Originally Posted by
Heifzilla
If it is legal for you to do it, then by all means you should be able to. The drivers will be expecting it. Unfortunately, in the States, there are only one or two states where it is legal to do so, and when riders do it anyway, it is illegal. You can't just create your own rules of the road and still consider others to take you seriously as a vehicle. Yes, motorists do things illegally ALL the time. However, the biggest difference is that motor vehicles are safely ensconced in their status as vehicles. Bicycles are not, yet, and riding illegally isn't going to win any brownie points or get bicycles to be accepted any easier as a vehicle by John Q. Public.
And to have the attitude that since someone is on a bike makes them better than someone in a car, doesn't have to follow the same rules of the road as the cars, and yet wants the same rights as a motorist and *****es, moans and has fits when they don't get it...that's entitlement. Just as so many cyclists complain about cager entitlement, I see cyclist entitlement running just as rampant.
on my bike I like to think of myself as a pedestrian when it comes to creating my own rules, and as a car when it grants me necessary rights
a bicycle is basically a pedestrian car hybrid. You have a lot of flexibility (cross roads when you want, ride around road works etc.) but can also travel very quickly (20mph+), over my commute my average speed is probably higher than most cars.
I really am in 2 minds about riding illegally, I find that there are a lot of situations where a cyclist can speed up their journey without any affect on anyone else by performing illegal manoeuvres. However when I do something illegal - cross a green pedestrian light for example - if there are pedestrians coming they ALWAYS get the right of way.
As using an environmentally friendly means of transport I think cyclists deserve a break, we often take a great risk being out on the roads because drivers don't see us / don't care about us but still we do it and that benefits society as a whole. For this reason, and the reason that there are very few cyclists, I believe bending the laws sometimes doesn't have much of an effect. If however one day cyclists are the #1 mode of transport then there will have to be rules similar to those that are in place for cars, due to the sheer numbers it would be chaos without them. Also one has to remember that a car jumping a light could kill someone, a cyclist jumping the light puts themselves at greatest risk therefore they will probably be taking more care.