ITV News cameras have caught 200 cyclists jumping red lights at rush hour in the space of just 60 minutes.

We monitored a busy cycle Lane on Victoria Embankment opposite Blackfriars station between 8:20am and 9:20am. On average three to four cyclists ignored red lights every minute and more than half failed to stop.

Transport for London advises cyclists to follow the Highway Code and warns cyclists may be fined £50 for going through a red light. Since the start of 2025, 284 cyclists in the City of London have been fined for failing to stop at lights.

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The lights red, but no one’s stopping. I think it’s ridiculous. More needs to be done about it because if they get hit by one of us, if we hurt them seriously, then obviously there’s a big issue there. So yeah, it winds me up on a daily basis to be honest. I have a buggy. So for me to be able to cross and then look either side, I always miss one. So it is really dangerous. Do you wish they red light here? Of course. I mean, the lights are there for a reason, so we can all cross and not bump into each other. Feels pretty simple, so I’d love it if they respected it. Do you think cyclist should obey the laws more? Definitely. Yeah, it’s dangerous. Most have got headphones on, not look where they’re going. Yeah, it’s infuriating. We’re outside Black Fryer’s station at rush hour with a camera and a producer counting. At 20 8 this morning, we started our survey. In an hour, 200 cyclists didn’t stop at a red at a single traffic light. A lot of cyclists jumping the red lights. What’s your reaction to that? It’s not good and we shouldn’t be jumping red lights. But what we know is that cyclists are jumping red lights and misbehaving, behaving illegally, dangerously, etc. in roughly the same proportion as pedestrians. In fact, pedestrians actually by all service slightly worsly behaved. uh drivers about equally behaved. This is annoying and it’s really deeply hostile to pedestrians. Shouldn’t be happening. These people shouldn’t be doing it, but it’s not actually statistically very dangerous. And here the results of our survey. 293 cyclists were met with a red light in the hour we were there. Only 93 waited for green and exactly 200 ran a red light in 60 minutes. Yeah, Gerard Griffith is a road safety campaigner after his mother, Hilda, was run over by a cyclist. How does it make you feel knowing that so many cyclists don’t obey the rules? It comes across as a little bit sort of an entitlement. If that was the case with motor vehicles, there’d be carnage, you know, and the more people cycling, the more chances of accidents and collisions and tragic ones like in the case of my mom. It’s important to remember that cycling is a clean and green way to get around town. And in terms of cycle safety, you’re much more in danger to be hit by a car lorry than injure a pedestrian. Do you think cyclists should respect the law more and the red lights more? Yeah. And equally, people shouldn’t walk across even if it’s clear. Should they red? Why? Because otherwise it’s unsafe. Yeah, everyone has to abide by the same rules. We saw you jump a red light. Can I ask you why you did it? No, I’m okay. Thank you. Sorry. Do you think you’re you should obey the lawn more? Yeah. Yeah, I do think so. Sorry about that one. This is the story of a single traffic light in London. Across the capital, many more red lines are being crossed. Oh, Rags, there’ll be so many opinions on this. What can be done about it or what is being done? Well, first the most impressive thing was at 8:00 a.m. this morning, this the sheer numbers of people cycling to work was quite an incredible site to see. So, there are now a lot of cyclists in London. But the sheer number of people jumping the lights was also incredible for the wrong reasons. According to our onscientific survey, the majority didn’t stop. But the law says it’s a 50 fine, but there’s not that much enforcement of it. Latest figures show for the city of London, just the square mile of London, just 284 fines have been issued so far this year. That’s almost the same numbers we saw people jump the lights in that one hour, which is crazy. But there’s new bill going through Parliament. But as we’ve seen today, I think the enforcement of the law needs a lot to be desired.

45 Comments

  1. Dam, I must over over £50mil. 9yrs a courier and jump probably 99.9% of all lights because unfortunately I'm not paid enough to stop. I'm paid to get from point a to point b as fast as possible.

  2. So Much to unpack I'm a driver/cyclist and I can count the number of times someone has just the red light for cyclist on a junction. not to say the money ploughed into setting up a cycling infurstructor. conversely how many people I see on a phone while drive fully looking at phone while stop starting at traffic lights the problem we have is that this is not the exception to the rule it is the rule. thankfully their are so many road works it is hard for any mode of transpiration to travel more than 100m before having to stop(London) so drive points leading to ban cycle points lead to bike taking off and bad from using hire bikes.

  3. It's a cycle land so how would one of the cars hit them, literally there's a raised kerb so no cars will hit them but they should stop to let pedestrian cross, even when one guy stops he ends up cycling off on the red cause others don't stop

  4. using the excuse that pedestrians ignoring red lights or whatever is NOT an excuse for cyclists… imagine if lorrys decided to use the same excuse and the carnage that would happen. Cyclists DO KILL when hitting a pedestrian and this happens, yet pedestrian crossing the road on a red light wont hurt anyone

  5. Just £50 fine?
    How much does it cost if it's a car?
    If a driver doesn't wear a seat belt, they also face a fine. Bicycles, motorcycles, and scooters don't have a seat belt, but they should pay the same fine as a car driver for running a red light + not wearing a seat belt, as they expose more themselves.

