On Tue, 2 May 2006, d wrote:

"Martin Underwood" wrote in message
...
Ian wrote in
:

If you have difficulty stopping at the correct line you shouldn't be
driving.

In my experience, in wet weather (when the road is shiny) or at night,
it's very hard to see that there's a cycle box from a distance so you
plan your braking based on the assumption that the stop line is level
with the traffic light pole. Then as you get closer, you suddenly
discover that you need to stop further back that you'd anticipated.

The solution to this is to move the traffic light poles back so they
are level with the car stop line.

Or, even easier, for drivers to assume there is a box. Problem solved.

Good god: careful, defensive driving - are you mad?

I do think it's be a good idea to have some sort of sign on lights that
indicated that there was a box, though, so drivers could tell it was there
even if it was covered in traffic. Personally, i'd like the same for
filter lanes - many is the time i've been riding into a junction and
suddenly found myself on top of a huge white arrow telling me 'if you try
to turn here, you will be killed'.

Why not let cars cross the front line of a bike box on red? Or on amber,
at least. That gives cars which are in the box when the lights change a
chance to get out of it, making it much more useful to cyclists, and less
irritating for drivers. If the timing of the lights was worked out
appropriately, i don't see that this would need to be any more dangerous
than the present situation.

Oh, and somebody suggested making bike boxes and pedestrian crossings
effectively box junctions - i'd certainly agree with that.

tom

--
Civis Britannicus sum.