Originally Posted by
Doug64
I used to have the same problem. I finally started putting one foot down which helps, but does not totally alleviate the problem.
My wife and I were sitting in a brew pub in Eugene, Oregon last night having dinner. It is a bike town, and it was a busy time. We had a window seat where I had a good view of a 4-way stop intersection. During the time we were there, I saw at least 2 dozen cyclist blow right through the stop sign. A few did a half second pause or a very short track stand, only one took the lane, stopped, put his foot down, and then moved across.
Experience has taught this cyclist that a lot cyclists can't be trusted to obey the traffic laws, which means you really can't any. Last week a guy blew through a stop sign in our small town and a car smacked into him. The cyclist was cited for failure to yield the right of way. I'm not sure if it was before or after they took him to the hospital.
You do know that one need not put a foot down to make a legal stop, don't you? Would you expect motorists to open their doors and put their feet on the ground at stop signs? A complete cessation of forward travel, behind the limit line, is all that is required.
Other than that, yes most cyclists run stop signs, as do pretty much all motorists. As we say around here, "They ride like they drive."
Oh, and calling Eugene a "bike town" shows a lack of understanding of what a bike town is. With fewer than 10% of all in-town commuters choosing bikes and a loss of nearly 25% of said bike commuters over the past five years, this is only a bike town in the tallest midget sense of the word. We don't even have a single local elected official who rides a bike.