I was wondering, because today I got abused (for the second time this week) for the mere act of stopping at a red light. Normally I would just dismiss them as brainless tossers who should have been culled out at birth, but in an infinite universe, anything is possible.

So what do you think?

Cursed if you do, cursed if you don't. Screw 'em and follow your conscience.

Having worked hard with the SDCBC to encourage cyclists to obey traffic laws, I think you deserve an accolade, rather than abuse. Were you occupying a travel lane, and had the motorist behind you intended to run the red light?

It's a sad state of affairs when lawful cycling or motoring causes problems because of all the aggressive and/or incompetent motorists our there. My 1989 Dodge Spirit seems to attract tailgaters and has actually had three very minor rear-end collisions. (Fortunately, it has 5mph crash-certified bumpers.) Three weeks ago, as I stopped for a light which was turning red, the SUV driver behind me abruptly flashed his high beams, swerved into the adjacent lane, cutting off another motorist, and blasted on through the intersection. If I had been on a bike at the time, this would have been pretty scary.

I have actually seen quite a few people run red lights around here. I just wish there had been a cop around at that time. I would have done a quick "off the bike and onto the footpath" move to let them go and just see what would have happened.

Chris,

It is impossible to cull these types out at birth!

Seriously, this emotionally handicapped personality type will be with us until "Utopia" is permanently established. We have all had our occasional unfortunate meetings with their types.

But I believe that, while this "neanderthal" type has yet to "evolve," there are many who would never act that way if they were not behind the wheel of a car. The combination of power, fear and anonymity creates many 5:00 monsters.

"AaacK! Eccch...Gasp!!!! Muhahahahaha...."

By the way, just the other day I got into the centermost lane to turn across traffic (left in the USA, right in AUS and UK). I held the center of the lane. A "bludger" (is that correct? ) got behind me and kept sitting on the horn to intimidate me. The crazy part was, there was plenty of room for passing in the other lane! :confused:

I obey all traffic laws, including stopping at stop lights. The lights in my town only change when you pass over a certain spot in the road. This only works for cars. My bike is too lite to trigger the change. So I just look both ways, and go on. Sometimes I let a car get in front of me to trigger the light change.

I wonder who voted "yes" in the poll?

Okay... so this makes me a BAD cyclist, but I will blow lights and stop signs with no compunction. If there is no traffic, I don't see why I should wait. Hel, I'll even jaywalk without a second thought.

There's one "T" intersection on one of my rides -- going east along the Lakeshore, St. John's road intersects with the north side of the road, but not with the south side which [as the name suggests] runs along the shore of a lake [Lac St. Louis, in fact]. Because these are both major roads, there's a traffic light. If I'm heading east along the south side of Lakeshore, there is NO WAY that perpendicular traffic can cross my path, and if I see no pedestrians [it's an open area, with a park next to the water -- no way for anyone to jump into my vision by surprise unless they parachute in], I'll blow the light at 45 km/h or faster.

No apologies.

Once, when I was in Toronto, I jaywalked across a dead-end one-way street at 3:00 am. There was no traffic AT ALL, except for the police cruiser that stopped me so the cop could give me a ticked. A little overzealous.

You think? No wonder everyone despises Toronto.

Let the witchunt begin!

Tee Hee Hee

Gee, I think you would be an @$$hole only if you ran the fu(k!ng thing!! What kind of a $h!t-for-brains would call you an @$$h0le for stopping???

I was going to be a punk and vote yes, but I thought against it. I'm just not that punkish. Well, most of the time.

I can symapthize. I've been yelled and honked at for stopping at signs and lights, and for riding the speed limit, and on the shoulder, etc...

Some people's children...

The definition of 'bludger' is 'a lazy person' so it doesn't really fit.

A better word in the context above would be 'wanker', which while it literally translates as 'one who masterbates' has a more gereral meaning as 'someone, usually a male, who is far to impressed with themselves'. Of course, the universally understood 'f*ckwit', meaning 'extraordinarily stupid person', could be used as well.

Here endeth the lesson.

The words escape me sometimes.

I realize that many of these drivers live in a world that is far too small, even for one person.

According to J. K. Rowling, a Bludger is a small (slightly smaller than the Quaffle), jet black ball that rockets arount trying to knock Quidditch players off their brooms.

Of course, that doesn't really fit either.