Red light runners

[Fatjim]

I ran one last night.

[Matt]

Shame Wgtn City Council don't have the same thing, some of the red-light running on SH2 (Kelson, Melling etc) is simply shocking!

Matt

[xwhatsit]

I ran one last night.

I casually strolled one a couple of nights back.

[dmouse]

i got hit in the back by a four wheel drive doin a right turn on main north road in christchurch the lights had been red for him for at least a minute and he hit me at 60k but as he has a clean licence and first offence he will get diversion, mean while im still waiting to get my bike back fom the painters due to a dispute with my insurance over custom paintwork that was in january i got hit i just want my baby back

[SPman]

For at least the next 10 kilometres, after that its situation normal again.

Bit like a ticket really - 10kms of nervousness and kicking yrself for being stupid and oh, the inhumanity of it all, then its back to normal......

And surely you aren't advocating that cops should be unfriendly to their public? After all the next favourite thing to slag off on KB, after speeding tickets, is cops who are cheeky enough to point out to drivers that their driving is crap.

Well....illegal, at least......

[peasea]

I'm sure we all see people run red lights. I see it a minimum of once a day.

I don't doubt it and I see plenty myself. At every intersection I remember my father's words when he was teaching me to drive; they're brilliant: "Just because you have right of way, it doesn't mean you're going to get it".

Simple and effective. Even on the green I look, no matter what vehicle I'm in control of.

[j_redley]

Its not just cars though, I know a biker who thought he could beat a car and go through the red light. He ended up loosing the bike and going straight over the car.

[carver]

I'm sure we all see people run red lights. I see it a minimum of once a day. I was just on the auckland city councils web page disputing my parking ticket when I noticed this link http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/auck...ed/default.asp
Have a quick read of it. At the bottom of the page is another link to report red light runners. I, for one am going to be reporting quite a few. Red light runners are especially dangerous for us bikers. So i encourage you all report as many as you can cause i'm getting really fed up with them.
here is the link to report them. http://usuite.com/survey/b2c810066ea...e6eb857869.sur

i run red's on my bike at night, cause often you can sit there, cause they need both lanes to be filled to make the lights go...or when im in a real rush

[Grub]

i run red's on my bike at night, cause often you can sit there, cause they need both lanes to be filled to make the lights go...or when im in a real rush

I have high hopes for you my son ... hopes that you get killed outright so our ACC dollars don't have to be used to pay for your stupidity

[scumdog]

However, all that happens is that they get sent a "friendly warning". Which is hardly likely to deter anyone.

But, but, but lots of KBers say that a warning would have worked better than the ticket they got, something's not right Mr I.

[Ixion]

The difference has been covered before. A warning with the knowledge that there won't be another is sobering and makes the recipient mindful that there shall not *be* a next time. When the next time, and the next, and the next, will simply bring more warnings, does not.

A warning by definition, to be effective, must be a warning of *something* . Something *bad*. - Next time --- the high jump. The red light thing has no such veiled threat .They call them warnings, but they are not really, for the do not warn of anything.

[dangerous]

i got hit in the back by a four wheel drive doin a right turn on main north road in christchurch

Having just riden most of NZ over the last month or so, Chch is by far the worst city for red runners... fark me yesterday I sat on the green waiting to turn right, finley the lights turned amber... still the on comming trafic kept comming... RED and 2 cars drove through so I thought fuck you c#@ts (as Im am sitting in the middle of the rd) and just turned in front of the next red runner... well fark me if they didnt slow then carry on behind me. I was forced to run the red (remember I'm in the middle of the intersection) and the traffic sitting on a green all sit there, talk about a balls up... so what heppens next the green traffic get pissed at sitting there so they run the red... and so and so on...

I'm suprised no one has said they run reds cos if they stop the car behind might run them over

[Sanx]

You know how long some people take to react to a green light before they start moving? You know the type - they're usually in a Mazda Bongo Wagon or something equally life-sapping. Lights turn green: one second, two seconds, three seconds ... and finally, with a puff of diesel smoke, these people pull away; at 15kph. Everyone else then tries to get through the lights, and all because the fuckwit at the front had the reaction times of a dead hamster.

I'm not condoning people running red lights - it pisses me off too - but I can see why it happens. I've probably been guilty once or twice myself too - but usually time it so the lights change to red just as I'm through the junction.

Incidentally, should the snakes ever ping you for going through a red (or yellow) light, there's an interesting defence that can be used provided you were 41 metres or less from the lights at the time it changed from green to yellow... If it's raining - that distance goes up...

[peasea]

You know how long some people take to react to a green light before they start moving? You know the type - they're usually in a Mazda Bongo Wagon or something equally life-sapping. Lights turn green: one second, two seconds, three seconds ... and finally, with a puff of diesel smoke, these people pull away; at 15kph. Everyone else then tries to get through the lights, and all because the fuckwit at the front had the reaction times of a dead hamster.

I'm not condoning people running red lights - it pisses me off too - but I can see why it happens. I've probably been guilty once or twice myself too - but usually time it so the lights change to red just as I'm through the junction.

Incidentally, should the snakes ever ping you for going through a red (or yellow) light, there's an interesting defence that can be used provided you were 41 metres or less from the lights at the time it changed from green to yellow... If it's raining - that distance goes up...

Some of what you say is true; frustration takes over. I have just had my 17y/o pass her restricted with flying colours (good on her) with training from me and a professional; the latter was employed so that all my bad habits were NOT passed on. However, something the professional didn't teach her was to look at the lights for traffic coming from the other direction. You sit there looking at THEIR light (if you can see it or the reflection in the light tube) and when theirs goes orange, get ready to rock! It saves the dude behind from getting impatient/frustrated etc.

[Calo]

I slowed for an amber light the other day (in a right turning lane) knowing that it would have been red by the time I reached the line and a boy-racing cage pilot actually drove around me to run the red. It was actually red when he started said maneuver too.