disrespect our safety.
I stopped speaking to RLJ offenders as I rode by since they were usually defensive to the point of profanity. So I welcome the Met doing a PR exercise to remind the stupid minority that RLJ is not acceptable, and some observation skills are required.
Hope the FPN fines go some way to pay for the action. I'm just sorry this is not normal traffic safety policing.
Whether or not I decide to jump through red lights has no influence on the tripe that the MSM publishes about cyclists. Even if every single person in the world pledged to not jump red lights whilst on a bike it would make no difference. Listening and responding to the fake concerns of the MSM is very similar to appeasement which simply does not work in the real world.
It would demonstrate that the MSM is not grounded in fact, rather provide click bait aimed at confirming the prejudice of their readers. So there's a small chance that some might question the reality, and why that is different.
Regardless of the media aspects, it is the right action to put the safety of others and self first as vulnerable road users. The hierarchy of responsibility makes that clear.
So appeasement is not the motivation rather safe travel for all.
#VisioZero #TravelKind
I agree with using safety as the motivator for decent roadcraft, rather than your MSM argument which I don't agree with at all (if anything, the MSM makes me want to deliberately wind up drivers).
I think the RLJ issue should be re-framed into investigating the reasons behind RLJing. With motorists, RLJing seems to boil down to impatience as most infractions are going through the lights late and at speed (trying to beat the red).
However, cyclists have a different pattern (in addition to trying to beat the red) and often will go through a red that's been established for quite some time, or even slow, stop and then go through the red. That signifies that the junction has been poorly designed for cyclists and that maybe they are being stopped just because it is unsafe for large motor vehicles to progress.
A don't make a habit of jumping a red except for this one and I've explained the circumstances. On occasion I've received a brutal punishment pass as I've been passing the illegally parked vehicles. Other times I've received an underpass due to my being so far out to avoid the potholes.
I will hold my hands up to running a light because the mirror and shoulder check have determined the driver behind is a car length and I don't want the last noise I hear being a screech of brakes.
A car was able to pass you on the left because you were avoiding a pothole? that must have been a monster pothole..
Road pot holes and poorly repaired. Also to the right of the image is a 100m longe gouge that perfectly holds a 36mm tyre. Go to the left you're in the door zone. To ensure you're to the right you need to be at the line passing the junction. The pic is where the undertake occurred followed by a cut up to make a point. I don't like driving my car over this patch. I'm sure not cycling over it. It has also deteriorated since this Google image and council have done nothing.
Be fined and I have no sympathy
Just as long as it's not only cyclists who are fined! None of the really blatant RLJ offences I have reported in Lancashire are known by me to have been fined- several have been on the joke online course (which, I admit, costs money but doesn't cost any points). Most of them result in no response at all- recently, it's all non-penalty penalties where they won't tell you what they did- this means they did essentially nothing.
Ripley : Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away?
Awavey: Which bit was incorrect? as I'd swear I'd heard DCS Andy Cox of the Met had stated thats the case in London, either in the podcast he did or via some social media q&a
In that topic, I provided a link to Cyclingmikey's YouTube video and his statement that the Met had 'acted' against the RLJ offender of a lot less than 3 seconds. I'll back that against your unsupported 'swearing'. You'd have to be a pretty barmy police officer, and a really deranged DCS, to leave a hostage to fortune in the form of a 'we don't bother about red light offences of 3 seconds or less', because 3 seconds is a very long time at TLs where people are hammering across at 60mph- there must be some of those in the Met's jurisdiction?
there are over 107 comments in this article alone, apologies for not reading, remembering & keeping ontop of every exact detail of them.
Just a simple repeat of that detail to answer my question, would have sufficed.
On the whole red lights thing, I wanna tell you a story.
Riding home last night I got to the traffic lights at the end of Suspension Bridge Road, here - https://goo.gl/maps/WtCbKKwX5DFkZMjx9
The road you can see going left to right is the A369. This streetview point is just beyond the actual traffic lights and ASL.
Just out of shot on the A369, to the left, is a bus stop.
I wanted to go straight over, to go right onto a shared use path alongside the A369.
I was waiting at the red lights, and there was a bus at the bus stop so cars were (obviously!) beginning to back up behind it rather than waiting behind their stop line until they could clearly get across the junction.
My lights went to green and I started to move. As I did so, a small white van came across from the right and waited behind the other waiting cars, sitting right across my lane to do so. As I got level with him and started to pass in front of him, the bus started to move and the other cars all followed it. But van driver had to wait because I was passing in front of him.
And then - and this is the kicker - he shook his head at me!
As if I was the one who'd gone through a red light!
It would be interesting to know if the 18 cyclists started early before lights were green, or chanced the lights turning red. Going early is often used for safety when there are baying drivers behind and a narrowing of the road on the other side of the junction. It would then be an argument to install an ASL or priority light. If they were caught crossing after red, what was the time delay between green, amber and red and is it sufficient to allow a cyclist that started to cross when green. I have been caught out on a long junction using a slow cargo bike where the opposing traffic started coming at me whilst I was still crossing and had definitely set off when it was green. I would be tempted to ask for this to be tested if I was one of the 18, unless of course they completely ignored a solid red light in which case they are a moron.
You mean - was it an 'established' red light?
I mean the intent is different. Cyclist either wants to get ahead of the queue behind so as to be more visible and therefore makes a premature start, or the cyclist doesnt want to have to stop in order to get going again. I would imagine that most cyclists that jump the amber, green are very familiar with the light sequence at the junction.
There's a junction my way that I'll leave about a second or two before it changes from red. The road has a bend with illegally parked cars and the surface is pretty badly cut up that takes up about a car width and runs for about 100 metres. The change occurs after the pedestrian phase. My moving off gives me distance and allows me to hold an even stronger position as I need to be right out to the white line.
It's the only set of lights I do this and only when the driver behind has rolled right up to my wheel. If they keep their distance or there's nothing I wait for green. It's pretty much a call on self preservation as I will be forced into parked cars/pot holes or receive a close pass. it's not right and I don't like doing it. Unfortunately my hand is forced because motorists would rather bully me otherwise. Hopefully the new HC will change things.
Pages