Originally Posted by spare_wheel

I strongly disagree. The John Allen's of the world would have use line up, wait, and breathe exhaust at intersections. Not only is this damaging to a cyclist's health but it maximizes contact with the sizable minority of distracted, and clueless drivers in the precise space where cyclists are most at risk.

IMO, the single most important rule when it comes to urban commuting is to get the @#$% away from motorists at intersections. If the coast is clear the safest thing to do is to always run the light or traffic signal.

Originally Posted by Jim from Boston

…One public reflection of those motorists’ attitudes is occasionally expressed on a talk radio show here in Boston, The Howie Carr Show, with anti-cycling rants as the topic. I once called in with this reply about filtering and (carefully) running red lights.

IMO, just as when the behemoth dinosaurs were co-existing with little furry mammals, they may have been not necessarily predators and prey, but I’m sure a survival strategy for the mammals was to stay away from the dinos just to avoid getting trampled. So too, my survival sense tells me, don’t congregate with cars when they jam up at intersections; and look who won out by following the Law of Survival.

Fortunately my rides are at early hours on lightly-traveled residential, light commercial and exurban roads, and anyways, Boston drivers are notorious for their own “trangressions.”