Originally Posted by no tengo coche
. . .The real issue is I'm not in a car, I'm on a bike. It's silly to force bikes to follow car laws. . . .
I ride a bike for the specific reason of being able to blow stop signs and red lights. . . .
. . . Doesnt seem like the best allocation of tax funds.
With all due respect, I suggest you stop riding. If you keep riding, I wish you many tickets and sky-high insurance rates. If you fight tickets you deserve, I hope they tack on hundreds of dollars of costs.
Some cycling laws are stupid (as far right as practicticable and mandatory side path laws come to mind), but stop sign and red light laws are essential to keeping traffic flowing safely. The one thing cops could do to make cycling safer is to annouce that they will aggressively ticket all red light and stop sign violations (cars and bikes), and then to back up that annoucement with a blizzard of tickets.
Edit: Actually, I don't hope that you quit riding, but I do hope that you quit riding dangerously.