  6. All those dangerous red light jumping cyclists, yet they cause hardly any deaths at all. At the same time motor vehicles kill on average 1700 people per year ? How can this be ?

  7. They show the area where the cars can't hit them. Only skipping the next red light could do that. Also, there are some states where bicycles allowed legally to go on red. Similarly how cars in USA can turn right on red. Also, this is similar how motorcycles allowed to filter. Bicycles should be allowed on red, assuming they let go anyone on green first.

    In London very often the junction is fully closed while all greens appear for pedestrians. Cyclists should just give way to pedestrians and go. This improves traffic flow as cars now don't need to be too slow and behind while bicycles accelerate. It's a win win.

    Not gonna lie, I have went through red light, police stopped me, showed my driving licence as id and got a warning into the system which was valid for one year. The best part was how I said I let pedestrians go first (it was regent's park), and police said "I was weaving and a threat"… A bunch of liars, immediately saying it's all on camera. I don't need a camera to remember what I did 5 seconds ago. Anyway, no point to argue as I did go on red light. And that's exactly why the rules should be changed.

  8. So you find the most pointless red light for cyclists, and you report how much people went on red? The stupidity of reporters. The solution would be to remove that light altogether. For example, by making a pedestrian crossing (the same as ones next to a bus stops over cycling path). That light only and only exists to let pedestrians go, but if there are none, why wait like an idiot? Visibility is perfect, no way to do any harm.

    Laws should be actually changed that cyclists can go on red legally anyway. Everyone would be safer, and less congestion.

  9. When i was at junior school in the 80's the police came too school every year showing us graphic pictures of injurys that had been sustained on the roads because people were being stupid,
    They also had us on the yard with our bikes about road saftey…….a professional cyclist that competes will have a pace of 20/30 mph,its common sense to ride primary
    Bellybuttoned Bob who rides a mountain bike should be keeping to the left,on his e-bike with a flat battery….and helmet cam

  10. Is it just an English city thing? Come measure how many cars dont give way to oncoming traffic on a single lane under bridge, bring your protective gear though. Some cyclists are bad with laws just like some drivers are.

  11. It's a joke, cyclists have killed pedestrians before with their speeding, no harm no foul! Unregistered, speeding, illegal turns, no insurance but cause motorist's premiums to go up! I have no sympathy for cyclists that do things like that and get hit! Most are motorised and surely need a licence and insurance?

  12. There was a zebra crossing, myself and others were crossing, all the cars stopped, 2 scroats on e-bikes didn’t, when a well dressed man next to me made them stop, he was verbally abused for doing so… he then proceeded to push him off the bike, he was on the floor crying, and to be honest not one person gave a damn about him. Driving in London is more of a hazard for drivers, motorbikes one side bikes on the other, let alone having to do 20mph and get overtaken by them, the reality is no one is doing anything to stop it, yet “if” a motorist goes above the speed limit your treated like you just killed someone… not enough police to be able to control London.

  13. How about they take a video of motorised vehicles entering the advance stop zone after the lights have turned red? Or footage of drivers close passing cyclists. I wonder how many people will get caught then?

  14. While I think cyclists are running red lights often, this video is heavily biased against them. I’d be interested to know how many pedestrians crossed that same junction when the man was red. I suspect it would be similar, but there’s no discussion of peds breaking the rules.

  15. Would be interesting to see if cyclists needed insurance how many stay on the road 🤔
    The Government should introduced some kind of cyclists registration and Insurance

  16. The clown sounds like a politician directing it to pedestrian behaviour and driver behaviour then saying its less dangerous doesnt matter the vehicle bike lorry or car obey it simple as imagine the fines if bikes had any form of registration it would qwell it massively

    Highway code hierarchy pedestrians are at the top regardless of that tubes opinion of pedestrians being bad

  17. Yes, but that’s in London: 2 tier policing, hardly anyone follows any societal rules anymore, and the bulk of the population exist in un acknowledged silos (or “groups” or “ghettos” ) – just like the cyclists have been forced into by failure to provide infrastructure !

  18. As a driver I believe all should stop at lights. The problem is most people on bikes are allowed to speed and think they get right of way. They don't get the consequences even if they cause accidents or get themselves hurt.

  19. Traffic lights were invented for cars. Applying them to bicycles is insane, but this whole ragebaiting exercise is insane when its purpose is to try to equate the offence of a sizeable chunk of the cycling population ignoring of rules that aren't fit for purpose with the number of people killed and maimed by motor vehicles, which are allowed to be filled with animated touch screens and other distractions because motor vehicles are supposedly 'essential', even as they keep getting bigger and the driver's ability to see where they're going gets worse due to higher bonnets tiny back windows and higher window sill levels.

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