Which is kinda strange, because anytime I ride in Cali (my parents live in Redding & I grew up in the East Bay, but I now live in British Columbia), I see cars coming to a COMPLETE stop at stop signs! I am impressed because here in Greater Vancouver, cars tend to just cruise thru the stop signs (even though we still have no Idaho Law here). Enforcement in Vancouver is pretty lax. And it really annoys me that most bike riders just blow thru stop signs without even slowing down, and they go thru red lights, sometimes even stopping first. I grew up in Cali, so I tend to be more law-abiding, but I still "pretend" to come to a stop at stop signs, long enough to make sure there is no traffic. I've heard that errant bike riders have actually collided at intersections because neither slowed down for the stop sign. Serves 'em right! But I just hope I never get clobbered by some fool on a bike running a stop sign.

I guess every locale has its own traffic etiquette. When I was in Montreal in the 70's, bikies just ignored stop signs and red lights, and drivers expected it. I think that's the culture that the Critical M*******s are trying to engender here, but I think it impedes the efficiency of traffic flows. I prefer a well-engineered system, but that relies on all the components working in unison. And because of human nature, we end up with "volume delays," which could be largely avoided if people just drove properly & cooperatively. But because some are greedy, or think their time is more important, we end up with "standing waves" and mass traffic delays. Which is why I am far less frustrated in traffic on my bike!

Luis