kevindsingleton 

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I agree with this. Even though I sometimes ride fast, and (occasionally) ignore stop signs and red lights, I only do it when I am the only operator in sight. I'll stop and wave the cars to go ahead of me, if there is more than one at the intersection. They are much more familiar with the rules involving cars, and it's easier for me to let them clear the way before I proceed.

If the laws don't suit you, or they make things less safe, get them changed. It's the American way.

I had an incident, the other day, in which I was driving my truck, turning right onto a 55 mph, two lane highway. I stopped at the stop sign, and watched for the old guy (older than me!) on the bicycle who was approaching the same stop sign. I wanted to be sure of his location before I made my turn. I looked up the road, and saw a motorcycle coming towards me, in the right lane, about 200 yards away, travelling at, or near, the speed limit. I proceeded to make my turn, but went to the left lane, leaving plenty of room for the motorcycle.

Half a mile down the road, the motorcycle caught up with me. I watched him, as he approached, which is the only reason I stayed in the left lane. He drove up on my right, and started yelling and waving his finger. I couldn't make out much of what he said, over his exhaust noise, but I did hear "pull over" and "f*** you", which is a combination of words that didn't sound, at all, inviting, to me.

He continued yelling and waving, so I put the window up, and tried to ignore him. He pulled ahead, and then slowed down, and continued with the yelling and waving. At one point, he rode so close that, when I noticed him, I thought I had drifted towards him, so I swerved to the left, to avoid contact. I'm not sure what he thought he was doing, but he was really close. After I swerved away, he slowed down and got behind me, but I couldn't see him. I suppose he was trying to memorize my license plate number?

After that, he sped past me, again with the yelling and waving, and made the turn towards the biker bar, on the Ohio border.

Crazies are everywhere, and they're not always in cars.

Daniel4

I don't stop when there isn't a stop sign, a red light or someone or something in my way.

The courts are filled with plaintiffs and defendants who think their judgement is better than anybody else's.

Miele Man

Here are siome that I've heard:

"I can't be bothered". "I've got fantastic handling skills and don't need to stop". "The other can get the h**l out of my way". and lots of others.

In the end they are what they are = simple excuses.

Cheers

mrchaotica

Those are designed by licensed civil engineers, not electricians... and allowing conflicting movements to have green simultaneously is the kind of gross negligence that should be enough to cause a revocation of his license, especially if it actually did cause someone to get killed.

You should report it to the public works department/DOT (whoever is responsible for the signal).

JoeyBike

Same exact scenario and location as my OP. Only today the light sequence was in my favor. I split the lane and ran the first red light, proceeded under the overpass where the second red light turned green for me. A sedan had just made a right turn from the crossing street (right on red with minimal slowing down) and was directly in front of me. I sprinted up to a nice, safe draft position just off the right rear quarter panel and kept up (low 20 mph) for the half mile to my turnoff. Perfect! No motorists were harmed. I even signaled my left turn for the truck behind me!
.
.
.

Paul Barnard

Yes*


*When their actions won't affect others.

mapeiboy

Not only that but where do you guys live that you can go through the red light without getting kill . I live 30 minutes by bike to the country side and yet every time out on the ride at 6 AM I see nothing but cars on the roads . Maybe I should leave the house at 4AM to experience the thrill of running a red light .

JoeyBike

My shortest route to work has 5 red lights, all easy to run most of the day. AM and PM rush hours I will likely have to wait for the entire light cycle, and then some. One to three cars keep going after their light turns red, so I have to sit tight and wait for them to clear the intersection too.
.
.
.

Chris0516

Almost blowing a red light. Nearly got me killed. That was the first(and last) time I blew a light.

JoeyBike

If at first you don't succeed....

(No warranty expressed or implied)
.
.
.

Chris0516

Not in this case.

chedarhead

I stop at red lights and stop signs. I saw a near miss 3 days ago because a cyclist ran a stop sign. He had to pass me and stay ahead of me that he went through a sign and was missed by maybe 2 feet by a car . If he would have been hit he would have been nothing but a bloody pile of spandex and carbon fiber.

B. Carfree

Since I've lived in places where appropriate action would be taken immediately if there was even a whiff of such a defect, I dutifully reported this to the public works department (through an insider connection so no one could hide from it). I even found another person who had experienced the exact same failure one block away and there was a collision that could have been caused by the same defect another block up the line (but no confirmation, just someone who said they had the green when the bus they hit also had a green).

Unfortunately, I live in Eugene, where almost none of our city staff live in the city so they just don't care. If enough people start riding bikes, there may eventually be a death caused by this defect, but the person who responded felt it was far more likely that several cars and a bus all ran a solid red than that we all had simultaneous greens and that I got a green while the pedestrian beg button clearly got cancelled. He wouldn't even go out to investigate. Apparently, it's cheaper to roll the dice and then just pay out if someone is killed than to investigate and correct defects.

