Originally Posted by Paul Barnard

I ride in and out of vehicular mode as conditions may warrant. My bicycle is so vastly different from my car that it seems absurd to behave the same on the two. There's not a law that I am not willing to break with proper risk assessment. I have no compunction whatsoever about running a red light or a stop sign. I use the same risk assessment passing through a green that I do when I pass through a red. Here's an interesting factoid. In every traffic light controlled accident, someone with a green light didn't make sure it was safe to proceed. So many people seem to be too hung up on the notion that stopping at a red or a stop sign makes them safe. It doesn't. Making sure nobody is coming before I proceed does. I do that irrespective of the traffic control device, be it a green light, yield sign or stop sign. I slow roll stops often, irrespective of my mode of transport, and I don't care what anyone else thinks. I never take the lane for the sake of asserting my "rights." If I take the lane, there's a specific reason for it. I have no problem sliding over so that faster traffic can pass by. That's the beauty of bicycling. I can easily get the hell out of the way of others, and I can do things I can't or wouldn't in an auto. This isn't rocket surgery here.