Old 11-22-08, 11:51 AM
  #9  
zeytoun
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Please detail a specific incident where breaking the law increases a cyclists safety, becasue this sounds like the typical justification jingo.
Here's one:

Classic 4-way, signaled intersection, 1 lane in each direction, good sight lines. There are no left-turn arrows, just a green light, and left turners yield. (pretty common intersection across the country).

A cyclist is in front, waiting towards the left side of the lane to make a left turn. Many cars are behind him (most going straight), and quite a few cars on the opposite side going straight. The light is green for cross traffic, but the cyclist can see well down the road in both directions and there is not a car in sight.

Legally, the cyclist should wait for the green, and yield for all the oncoming traffic before making the left. Meanwhile, the cars behind him are either squeezing by or are forced to wait. There's a good chance that there will be no gap in oncoming traffic until the light turns yellow.

I would suggest that running the red light would probably be the safer move in this case.

(also, this is actually a pretty common scenario)

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