Is red light running getting worse?

Resident

Resident

Resident

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As per title, is it?

When I first started driving you'd witness the odd 'amber-gambler' but these days pretty much every set of light I come to at least one person from any direction just sails through solid red, having had plenty of opportunity to stop safely.

What's worrying is that it's not just cars but loaded HGVs and PCVs.

For me it seems it's getting to epidemic levels to the point that I would welcome scrapping speed cameras in favour of red light cameras on every set.

There would be an upside if it happened as persistent offenders would be banned though totting up (running a red carries 3pts) and there'd be less traffic.

Downside, based on my experience though would be less taxis on the road....


What do you think?
 
Why would/should you need to stop at a red light on a roundabout at 02:00 in the morning when you can clearly see nothing is coming ?
 
I think people in general seem more in a rush.
One of the contributing factors I think it's modern cars giving people that safe feeling. Think about 80s cars you felt vulnerable 70 felt fast. Now 70 feels like nothing.
 
Outcast said:
Why would/should you need to stop at a red light on a roundabout at 02:00 in the morning when you can clearly see nothing is coming ?
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My Dad rants about this on a regular basis. In Germany in the 90s, lights would either be off or flashing amber on anything but the most busy of junctions. It does seem to make more sense. I have experienced at least one big roundabout near me have lights activated only at the busiest periods, so maybe things are improving.
 
I've had to run the odd red on the bike because the induction loops in the road don't always pick it up so I'd be sat there all day otherwise.
 
Same as above, I've done it late at night after about 5 minutes of waiting for absolutely nobody to go through. That was years ago though and I do think that modern lights are better at sensing if a car is there.
 
tom_e said:
I've had to run the odd red on the bike because the induction loops in the road don't always pick it up so I'd be sat there all day otherwise.
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mccarf said:
Same as above, I've done it late at night after about 5 minutes of waiting for absolutely nobody to go through. That was years ago though and I do think that modern lights are better at sensing if a car is there.
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Those are kinda understandable however I'm talking about where there is traffic and vehicles large enough to trigger loops
 
Again on the bike I'd say I have one or two close calls a week with people running reds because they steam towards a fully red light not accounting for the fact that once my light goes green I'll be well into the junction much quicker than surrounding cars, some of them even have the cheek to try and give me crap for it.
 
Zefan said:
My Dad rants about this on a regular basis. In Germany in the 90s, lights would either be off or flashing amber on anything but the most busy of junctions. It does seem to make more sense. I have experienced at least one big roundabout near me have lights activated only at the busiest periods, so maybe things are improving.
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We have this a lot arond here where the lights only work in busy times and not at others and it seems to work fine.
 
Running red lights is a common thing around here, I probably see at least one person a day doing it. They just don't care.
 
Try being on a bicycle, it's a real PITA when lights turn red just after you've built up a nice speed after stopping at the previous lights :). I did run a few red lights last year, turning left only at an + junction when I could clearly see there was nothing coming from the right(wouldn't have risked it going straight over), but a driver probably miffed at stopping had a go as they went past. They were right however. All traffic lights should use intelligent systems now, not changing if there's no traffic to let through :). Braking and acceleration unnecessarily is not environmentally friendly either.
 
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I see it a lot, usually right as it changes to red. Sometimes you get the odd genuinely dangerous one that goes through as the other direction starts moving off.

We also have have a few junctions which are either just badly designed or the lights aren't timed properly. A few years ago they replaced a busy roundabout with lights and it only made it worse. Instead of traffic flowing slow but constant, it now gets backed up across the junctions surrounding it and creates gridlock. People jump lights to avoid getting stuck.
 
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Very common round here (Cambridge). Cyclists get all of the attention for doing it (because many of them skip them as well), but it's almost as bad with cars/vans.

When you speak to the police about it they say it's not in the public interest to prosecute unless skipping the light directly leads to an incident
 
Get it all the time up here. Seen so many near misses and a couple of crashes as a result.
As we all know driving standards are falling and it's not just young drivers. I find the middle aged to be the worst.
 
Here i have no clue whats going on with drivers such a stupid amount skip lights drive on the phone and don’t use indicators.
 
PCV drivers are trained not to stand on the brakes for an Amber so there is the odd occasion they can end up running a red light. Surprisingly they get a lot of leeway.
 
The traffic lights in the UK used to run a system called the Green Wave. Around the world green waves are used to great effect (C40 Cities 2010)(Naperstek 2007). This meant as long as you were going a reasonable speed such as 26mph in a 30mph they would all turn green when you approached. Gordon Brown (IIR 1995) allowed Councils to get rid of this and create light phasing that caused maximum congestion. A red wave and phantom phases, where nothing at all moves and everyone stares at an empty junction. He promised that those councils who caused enough congestion would be able to charge people for being caught up in in, but thankfully, this was eventually shelved before it got out of London.
 
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