I was greeted by a sunny, warm morning with a stiff breeze today. A storm rolled through last night and the roads were wet, but I can't complain about sunny and mid 60s in December! There was a car accident along my normal route, so I detoured around it, but that only took a couple seconds as there is a short walking path between the road and a church parking lot that accesses the road just beyond the accident scene. When I got to the subsequent traffic light, I positioned myself in the middle of the straight through traffic lane. The cop who had closed the road asked where I was headed.
Me: "Straight across the intersection."
Her: "OK, be careful."
Me: "I always am."
Her: "Well then, head over and use the crosswalk."
Me (not really wanting to get in a fight with a cop this AM): "Yes ma'am."
I glided over to the traffic signal, dismounted, pressed the ped. cross button and did a ped. crossing (which I hate doing and will only do in the most extreme of circumstances). On the other side of the intersection, I remounted and went about my ride, secretly hating myself for caving into the cop and feeding her misconception that bicycles should be treated as pedestrians. I would have preferred to be treated as a vehicle, given the same opportunity to travel across the intersection as an automobile, but, like I said, I didn't want to get in a fight with a cop this AM.