Attention London cyclists only! Red light running survey

[ImperialCollegeMSc]

Hi all,

I am currently writing a research paper into red light running among cyclists in London. Part of this paper involves a survey, which investigates the extent of red light running and the reasons why cyclists run red lights.

As a keen cyclist myself, I want to provide an objective view of the subject with the ultimate aim of supporting measures to improve cyclist safety.

Please could you spare 2 minutes and complete this (very brief!) survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NQQMZ6V

Please note that the survey is only for people who cycle in London, and are over 18 years of age.

Many thanks in advance for your help!

Alex

[iviehoff]

I think your question "have you ever been involved in a collision with another road user" is quite irrelevant to red light jumping. Very few collisions have anything to do with red light jumping. My collisions in over 20 years of cycling in London comprise 2 doorings and around 10 pedestrian collisions, entirely due to them running out in front of me. One of the doorings occurred while I was slowing down to stop at a red light, by a car waiting in an outer lane. Only one of those pedestrian collisions occurred at a light-controlled junction and I was going through a green light at a time. The quantity of heedless pedestrians who think the traffic will stop for them if they cross the road at a time of their own choosing is material in a city with as many pedestrians as central London.

My wife was knocked off her bike (actually it was my bike) by a car pulling out of a side road (not lights controlled) after she had been cycling in London for a total of 2 mins. Somewhat put her off.

[mjr]

I agree 100% with iviehoff. I've collided with other road users and the only one at all I remember as related to traffic lights was a car in front fluffing its gears when pulling away as the lights changed to green and me riding into the back of it (bounced off with the front tyre, dismounted and straddled top tube, caught the bike as it fell, driver in front didn't even notice).

Also there are a lot of walkers crossing randomly in London, as is their right (red men are advisory and very over-cautious for most people), so I sound my bell even pulling away on green and try to negotiate passage with walkers who look at me, but it would be very easy to end up in a crash unrelated to rider RLJing and I think that would be confused in this survey.

[Slow Loris]

I've completed the survey but agree with the comments above. If the question was posed as: have you been involved in a collision at a junction when stopping for a red light, I would be interested in the responses.

I'm fortunate not to have yet had a collision, but know it's likely to happen at some point. I rarely RLJ – only occasionally if I'm turning left and I can see there's no harm, but I have had occasion to RLJ if I feel threatened or intimidated by the driver behind. This happened once, at a pedestrian crossing about to change to red, when I was intimidated enough by a driver behaving very aggressively down a long stretch of a busy B road (tailgaiting, revving and swerving out to overtake in the face of oncoming traffic). I sped up to go over the crossing on amber while pedestrians were waiting – naturally he ploughed through on red to make a stupid overtake . It's not strictly a RLJ for me, but it's an exception as I usually slow down when an amber is about to go red. On numerous occasions, drivers behind me speed up to overtake me over a crossing or junction and I fully expect to see an pedestrian injured or worse .

[TonyR]

You might find the following useful:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/do ... lights.pdf


Of pedestrians injured in London in a collision caused by red light jumping only 4% involve cyclists, whereas 71% occur when a car driver jumps a red light and 13% when a motorcyclist does.
Roger Geffen, CTC

[661-Pete]

I think we need to know more about what this is all about. I'm not a London cyclist, but if I were, I wouldn't feel happy about completing a survey published anonymously on a highly contentious topic.

[Si]

There's not much we can do to see who posted it or what their ultimate aim is. My advice would be - if you think that there might be something wrong with the survey then don't fill it in.

[mjr]

I think we need to know more about what this is all about. I'm not a London cyclist, but if I were, I wouldn't feel happy about completing a survey published anonymously on a highly contentious topic.

Good point. Anyone know Imperial College's research ethics guidelines? I'd be surprised if anonymous solicitation and this survey design met them.

[Edwards]

I think we need to know more about what this is all about. I'm not a London cyclist, but if I were, I wouldn't feel happy about completing a survey published anonymously on a highly contentious topic.

Good point. Anyone know Imperial College's research ethics guidelines? I'd be surprised if anonymous solicitation and this survey design met them.

There have been plenty of surveys done on this forum and this has never been raised before. A moderator has stated that if you do not like it do not fill it in.

If anybody has a problem with students asking for survey information then maybe the best place to ask questions is in the correct subsection and not to abuse other sections.

[gaz]

Please note that the survey is only for people who cycle in London, and are over 18 years of age.

In that case can you explain why question 1, "How often do you cycle in London?" has an option of "Never" as a response?

[[XAP]Bob]

Please note that the survey is only for people who cycle in London, and are over 18 years of age.

In that case can you explain why question 1, "How often do you cycle in London?" has an option of "Never" as a response?

To eliminate people who can't read?

[RickH]

Please note that the survey is only for people who cycle in London, and are over 18 years of age.

In that case can you explain why question 1, "How often do you cycle in London?" has an option of "Never" as a response?

To eliminate people who can't read?

Or unless it was intended to mean people who cycle and live or work in London but include people who don't do any of their cycling in London.

Rick.

[ImperialCollegeMSc]

Hi all,

Thanks for your comments - I haven't responded here to some of the points as I don't wish to influence future survey participants, but I have responded via private message to some users.

The survey is fully in line with Imperial College's Research Ethics guidelines, and using social media for anonymous solicitation forms one part of participant recruitment (though I appreciate there will be a sampling bias associated with this).

As some users have stated - if you do not wish to fill out the survey there is no obligation to do so.

To give a bit more background to the project for those that are interested, I am studying the prevalence of red light running among cyclists, as well as the reasons why cyclists run red lights. Previous academic studies have been conducted into this subject in Melbourne and Beijing, but (other than the TfL RNPR document provided by TonyR below, which only considers the prevalence) there is little objective research into the situation in London. As some of you may have seen, the London Taxi Drivers Association recently released a statement on the prevalence of red light running among cyclists, though there may be something of a conflict of interest here...

I don't want to say too much about the specific questions as this could influence the results. Feel free to drop me a PM if you want to discuss the study further - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

Many thanks to those of you who have contributed!

Alex

PS - gaz / [XAP]Bob / Rick - the study is only aimed at people who cycle in London - this question was to ensure that respondents did actually cycle in London.

[TonyR]

The problem with your study as with every other one that has been done into this is that it does not benchmark it against other road users. Usually the outcome is used to pillory cyclists (see the IAM study as a good example) without setting it into the context of the prevelance of RLR by other road users and the respective risks. In a TfL London study over 5 years fifty percent more cyclists were killed by RLR drivers than were killed running a red light themselves just to illustrate the problem. So if you are going to do the study please set it in the context of road users in generals red light behaviour, not just cyclists. I think you'll find if you do that cyclists are no better and no worse than other road users but the risk they present is much lower.

[661-Pete]

Problem is, you have to answer each set of questions on the questionnaire until you can move on to the next set of questions. I don't want to do that: I want to see all the questions from the start.
Surveymonkey is an open website free for anyone to set up a 'survey'. You will understand why some of us are a bit suspicious.