CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Commuting

Ooh! Naughty forumite!

(17 posts)
  • Started 12 years ago by Wilmington's Cow
  • Latest reply from Dave

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  1. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I shall not name and shame, but this morning I spotted one of our number jump the lights at North Bridge as it crosses the Royal Mile. Arnold Clark hire van had been waiting to turn up the mile, and having had to wait for a car coming the other way that I initially thought was cutting it fine, our intrepid forumite appeared from some way behind the car. Van man brakes (as does forumite, before riding off again), van man makes turn after and toots horn.

    You can never hide from CCE.... ;)

    All I will say is that it wasn't Min, who I encountered running at the top of Johnston Terrace (she somewhat less out of puff than I).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  2. Stepdoh
    Member

    So if we all check off that it wusnae us, by the powers of elimination...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  3. cb
    Member

    Wasn't me. This morning the Green Light was my friend - probably less than 10s spent waiting at the red in total.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  4. Dave
    Member

    Sad to say, I was trying to follow the car rather than watching the lights. I was in the junction before it went red though, and didn't feel like stopping to let the van turn in front (he hadn't started moving yet).

    Still, it's a technical violation - amber gambling, guilty as charged!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  5. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    I particularly liked, "in my own anecdata, I notice an average of zero RLJ cyclists per day on my commute"

    :D

    Posted 12 years ago #

  6. Dave
    Member

    To be fair, I reckon I can extend the above to say that I see an average of zero RLJ's from any road user. I don't count amber gambling though - if I did I'd need a notepad just to get through the town centre!

    Interesting to wonder if this represents a social softening a la speeding. I don't speed, but I don't feel that society would have anything to say about it if I did, whereas I'm quite happy to roll through amber in the car / on the bike, whether I'm last or not. (Would have driven through this morning, for instance, and nobody would bat an eyelid).

    Posted 12 years ago #

  7. Instography
    Member

    I'm going to steal the word 'anecdata' and pass it off as my own.

    Damn. It's already in Urban Dictionary.

    Double drat. It's already in a proper dictionary.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  8. Min
    Member

    Caught bang to rights you were. Cuff 'im Anth!

    Posted 12 years ago #

  9. wingpig
    Member

    Serendipitous, after your discussions yesterday.
    The Royal Mile is good for practising behaving correctly at lights, particularly turning right down the Canongate from St Mary's Street in the evening when there's a lot of fun-to-ignore pressure from cars queueing behind to turn right when the lights turn red before you've passed the stop line.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  10. Dave
    Member

    My favourite excitement at that junction is when a car or two go up the right-turn lane on North Bridge with the clear intention of racing straight across rather than turning right.

    Riding in front of them and sitting there with your right arm stuck out - priceless!

    Of course, there's then some difficulty about not turning right yourself. Sometimes they won't get freed up until the end of the light sequence, then I just ride through, sometimes there's a gap first and I'm forced to turn right...

    Posted 12 years ago #

  11. ruggtomcat
    Member

    I see a fair amount or RLJing, both cars and bikes. about once a week I guess.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  12. DaveC
    Member

    Wasnae me. If I cycled into work and crossed North Bright I'd be kind of lost.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  13. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    "... Sometimes they won't get freed up until the end of the light sequence, then I just ride through"

    I might be reading this wrong, but it sounds like you protest about drivers driving straight on in a right-turn-only lane by riding straight on in a right-turn-only lane?

    Posted 12 years ago #

  14. Dave
    Member

    I don't know whether 'protest' is the right word. I find it irritating when I'm riding through the junction on the left, there's a car to the right of me and then we all get in trouble because there's a car to the right of *that car* trying to cut in from the right turn lane. By going in to the right turn lane and not racing across the junction I feel like some balance is returned, the clutch-burners are foiled, happiness reigns. If the penalty is that I need to ride the other two sides of the rectangle I can usually live with it :)

    Of course, as a city cyclist I often take advantage of my manoeuvrability to ride in the "wrong" lane past a queue and then change lanes through a few inches gap to proceed.

    For instance, when riding down North Bridge, only the middle lane is correct for Leith St but the queue is often > 1 full phase of the lights, so I ride down the right, normally, and then move in at the front, or if it starts moving before I get there, when a driver makes a gap. The irony is not lost on me (I suppose the difference is I wouldn't race a driver and then turn into them to force them to yield, a la the first situation we discuss?)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  15. LaidBack
    Member

    Dave Sure you have videos of your road techniques that the forum could look at ;-)?

    I often use the right hand lane on George IV bridge to make a left turn up into Lawnmarket. This is to defeat the bike lane problem. Not legal and depends on goodwill of other road users and cycling quickly... Safer though than getting squeezed.

    Posted 12 years ago #

  16. Wilmington's Cow
    Member

    Dave, you'd make a cracking politician... ;)

    Posted 12 years ago #

  17. Dave
    Member

    Na, politicians are vulnerable in ways that ordinary people aren't (for instance, public opinion would never suffer them to cycle past an advisory - and stupid - dismount sign).

    Posted 12 years ago #

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