What does jumping red lights have to do with this? It says to the motorist forced to wait (im)patiently at red that the law does not matter. By implication the social contract is void and society does not matter. If society does not matter then other people do not matter. And telling someone that they do not matter, and the society they live in doesn't matter is not the best way to win friends and have a positive influence.

So you can see where I am going with this (red lights permitting). I stop at red because it is the law. It is about the way we function as society and having respect for that society. Without respect given, one cannot expect respct in return. I'd much rather see red lights treated as give way for cyclists, and a certain body of antisocial cyclists who do not have any respect for pedestrians taken round the back out of sight and, in a word, forcibly educated about the error of their ways.

I'd like to see the law on red lights changed to allow cyclists to pass them where appropriate. So that the rules are clear, and cyclists once more subscribe to the social contract. Yes, it is a shift of the goalposts to reflect society as it is. It redefines the social contract as one that is shared rather than one that is flouted, with all the antagonism that brings to other road users. But as it is now, we are regarded, en bloc and quite unfairly, as a lawless, anarchistic bunch who undermine society.

.the cyclologist

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