I think the case here was rather contrived - the chairman of the bench went for "excessive speed" and seemed to forget that there are two hazards - one facing the cyclist from motor vehicles, best served by maintaining speed - along with mindless pedestrians who IMO are too lazy to look and bring their vulnerability upon themselves. Add to this that some lights can change green, amber, red in too short a time to stop a bicycle short of the line without flipping over. I would wager that this was not properly considered.
As an off-topic, one thing that bugs me from every road user angle (including pedestrian) is those who wait for the green man without looking at the traffic, quite often they could ba across safely and quicker if they took a look left and right and just waited for a gap (green man or otherwise). Add in those that have
battering prams and the Saddam-style child human shield, who are often the worst. There could be an emergency vehicle or an unintended overshoot. Even if waiting for the green man, it's still a good idea to look. There could be a dismounted cyclist (legally a pedestrian) using the dismount-and-wheel across the line circumvention technique.
In fact, pedestrians who wait unconditionally for the green man bug me for two reasons
- They're parents who want to set a good example. My response would be sorry, but I'm not a parent and I'm not planning on it either
- They're self righteous little < phalluses > who get their kicks from obeying silly rules while being too lazy to actually think for themselves
Coming back top the case, it could be that the rider saw the light at green and went for it, which might have seemed the safest approach, and was too bent over to notice the change. This is something that a lot of the road lobby just doesn't get, the cyclist bent-forward viewpoint is a different angle to a motorist who is usually slightly reclined. As for some of the daily fail comment pieces, they are verging on hate crime by association ("tartars" - a reference to the tatar ethnic group, association by applying it to cyclists).
This is one decision that I would prefer not to have to make, but if it's a choice between a major risk to me versus a minor risk combined with a risk to someone else who I don't care much for, in a situation that feels like a set-up or ^they^ couldn't do better if ^they^ were setting me up, I know which one I'm going to take...