you are free to do whatever you want, so long as you are willing to accept the consequences for it.

evanyc: there are always more cops, and cops have radios. if they want you, they'll get you, and then they'll charge you with whatever the original infraction was, plus running from the cops. sure, they've got better things to do, but if an officer of the law asks you to stop, and you've done something wrong and know it, you should accept the consequences. rent-a-cops and your standard pedestrian, however are different animals entirely.

seriously, does it make people feel tougher, or more "hardcore" to run lights and stop signs? it doesn't take that long to wait for most lights to turn green. if you want respect on the road, you have to give respect, and that means respecting the traffic laws, even if most of them "shouldn't apply to bikes."

the last few blocks before my house have 4-way stops at all of them. i see cyclists and motorists alike run them like they don't exist. i stop for them because i don't want some a-hole in an SUV to blow the sign and run me over. chances are, they wouldn't stop, and no one would care, and someone would steal my wallet and bike before an ambulance or police came.

with everyone getting all up in arms about cyclists getting hit on the road and dying, you'd think more people would want to respect the laws and do everything in their power to make sure it doesn't happen to them. stopping at a stop sign when you don't see any cars around might just save your life.