”Traffic lights that were once co-ordinated for car speeds were adjusted to cater to the pace of the average cyclist, allowing them to travel long distances without ever getting a red light. To increase safety, stop lines for cars are five metres behind those for bikes. Cyclists get a green light up to 12 seconds ahead of cars to help increase their visibility.

Copenhagen: Bicycling paradise of the day (via mattlehrer)

Exactly! Can I just add that any experienced urban cyclist will tell you that waiting at a red light is actually dangerous, as pulling away from the lights with all the accelerating cars is a risky operation. It might even create more danger than the act of cycling through the red light.

In London, each positive step seems to be countered with a negative. There are bike lanes, but they appear in illogical locations and end abruptly often without warning. There are some dedicated cycling paths which physically separate cyclists from the flow of vehicle traffic, but the paths are riddled with speed humps and dangerous bollards. At traffic lights, there are nice big green stop areas for bikes, but car drivers rarely respect this area, routinely crossing over their designated stop line.

Don’t forget that traffic lights were invented to aid the flow of traffic and pedestrians, not to increase safety. Since cycling through them does not affect traffic / pedestrian flow, the original reason should not apply to bikes