Traffic rules

[FanieFiets]

 

My point is if a cyclist has jumped a red light he has made dam sure that it is safe to do so!

Wat as motors ook so begin dink?

 

[TheLegend]

 

 

My point is if a cyclist has jumped a red light he has made dam sure that it is safe to do so!

 

 

Wat as motors ook so begin dink?

 

if tehy made sure sure there's nothing else why not? keep the traffic rolling...

 

[FanieFiets]

Icycling - Sorry, redelik obvious dat jy dan bedoel het die persoon sal dan nie die rooilig jump nie.  Maar ek voel ek verhoog my kanse op 'n ongeluk as ek 'n rooi lig jump. Dit maak mens somtyds MAL om te sit en wag terwyl jy weet daar gaan niks gebeur nie, maar dalk respekteer die motoris langs jou dit dalk en hanteer cyclists beter. Of as jy dit jump dalk is hy die volgende ou wat 'n fietsryer vloek.

 

TheLegend - Ek was al in Egipte. Hulle ry mos sonder padreels. Net die kant van die pad wat jy moet ry en areas wat jy nie mag toets nie. Maar ek sal NIE daar fietsry nie. In Suid-Afrika ry taxis redelik so en almal weet hoe lief ons vir hulle is!!!!

Ek dink ook nie my ongeskiktheidsdekking betaal uit as ek 'n wet oortree het nie.

[Delgado]

Laws are for protection of society. If its okay to disregard traffic laws I guess its okay to hijack cars for a living....its only the degree that varies. Hardly suprising we are one of the most undisciplined and unmannered societies in the modern world...

[TheLegend]

 

Laws are for protection of society. If its okay to disregard traffic laws I guess its okay to hijack cars for a living....its only the degree that varies. Hardly suprising we are one of the most undisciplined and unmannered societies in the modern world...

 

well, that's a weird comparison!

when disobeying a red traffic light you do not harm a persons life or scare the sh*t out him. you could jsut as well have compared that with shooting someone...

 

[butafly]

cycling thru Bellville, just past the Velodrome, which is a fast piece of raod, approaching a traffic intersection, with the lights in our favour, just as we entered the intersection a bakkie decide that it was taking too long for the lights to change and just took off, the other cars thankfully waited (obeyed the red light). what was funny , none of us touched our brakes as we were too dumbfounded that someone would so blatently disobey the traffic lights ,with other traffic all around. my first thought "are the lights working" or "are all the lights green". all of us said "effing idiot" , now wht would a motorist think of a cyclinst doing the same thing??? effing stoopid idiot.

[nellie]

Our training group stop at red lights/stop streets most of the time.

Although, we never stop at the robot 20m from where we start. (we start on the left side of the road and @ this robot we have to turn left onto the N1...we here stay in the yellow line where we don't bother anyone and don't pose any threat / possible danger to either ourselves or any motorist)

 

We will never ignore a red light when we have to cross an intersection, but we do use our own better judgement when coming to stops where we have to turn LEFT (and only then) and will bother no one if we pass on the inside and then take the turn.

[linnega]

 

 

Also' date=' it is safer when commuting to avoid stopping and unclipping in traffic.  The most dangerous and vulnerable time is while you are clipping in and getting up to speed.  As a result, I do whatever is safest for me - if that means going through a red light then so be it.  Stop's I always stop at unless they are badly designed and should be a yield.  Also very seldom stop at traffic lights or stops where I am turning left - there is no reason why these cannot be treated as yields at best.

[/quote']

Linnega i stop and clip in and out all the time. Perhaps you just need to practice a bit more.

 

I doubt that more practice is required as I have spent most of the last 23 years commuting by bike.  There is always a higher risk when clipping in and accelerating as in both cases you use up more road and motorists do not allow the additional room that may be required in the 1 in 1000 times that the clip-in isn't perfect.  As a result' date=' there if there is no reason to stop, you won't see me stopping.

 

Whats constitutes a badly designed stop, position, appearance ??? and using the criteria you decide,  do you also apply this when travelling in your car.

 

A badly designed stop is one that should be a yield as I said in my original post, and yes I do apply it when I am in a car as the same reasoning applies.  Usually however, stops are there for a reason and I treat them with the respect they deserve.

 

[Cois]

Cycled to work this morning (5 am) and I must say, I only stopped at one red light. What is the aim of waiting a total of 3 min at a red light with no traffic to stop. There is no trafic at 5 in the morning on a Sunday.

 

 

 

I do the same with my car at night when going home at 1, if there is no traffic I will treat a red light like a stop, check to see if it is clear and then go on my way.

 

 

 

As for a stop. I always stop at them. Once saw a cyclist skip a stop and a car hit him. The only problem is that sometimes I stop and the cars just don't stop.

 

 

 

Where is the world going to?

