Originally Posted by
Leisesturm
You know those detective series like "Murder She Wrote"? Didn't it ever strike you as strange that one person would see so much murder up close? I mean... you go on vacation to relax, and the total stranger in the next room is killed in grisly fashion... you visit a foreign city to attend a Private Detective conference and the convention organizer winds up dead the night before they are due to present their latest paper on Forensic Psychology...
I slow for most intersections, and also stop for far more in Portland than I ever did in NYC. The intersections I am confident about and plan to run I do not slow down for! What would be the point? To an observer, it might look like I blew through without slowing down... because I did. It was as planned as anything else I will do that day. For those intersections with bad sight lines or traffic light patterns that are unfamiliar I will follow the letter of the law. It works well this balance of caution and recklessness, you should try it. Bike messengers do not get paid to watch the hair on their arms grow at long interval traffic intersections. They hustle because they must. You aren't paying them, why are you bothered?
I have not seen a car run a red light here in a while. Weeks. Where do you live that drivers are so criminal? Toronto? Surely not. The vast majority of drivers and cyclists alike are quite law abiding and conservative. It really pings my BS detector when posters like you rant about the rampant scofflaw culture that you (incorrectly) perceive as being the case. BS!!! Total BS. You cannot use the limited area served by bike messengers in NYC, Chicago, D.C. and Philly, (and Toronto... who knew...) as being indicative of the conduct of the mass of vehicular cyclists. But many do. A driver sees a cyclist saunter through a dead intersection and its a whole culture of lawlessness that must be corralled.
You will join us and exercise your right as a cyclist not to squander the inherent advantages given to you by God of low mass, low impact and extremely small footprint. There is much more likelihood of you being converted to the Dark Side, than that any current scofflaw will become a letter of the law goody goody. I suppose though an accident might bring about a sea change in behavior... until then, however... Banzai!!
My father's house cleaner witnessed a fatal electric scooter vs car accident on the way to work. The scooter is very similar to a bike so this is relevant:
The scooter was at a red light waiting to go straight. The car was approaching from the perpendicular direction, also going straight. The accident occurred through a combination of the scooter starting too early (the lights here have countdown timers) and the car failing to stop for a light change. Obviously someone was running a red, because the the rider was t-boned at high speed by a car which was accelerating to squeeze through the end of its light cycle. In her own words:
"I saw the rider get hit. He struggled for a few moments, but then his belly swelled up dramatically (from internal bleeding) and he ceased to move".
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The moral of this story is a) whether you are driving or riding, don't run red lights; b) even if it's your green, look both ways before you cross, because you never know when some inattentive driver is going to come around and end you.
You sound young. Hopefully you'll grow a brain before you become this guy. I don't know you and I have zero interest in convincing you or changing your mind. Your actions are your own responsibility. Good luck.