“It’s on pink, fool!” I shout, eyes broad and arms raised on the squeaking blur that rushed previous me on the crossing.
It was so quick, that my hair truly whipped into my face – forcing me to step again onto the curb. Upon listening to my cry, the supply driver on his (haphazard, do-it-yourself, and almost definitely not authorized) e-bike flipped the hen at me over his shoulder – seemingly uncaring that he ran a pink gentle.
Emmie Harrison-West
Emmie Harrison-West is a contract journalist, editor and award-winning beer author, who might be penning a column for Biking Weekly each fortnight. Yow will discover her cursing Edinburgh’s cycle lanes on the best way to the pub, or as @emmieehw on X.
Uncaring that he almost ran me over as a result of he didn’t hassle stopping, although the inexperienced man was beckoning me to cross – lulling me right into a false sense of safety.
I can hardly say I used to be stunned – this occurs to me most weeks in Edinburgh, and has carried out for years, in each metropolis I’ve ever lived in or visited (besides Amsterdam, naturally). The callous, careless nature of it completely infuriates me.
Usually, “However cyclists run pink lights!” is used as one more chip within the sport of ‘anti-cyclist bingo’. I do know, drivers are simply as responsible; many cyclists (the bulk) don’t run pink lights. I’m not excited by stoking a tradition battle, and positively not one which’s harmful for cyclists, 100 of whom are killed on the roads a 12 months and who come off worse in all automotive or bike collisions. Cyclists trigger simply 1-2% of pedestrian deaths within the UK, with automobiles liable for 98-99%. It’s the small minority who give the remainder of us a foul title who I’m calling upon to alter their methods.
I’m a bicycle owner and I perceive we’re weak highway customers. However regardless if I’m on my bike or utilizing two legs, I want my fellow individuals on bikes (whether or not they interact with the time period ‘bicycle owner’ or not) would obey the foundations.
I’ve seen it far too many occasions. I’ve had younger ladies scream and swear at me as they’ve braked wildly as a result of I stepped out when the sunshine turned pink – telling me it was apparently “unsafe for them to cease”.
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I’ve seen supply drivers and Lycra-clad crews swerve by a pink gentle to keep away from aged pedestrians, and oldsters selecting their toddlers up simply in time, or dog-walkers having to tug their pooches again to avoid wasting them from being flattened underneath somebody’s wheel.
I’ve truly even had one male bicycle owner knock me over at a pink gentle in London, calling me a “silly b*tch” after he did so. He cycled off, leaving me within the highway – shaken and bleeding, however fortunately solely bruised.
“He cycled off, leaving me within the highway – shaken and bleeding”
I like biking. I like the liberty and thrill that it rewards me. Truthfully, it’s a true privilege to have the ability to experience a motorbike and name myself a bicycle owner – however it’s another cyclists that make it really feel harmful. That give our great, lively, wholesome exercise a foul title, and let their ego come earlier than individuals’s security.
It’s so stunning that cyclists placing pedestrians at risk is such second nature to me that, each time I try to cross the highway, I look left, proper, after which repeat it a number of occasions earlier than I even start to step out.
Now, a pink gentle coupled with a inexperienced man simply isn’t an assumption for security – it’s not an assumption that I received’t get damage, or worse. I don’t even hassle attempting to make use of zebra crossings, it’s simply not price it.
As a result of it may be deadly to leap a pink. Between 2012 and 2020, one of many 32 pedestrians who had been killed by somebody who ran a pink gentle was hit by a motorbike.
And, a complete of 17 out of the 385 critical pedestrian casualties hit by somebody leaping a pink had been additionally hit by a motorbike. Cyclists might signify the minority, and drivers are undeniably the higher menace, however this carelessness remains to be costing lives.
Let’s not overlook that it’s a legal offence for anybody – together with cyclists – to leap a pink gentle, carrying a hard and fast penalty discover of between £30 and £50. It’s additionally an offence to experience by an amber gentle, too (one thing I did not know till now!) – except you’re so near the cease line that stopping may trigger a collision. Nonetheless, I really feel just like the phrase “it wasn’t protected for me to cease” is morphed past recognition, and banded about too wildly as an excuse for selfishness or laziness.
Additionally, I don’t learn about you, however no marvel individuals run reds – it doesn’t look like sufficient of a penalty to me. And, solely as soon as have I seen a police officer chase a bicycle owner that ran a pink gentle.
Purple lights and visitors restrictions put in place for the precise security of very human lives are being routinely ignored, and it’s not honest that some individuals are doing so for, in the end, egocentric causes. Plus, within the occasion of skipping a pink gentle at a junction, the bicycle owner places themselves at far higher threat than anybody else.
And, truthfully, what may probably be extra necessary than risking a life when leaping a pink gentle?
In the event you’re operating late for work, it’s your fault – depart earlier. Visitors isn’t an excuse, your time-keeping is.
Going too quick? Decelerate in pedestrianised areas, it’s your accountability. It is best to have an expectation of stopping when there are individuals and crossings round.
Delivering meals? Increase it together with your union when you have tight timeframes and unattainable targets.
Don’t have working brakes, or brakes in any respect? Get a brand new bike.
Some cities have devoted lights for cyclists, permitting them to maneuver off early
(Picture credit score: Getty Pictures)
There may be the argument that setting off earlier than the automobiles and lorries behind might make a bicycle owner safer, and a few cities – Brighton, for instance – have lights that flip inexperienced for cyclists early, which is an excellent concept. However, this argument doesn’t justify refusing to cease from the second the sunshine turns pink.
It’s a small group of individuals with egos that might be placing newcomers or commuters off biking – which is a devastating thought.
I’m not asking for a rewrite in legislation or laws to make it extra probably for cyclists to be punished – removed from it. I’m asking individuals who assume the chance of operating a pink is price it to maybe assume twice. To not assume so selfishly subsequent time, as a result of it’s not price it. There may be actually not a single excuse that warrants doubtlessly deadly behaviour. Cease means cease.
