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Well none of us actually jump RED lights, Amber maybe but jumping a red is asking for trouble, I know that I never knock it down any gears to avoid jumping it, if you have to brake that hard to avoid going through then, that is unsafe as the person behind you may not be expecting you to brake hard causing them to underbrake and hit you. That is when you carry on, if they are changing but are not on red as it is unsafe for you to stop reasonably.

CymruPolo wrote: Calm down!

I don't increase my speed towards them if I'm far off . . the only time I speed up is when I'm near enough to know I'll get through before they change and it also depends on the situation etc.

Calm down? I've not calmed up yet!

So basically you kinda like do what sprinters do when they dip their heads just as they reach the finish line? Just speed up just in time like?
In that case its all good

(pasting this in from a half written one last night)

i'll alter my speed to try and get through a sequence of lights all on green, or green/amber/red+amber... up AND down. But unless you're really pasting it and can't waste a second, flooring the pedal to do so is silly i'm meaning more in terms of a gradual change over a couple hundred yards, thinking ahead. usually it requires experience of how long each sequence takes and can be thrown right out if they're altered.

the ones in question so far as jumping are concerned are like this:


in particular the upper set is an arse because the right turn is very often on red when there's no other traffic around. i swear there are no road sensors at all on this stretch (a 4 way intersection off the bottom of the diagram is equally as moronic). the green up-arrow never turns off, it's only there to clarify things (note no arrows on the red/amber lights, because this is britain and its not how we do things, as useful and improving of safety as it would be..)

Navy blue arrows = you can jump this without lifting off, as it's blindingly obvious whether there's something coming or not, and that's the only thing that would be causing danger, given the divided carriageways and one-way system. The lights are useful for traffic control when it gets busy (and boy, does it get BUSY), but off-peak they may as well be turned off and save a few watts as its no more hazardous than a regular side street.

Pink arrows = you can roll through these quite safely but it's essential to slow right down/almost stop and peer up the road to check there's nothing coming. Again, off peak, there's next to nothing (but it doesnt pay to take that risk), and you can usually run it after checking.

Light blue arrow = oddly, you HAVE to obey the lights here. It doesnt come across properly on the diagram but you can't actually see down that side road from that position any further than the white wait-line at the lights, certainly not well enough to avoid a collision if you run it at the wrong time (far worse vis than you have looking out from that road). Besides, the wait isnt as bad as at the other ones!

It's all highly stupid...