Originally Posted by
JoeyBike
You didn't mention if you had to slam on your brakes or not? I make that move all the time. When the light turns green for crossing traffic, they don't all go at once. The first car goes, a gap appears behind them, then (at last) the second car starts rolling - leaving a gap behind them. Then the third car starts moving and so on. If any of the drivers are looking at their phones the gaps can be many car lengths between vehicles. A savvy city cyclist can see these gaps forming and hit them at speed. My buds and I even call the gaps "cellphone gaps". I hit them on a daily basis and never make the crossing traffic react to me. So....
...If he made you smack your brakes - shame on him. If you didn't have to do anything at all - how did this hurt you??
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I actually pay attention to the lights and the cars in front of me so I tend not to leave a gap. I tap on the gas as the car ahead starts to roll. I didn't say this hurt me, I said it's a good way to get flattened. Some people I know punch the gas pedal pretty hard on green and if I did that he would have been rolling in the road. Luckily I accelerate gently and as he flashed into my peripheral vision I was able to use my brakes normally.
Just because you do something stupid doesn't make not a good idea for everyone else. At the University students ride in the dark without lights going the wrong way on a one way and ignoring stop signs. I'm sure they avoid cars 99.99% of the time and when they don't it's their own fault.
Ignoring a red light in active traffic is stupid.