I hope I'm not playing Casandra again. Four years ago I informed a traffic planner that he had created a death trap at a rail crossing. He routed the bike path onto the sidewalk, which does not have any visible active train warnings. If for some reason a cyclist doesn't hear the train travelling at 35 mph, he's got a problem since it's a blind crossing. Sure enough, one week later a cyclist with something in his ears got killed there. I still feel guilty for not putting my warning in an email (public record) and contacting the widow to help with her lawsuit.

B. Carfree

Unless for some reason motorists behave dramatically different in the South Bay than they do in the (L)East Bay, Squirtdad already knows that motorists don't stop at stop signs and red lights. (I've had to spend far too much time on Bay Area roads this year.) For some reason, their transgressions are invisible, except to the 40,000 corpses they leave in their wake annually and the 2.4M injured.

B. Carfree

Here's a fun take on stop signs. As some of you learned in physics, momentum is conserved in a collision. Momentum is the simple product of mass and velocity. No one is upset when a motorist "rolls" a stop sign at 3 mph. Assuming a 4000 pound car, that would be the equivalent of a 200 pound bike+rider "rolling" a stop sign at 60 mph.

This is the reason citations for commercial truck drivers have larger fines than for mere cars: they can do a lot more damage when they mess up. It's time our vehicle codes were reality-based.

Chris0516

Sounds like the cyclist wasn't the only one not obeying a stop sign.

wphamilton

I seldom stop here, usually at the right on the fog line. What would be the point?

lostarchitect 

Although the guy's reaction was bad, you should absolutely not have done this. Really terrible motorist behavior on your part. He was 200 yards away at 55mph?! That's less than 8 seconds! Just wait. You crossed his path to get into that left lane. If something had happened it could have gone bad. Maybe your truck stalls, or a dog runs out into the road and you instinctively brake. His anger was justifiable, if his reaction was not. Why couldn't you just wait 8 seconds?

kevindsingleton 

I could have waited. I didn't see a problem, given the distance and speeds involved. I was clear of his lane in less than 2 seconds, and there were no obstacles or danger of stalls. clear skies, broad daylight. At 60 mph, that's still 528 feet, and I'm not even in his lane. It's possible he was going faster than the posted limit. I didn't account for that.

If it was only one lane, I wouldn't even have considered pulling out.

lostarchitect 

Too many possible variables. You made a mistake. It's OK to admit that.

squirtdad

In general, in the areas I ride/drive (San jose) in the vast majority (99.99%) of motorists do stop at stop signs and red lights.

a driver not stopping for a stop sign is a notable event, becuase is happens so rarely (in the areas I routinely travel)

People pushing/running red lights happens and I have seen at least one pretty serious accident because of this

more common is people pushing/running the red light on left hand turn signals, tailgating the car ahead.

The most common is people not stopping when making a right on red.

but I stand by my observations that the majority of drivers do observe stop signs and lights

Leebo

I ride by what is safest for me. And gets me home safe, in the land of Ma$$hole drivers. And by not always following the rules meant for cars and not bikes. One red light at a T sees me going left. Some times I take the lane, sometimes I filter to the front. I wait for the other light to turn yellow, then making sure it is clear, jump my red. And then my light turns green. Several things. I have not cut anyone off. I get across the intersection safely without any cars moving when I am moving. When all auto drivers here in MA use their blinkers and don't blow red lights/stop signs, then I will do the same. I use my turn( arms pointed) signals all the time. Until then, I will ride as I deem safest for me. When is the last time a biker injured someone in a car? Not.

Leebo

Never been to NOLA, but polls show MA always ranking at the bottom for the worst drivers in the whole country. Maybe Boston and NOLA can dive to the deep end together?

Leebo

Ottawa? The land of sane and nice people? Now you are just trying to make sense. And be reasonable. Try that in MA? See what happens. Lets go back to last week for me. The Friday before the 4th of July. 20% of the normal traffic, crazy people everywhere. I'm stopped at a red light, turns green, no cars anywhere. I start to pedal past a red light merging on my right. A car comes up, blows the red, screeches around behind me, maybe 3' from my back wheel. She flips me the bird, cuts off 2 cars starting to slow for another red, guns it through another red, turning right once again. After a caught up with her 1/2 mile down the road, she did not like me slamming my hand on her driver window. Loudly. I left her stuck in traffic, caterwauling. I get inattention, bad driving, rednecks and plain bad drivers. Usually I just brush it off. When someone goes out of their way to put me in danger, they will hear about it. Camera time maybe?

corrado33

This.

I never "blow through" red lights or stop signs. I either stop completely, or I do an idaho stop, and only the ladder when no one else can see me.

There are some red lights that I will not set off. For those I pull up, stop, wait for an opening, and proceed through the light. I also deal with cars at redlights. I take the lane at redlights and when it is convenient for me, I move over to let the cars pass. If they're a dick about it, I stay in the lane longer than I have to. If they continue to be a dick about it, I'll take the lane indefinitely until they either make an unsafe pass or turn off. (In my state it's legal for me to take the lane whenever I want.)

I get angry at every bicyclist that I see blowing through stop signs without slowing down at all. Seriously, 10 seconds out of your day. Is it that big of a deal? You're just perpetuating the stereotype that cyclists are dicks. So, you know, thanks for that, dick. You are the stereotype.