I’ll admit it: I’ve cycled through red lights. But Britain’s traffic laws are to blame, not me | Simon Jenkins

The essence of cycling is to keep moving, but London’s chaotic roads often make this difficult.

My solution: fewer, not more rules I plead guilty.

I have loved and used the streets of London all my life, as a cyclist, driver and pedestrian.

Touch wood, I have done so without accident, blemish or insurance claim.

Yet now I find myself perpetually on the wrong side of the law.

Regulation has become bureaucratic and chaotic.

When I try to drive at the authorised speed of 20mph on many through roads, I am hooted at and overtaken by vans, cars, coaches and buses.

And when I sit dutifully on my bike at a traffic light, I am jostled by swarms of cyclists riding through on red, furious at being treated as if they were car drivers.

Simon Jenkins is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...