[cat-i]

Cois, it is often safer to not stop at traffic lights when there's no-one around (like 5 in the morning) - whether by car or by bicycle.

 

i generally don't cycle when there's no-one around though ... being female and cycling to work (or where-ever) on my own, i prefer to do it when there's lots of people around (it gives me a false sense of security)

 

 

[Bateleur1]

This is always such an interresting thead to me.

 

First of all.  In general I do obey traffic laws and traffic lights etc.  But if you are going to go down to technicallities then I am just as guilty as most other cyclists on the road.  The main thing is that you should at all times not endanger your own life, that of other road users and most of all not deny someone the right to use the road.

 

Examples.  I do stop at every single red light.  I don't however always unclip but when I do, I do keep an eye on the other traffic that has right of way.  Should the traffic light for them become amber and should there be NO traffic still approaching that intersection I will pull of get myself clipped in and get out of that intersection.  The light might still be red for me and only become green halfway over the intersection.  Technically that would be illegal, why , because the light was still red for me at the time I pulled away.  But I agree with Linnega, I have had way to many close encounters with vehicles who do not pull away in a straight line, or turn without using indicaters, etc.

 

Should I approach a red traffic light and I am going to turn left. I will slow right down, turn left "IF IT IS SAFE TO DO SO" and continue.  Tecnically again it is illegal.  But I am not crossing the intersection and am not denying any other road user his right at that point to use the road.

 

Should I approach a red traffic light at 5:30 in the morning, after making VERY SURE that there are NO cars or trucks for that matter,  I will cross the intersection.  This is South Africa and you do have brick throwing entrepeneurs who would love to sell your bike for you.

 

Stop signs.  I very very seldom come to a dead stop at a stop sign.  All other aspects and rules are however applied.  Give the motorists that have the right of way the right to go, when it is your turn you go.  Did i stop dead ... NO, making it illegal again.  But in all the years that I have cycled I have not had a single incident at a traffic light or stop sign with motorists.  The only incident I had with a motorist at a traffic light was with a idiot who was traveling in the same diretion as I was but decided to turn left and cut me off to such an extent that he drove over the pavement and I had to develop so MTB skill quickly.

 

What ammusses me most is to see how fellow hubbers on this board are very quick to wrap someone like Linnega on the fingers but I have seen sooooooo many hubbers advocating how they do obey the law at all times (and most of the time the do) but they also would fail miserably on technicallities.  Maybe they are doing these thing sub consiously.  Linnega is simply honest about these things. 

 

[Cois]

Laws are ment to be broken. Think of your safety first and the law after?

 

 

 

That is the way I think these days, because we live in a careless world.

[linnega]

Perhaps my flippancy about this issue is taken the wrong way.  I choose how to approach every traffic situation in order of what is safest for me, what would interfere with other road users the least and then what is convenient to me.  My consideration of the traffic rules comes in when I am considering convenience, up to then they unfortunately are inadequate.

 

However, I am strongly of the belief that anyone attempting to follow the rules of the road to ensure motorists respect cyclists is misguided at best, but more probably foolish.  Motorists do not have respect for cyclists in general and this is not going to change through respect of traffic rules.  There is no need to befriend motorists - simply make it clear what your intentions are through eye-contact and hand signals, and for the most part you will get sufficient, if a little begrudging, respect from motorists.

 

[FanieFiets]

Bateleur1 - Well said.

[cat-i]

 

However' date=' I am strongly of the belief that anyone attempting to follow the rules of the road to ensure motorists respect cyclists is misguided at best, but more probably foolish.  Motorists do not have respect for cyclists in general and this is not going to change through respect of traffic rules.  There is no need to befriend motorists - simply make it clear what your intentions are through eye-contact and hand signals, and for the most part you will get sufficient, if a little begrudging, respect from motorists.

 

[/quote']

Point taken.

 

I do, however, still think that their is a difference between trying to "befriend" motorists, and not trying to offend them...to p** them off, to use the correct term.

 

by obeying the traffic rules (as far as is safe; e.i. not when i'm all alone) i'm merely trying to not contribute to the motorist's possible already grumpy mood.

 

when i'm in my car, i too often see selfish cyclists - e.g. two abreast on a single lane, or cyclists changing lanes without the slighest indication, or skipping red lights & i have to stop at green. & it doesn't matter if it is "proper" cyclists or merely people on bicycles.

 

i see motorists shouting and fingering the cyclists, and vice versa. and i'm trying to not contribute to this aggessive moods, because the next cyclist that that motorist see, might be me - and i don't want him to take his aggression out on me, that's all.

 

 

[pastapouch]

I ride early mornings, I slow down for a red light, if theres not traffic I'll go. During the day over weekends I stop at every one, with or without a training group. Because in every group of motorists theres gonna be a lunee who won't be able to handle cyclist going over red lights and will ride as close as possible to them.