As A society, we allot reasonable expectations to different modes of transport. In cities, bikes are about getting from A to B quickly and hassle-free. We use cars, trains and Buses to go longer distances at higher speeds. Trains are pleasant but over-priced. Buses are good because they can use priority lanes and you don’t have to park. Cars are good for carrying loads, for ill or elderly people – and for awkward journeys. But cars and buses cause congestion, and need regulation by traffic lights.

Bikes do not need traffic lights, but they have to share the road with vehicles that do, and live by the same rules. So when cyclists jump red lights it gives us all a bad name.

There are various reasons that cyclists jump lights: Firstly, the effort in stopping and starting. In a car you can brake and accelerate with no effort. Often cyclists don’t stop at red lights because once they’ve built up momentum, they are loath to stop unless they have to.

Secondly, the main reason for people cycling is quickness and convenience. Cyclists fail to stop at some red lights because the fuse is too long and the wait is patently unnecessary.

It is senseless to have to wait for half of one’s entire journey time at a single traffic light. You can get from East Oxford to the railway station in eight minutes if all the lights are green, but that can stretch to 15 minutes if the lights are red.

Only a saint would sit on a bike at a red light watching their train preparing to depart across the other side of Frideswide Square.

Thirdly, many cyclists jump the lights because they can see that, if nothing is coming, they can proceed with complete safety. Drivers cannot do this as it could be dangerous to edge out to see what is coming.

The proposal? Oxford needs a road system in which bikes are only ever required to stop when it is really necessary, but allowed to proceed at junctions where there is no impediment.

We need cycle by-passes at junctions where bikes don’t need to stop, similar to the existing bike/bus ‘gate’ on Botley Road inbound.

If a similar by-pass were installed at the T-junction where South Parks Road and Parks Roads meet, the hundreds of cyclists who jump the northbound light would instantly cease to be lawbreakers – and they’d be able to proceed in safety.

In the States, vehicles can turn right on a red light if it’s safe (that’s the equivalent of us turning left – remember). Green light filters to enable cyclists to turn left when it’s safe (while cars wait on a red light) would also stop a lot of red-light jumping.

Encouragingly, new Department for Transport regulations now permit councils to use red/green bike-traffic lights filters to give bikes the advantage they deserve. Please can our council check these out and pioneer their use?

There are plenty of easy-to-effect ideas that could lead to all bikes stopping at all red lights all the time.

This would quickly engender a greater respect for rules generally amongst cyclists – perhaps even “curing” us of pavement cycling.