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Boris: I'll let cyclists turn left at red lights
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard12.03.08
Boris Johnson has pledged to introduce road sensors to improve the flow of traffic on London's roads if he is elected Mayor.
The Tory candidate also wants to rephase traffic lights allowing more time for cars and added that he would consider bringing in the "turn left at red" rule used in America to increase cyclists' safety.
Speaking on BBC2 last night, Mr Johnson said: "There are some traffic lights where cars are idle for too long. There are things you can do with sensors to allow traffic when coming in from a side road to come in more smoothly so the sensor can detect whether there are cars building up to come into the main road or not and if there's no traffic at all then the lights won't change. The whole ideology of the current regime is towards restricting.
"What people are realising is that the more people chew their ties in frustration and bend their steering wheel in a pretzel, the happier the technicians are because they want to use the pain and frustration as a way of stopping people getting into their cars."
But despite saying he wanted to get traffic moving more quickly and would not create more speed bumps, Mr Johnson said he supported the idea of having 20mph zones.
When asked about the "left turn at red" rule in the US - where cyclists can turn against the flow of traffic at junctions to avoid being struck by trucks and larger vehicles - he said: "I do think there is a case for that. We are looking at it and there is definitely a case for cyclists to turn left at red.
"When you look at the casualty figures then there is a clear case. Many women in particular are killed because they are not allowed to turn left on red and they then get crushed by a vehicle that decides to turn left."
But he insisted he was not being prejudicial to pedestrians despite referring to them as "the most dangerous thing on the road" - a joke reference to being knocked off his bike by a pedestrian who ignored a red light. Instead he said he wanted more push buttons on traffic lights where there were none.
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In response to Roger Bunting I believe that the scheme is proposed at busy junctions such as crossroads and not at pedestrian crossings or traffic calming measures. If any Cyclist goes straight through at a junction full of cars coming across their path then they are certainly a braver (or perhaps more foolish) man than me.
- Conor Mcglacken, London
I think Boris is onto something here. I'm not sure how cyclists will be disciplined to make sure they give way to pedestrians who might believe they have priority but I'm sure everyone will get used to it quite quickly.
I'm far more interested in his proposal to speed up traffic light cycles and introduce sensors to better monitor them. Aside from the fact that in a time of computer simulations it should be much easier to identify ridiculous signal priorities, London's planners should visit Paris where signals are much quicker to change at, for example, a crossroads, where there is none of that hanging around for left priority, right priority, opposite priority, pedestrian priority before finally getting a green light.
It take an adjustment to driver, cyclist and pedestrian road-sense but it will not be entirely impossible.
- Emeric, Paris, France
Yes. As could have been predicted when I saw this article yesterday - we have the usual torrent of anti cyclist rhetoric being spouted. Demonic, Lycra clad beasts with flames in their eyes, intent on driving all other road users into the gutter.
The truth is completely different, as a cyclist (as well as a pedestrian, Tube/train rider and driver) in London, the fact remains that if a cyclists puts a foot wrong they risk death and anything which puts cyclists out of harms way, for example the green boxes at the front of lights or allowing left turns on red is a good idea.
Cyclists are often most at danger when, after waiting at a red light, as the light turns green they almost get mown down by the melee of traffic as drivers put the pedal to the metal and jostle for position from the lights.
It is often far safer to pass carefully through the red light to get yourself out of harms way. As for the green boxes, although a useful idea to allow cyclists to get themselves out in the open and visible to traffic, they are usually filled with cars or motorbikes these days, who blatantly ignore them. Cyclists get fined for passing through red lights however. When will motorists get the same treatment for blocking cycle lanes and green cyclist boxes?
- Biker, London
