Binarycow

I was wondering, if it was socially acceptable to enter the intersection just before the green.

Usually, where I sit in the intersection, I can see opposing traffic's light. When I see it turn yellow, I give a quick glance, and if I don't see anyone, I start to go.

Usually, when the light turns green, I am approx. a quarter way thru the intersection.

My theory, it gets me out of the way of anyone turning. Is this acceptable?

qmsdc15

How else are you going to get the hole shot?

cyccommute 

I see far too many people trying to run the yellow...and often a very stale red... to jump red in my direction. I'd rather hold the cars behind me up then be a hood ornament on a red light runner.

fishburn

I usually jump the light if traffic is light. If it is a busy intersection, I usually just want until green to be on the safe side.

jpatkinson

You can get a hefty ticket in SF for pulling that one. Simply being FIRST will get you out of way way of anyone turning; no need to run the red light to do so.

nathan.johnson

I wait for the green. The couple seconds entering the intersection before it switches isn't worth the risk.

That Linux Guy

I move forward enough to get clipped in but I don't take off until I have the green and there's no red-runners coming. Like someone else illustrated, I'd rather wait a few seconds than try to tangle with a Nissan.

Cars: 1
Bike: 0

Personal record.

JanMM

Socially acceptable? Unbelievable. Is it safe? is it legal? Is it bad PR for cycling?

PaulH

Around here, it's a good way to make sure that the traffic that t-bones you is at full throttle, trying to make the light. Socially acceptible if your are a social Darwinist, I suppose.

bragi

I don't think it's either socially acceptable or quite safe. Many motorists already think that all bicyclists are totally irresponsible when it comes to traffic laws, and I see no sense in giving them any reason at all to confirm their prejudices. If you wait for the light to fully change, you (and the cars around you) have lost two seconds at most, which isn't enough to justify possibly endangering yourself or making others think you're another idiot biker.

grimslade

Some days in London, I feel like the only schlub _not_ running every light that is physically possible to run. :-/

wolfchild

I learned by experience that green lights mean nothing. I've had too many cars run a red as I was crossing at the green...laws, traffic regulations, signs, lights do not guarantee your safety. The most important thing is awareness of what's happening around you. Forget the laws and learn to read the flow of traffic. Sometimes you have to break the law to protect yourself. If it's behind you then you have no control over it,...if it's on your right/left, or in front of you then you should be able to see it.

SlimRider

Gambling for money is one thing...Gambling with your life is quite another!

Ever heard of the word, "accident'?

That's what happens when drivers, riders, and/or pedestrians don't "see" one another.

Accidents occur all the time...

I will pray for you!

PS.

I once just missed hitting a child while driving when it was raining, because I thought that visbility was acceptable.
Humans are wracked by error and imperfection!

Binarycow

Hmm... I guess it's a different location thing.

Around here, they are VERY strict with tickets (giving a speeding ticket for 1MPH over)

The highest speed limit is 35mph, and people never go above 32. They slow to 25 when approaching a green light, so they dont run the red.

Also, traffic can be quite light here.

Thanks for your input. I guess I can wait a couple seconds

The Chemist

Here the yellow light comes on at the same time with the red at the end of a red light just before the light turns green. If the coast is clear I'm into the intersection when the yellow turns on, but with traffic as it is here, I often have to wait for the green and then a couple of seconds longer to avoid getting t-boned by red light runners.

ghostgirl

No. Wait for the light like everyone else.

vol

It doesn't matter if it's "socially" acceptable, it's whether it's safe. When you are glancing and then feel "safe" to go, it's possible someone on the other street was thinking of rushing through before their light turns red. Like you, he "give a quick glance, and if I don't see anyone, I start to go". So you and he end up going at the same time. And, boom, the two of you meet at the center of the intersection. Since you just started, but he was speeding through, it's probably not in your favor.

Tundra_Man 

Before we were married, my (soon to be) wife was going to school down in New Orleans. I went down to visit a few times.

I quickly learned that in that city when the light turns green, you count to three and then proceed. Otherwise you're going to get smoked by the cross traffic that was a block away when they got the yellow light.

The driving in my home town isn't near as aggressive, but I still sit there until the light is green and I have visual confirmation that everyone is stopping.

vol

Just to add that I have noticed cars--especially cabs--accelerate and are super fast when their light has turned yellow. If you do what you have described, you are the target and they all race to hit you. Even if you are a car, it's suicidal, let alone you are a bike.

MijnWraak

Tell us where you live so I know where I am going to move to!!!

aboatguy

(+1)

..and why do folks on this forum worry about what motorists think?

Grim

I just dont understand why we think its "socially acceptable" to filter to the front in the first place if we don't have a bike lane and its not complete grid lock.

I think us filtering to the front at lights and then making people have to pass us over and over again is where a lot of the "Cage rage" towards us comes from. I just stop behind the last car in line and wait just like everybody else. I can beat them to about 15mph after that I am holding them up if traffic is heavy. Passing is where the danger is why make more people need to pass me?

I want to be the last one through the light so I can ride between the pulses of traffic. Less cars trying to pass in the next 1000ft while trying to get up to the speed limit. Once I figured that out my ride became much less stressful.

jr59

Glad to know NOTHING has changed, at least in the way people drive!

cyccommute 

People forgetting about the laws and reading the flow of traffic is the problem. Whether it's car drivers or bicyclists, most of those 'readers' are illiterate when it comes to 'reading' the traffic. The laws don't hurt you, they really do help. If all road users were to follow the rules a bit more closely, driving - and riding a bike in traffic - would be a lot less hazardous.

And we should worry about what motorists think because there are more of them than there are of us. It wouldn't take much effort on the part of motorists to take away our rights to the roads. Get enough of them mad enough and we go back to the old days.



Exactly. wolfchild said above that you have no control of what's behind you. I don't see how you have much control over anything else around you, but you have much more control over those things behind you than anything in front of you or beside you. Unless a person is a complete crazy, they don't want to run you down (collisions from the rear are the least frequent car/bike accident mode). I can easily control the flow of traffic behind me if I'm in the middle of the lane. If I'm off to the right of traffic, I have to merge back in and try to control the traffic behind me. That's much more difficult.

Commodus

I used to do that because I had a few close calls with people trying to pass me in the intersection. Going just before the green avoided this.

But then I did it one time and got hit from the right by a car turning right I couldn't see, because it was hidden behind (from my point of view) one of these ******** giant monster trucks that are somehow legal.

The thing about following the law is that it works pretty well, except when other people don't. It's illegal to pass someone in an intersection, and I wish people wouldn't do it, so I wouldn't have to worry about trying to figure out ways to avoid it.