Cyclists given traffic light controllers

Stop start city riding is a thing of the past for the 200 cyclists issued with electronic traffic light controllers to automatically turn stop lights green.

Alongside Santander, Issy‐les‐Moulineaux, Athens and Genoa, Aarhus in Denmark is taking part in the EU's RADICAL programme to introduce high tech solutions to city planning. And radical it certainly is. Rather than consigning cyclists to the gutter as is often the case on Britain's road network, and in a move that would have the Daily Mail brigade chocking on their cornflakes, the project allows cyclists to control traffic lights for themselves.

The researchers who devised the scheme found that, second only to poor bike lanes, cyclists weren’t using their bicycles because of the inconvenience of having to stop all the time.

If you're a cyclist yourself, or are familiar with the science, you'll know that frustration with multiple traffic lights has little to do with impatience or an innate desire to defy traffic regulation. The bicycle is a fantastically efficient means of transportation - more so, in fact, than any other method of travel including walking. Frequent stopping and starting, however, diminishes this efficiency.

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Red light jumping

Every time you jump a red light on a bicycle you are breaking the law and fuelling the popular misconception that cyclists are more careless than motorists. However, it is possible to understand why it happens without condoning it. According to a 2008 Freedom of Information Request, in the rich mix of pedestrians, cyclists and traffic lights that is London, no pedestrians were killed in collision with a cyclist going through a red light between 1998-2007. Cyclists were involved in only a small percentage of injuries to them. Over the same period, 12 pedestrians were killed by motorists jumping red lights a fact that did not prompt newspapers to trade headlines about cyclist red light jumping for articles about the danger from cars.

The question of whether, in certain circumstances (and always once all those on foot have crossed), it is safer for a cyclist to cross a junction while the light is still red is complex. The majority of serious road traffic collisions involving bicycles may occur on or near junctions, but have little to do with red light jumping. The single most serious risk to cyclists in urban areas is posed by lorries pulling away from lights and/or turning left. Indeed, some suspect the disproportionately-high number of women cyclists killed by lorries in this way may be explained by a reluctance to wait in front of a queue of traffic at lights (and perhaps pull away just before the light turns green), and a willingness to wait beside the kerb on the inside of traffic.

The ethical choice

The ETA was established in 1990 as an ethical provider of green, reliable travel services. Over 30 years on, we continue to offer cycle insurance , breakdown cover and mobility scooter insurance while putting concern for the environment at the heart of all we do.

The Good Shopping Guide judges us to be the UK’s most ethical provider.

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