seajaye

In cities (my experience, Philly; but I'd venture to guess pretty much any major city), you can get away with it. Law enforcement has bigger problems than some people on bikes disregarding lights. And how are you going to catch them, anyways? Kind of hard when you're sitting in gridlock while the cyclist is going, going, gone...

In this way, it seems there are different expectations. For example, I've found that when riding in Philly, if a motorist sees a cyclist approaching a 4-way stop, they will wait the extra half-second or so to let them through. That's practicality. They wait a negligible extra amount of time; I don't have to go from cruising speed to a complete stop and then pedal back up to speed. In the suburbs and more rural areas (anywhere that's not a major city of the world), pretty much invariably, I have to wait my turn, as drivers expect me to behave like a car. BUT WE AREN'T CARS. While we may brake similarly, we provide our own acceleration. Stopping and going for a cyclist is much different than hitting the brakes and hitting the gas for a motorist.

Maybe I should have said that illegal cycling is more practical. But, it can also be just as safe as following traffic laws, if you're smart about it. And in some cases, it may be the most sensible choice.

Let's say, you're cruising around your city, and you turn onto a familiar street. Ah, it's a one-way street, and there is construction/major traffic so you can't fit between cars or anything. What are you going to do? Are you going to sit there in traffic like everyone else? I personally would hop the curb, and ride (very cautiously) on the sidewalk to the next intersection.

Let's say it is illegal to occupy the same lane as a motorist waiting at an intersection (I don't actually know how the ins-and-outs of this sort of law apply, but this is just an example of a cyclist behaving as if it were a car). You're sitting behind the car in front, waiting for the light to change/your turn at the stop/whatever. Some jerkoff from behind was busy texting or something, and what would have been a car-hitting-car rear end accident, turns into a cyclist sandwich.


I think one of the biggest issues is the lack of coherent and complete bicycle-specific traffic laws (But, that doesn't necessarily mean people would follow them if they were around). Like I said before, we aren't cars, and until a bicycle somehow transforms into a 2-ton metal box around us, some people aren't going to ride them the same way they drive cars.