Rolling stops through red lights in the city
 

For the past 4 years, I've commuted a lot to my work which is a 22 mile round trip. The ride is pretty nice and peaceful. But I've left that job and just starting to commute to my new job which is 36-38 miles round trip. The exercise and scenery are really nice and this commute bring me into a different town which is philly. I work in the heart of the city and enjoy the commute but one thing I've been doing is just slowing down at red lights and watching for incoming traffic. If there is traffic, I stop and out a leg down. If not, I slow down and roll through.

For the folks who commute in big cities, what do you do?

I'd check with local regulations .. At the University of Oregon Town, Eugene, every fall the EPD would do an "education campaign"

writing Citations to Bicycle riders riding thru stop signs, lights and not having proper lights on their bikes.

When in Rome. If Philly is anything like NJ and NYC the cyclists don't even slow down at controlled intersections. I rode for 30 years like that. In Portland the VAST majority of cyclists observe red lights to a fault and do at least a touch and go at stop signs. I stop for lots more red lights now because that is the culture. Give it time. You will learn soon enough which signs and lights get taken seriously and which ones get blown off. As always, however, only you know how much money you have to work with. Bet with your head, not over it.

How slow is slow? I wouldn't worry if you slowed down slower than motorists' doing rolling stops.

Just don’t do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfoh...ature=youtu.be

My commute is 31 miles total, and I only have to go through 2 traffic lights just about 1 mile apart. It's all neighborhoods and rural roads otherwise. But those traffic lights either always have cross traffic (even at 6:30 AM), or only change to red if there is traffic on the cross street. So yeah, I always have to stop. I roll stop signs if no one is around but never traffic lights. I'm not that brave.

Interestingly, I pass a new outlet mall under construction every day, and they're adding 2 new light controlled intersections for the mall, immediately north of one of the traffic lights I already go through (very busy major intersection). One of those lights is replacing a 3-way stop where the side street was recently blocked off and will almost never have traffic. That means it will likely stay green most of the time, and I won't have to stop where I currently do stop for the 3-way stop sign. So that will be nice. The other new light is for traffic coming out of the new mall, so I expect that one to change regularly on my commute home (not so much at 6:30 AM). That's going to suck, because it's right on a nice downhill where I usually get up to 20+ mph.

Good advice. There are 126 lights on my 7.5 mile commute.

omg I would go insane.

I got a red light ticket on my bike a few weeks ago for blatantly running a red in front of a Chicago cop. My bad. Now I'm a little paranoid about it, so I am a little more hesitant at red lights. Usually I come to a stop (or near stop if as I approach it's completely clear on the cross streets) then go through.

I've got one I roll through every morning. It's an entrance into a grocery store, and it's always red. I just slow down enough to make sure there isn't anyone coming, then go right through.

Really? That's one light every hundred yards. I'd start looking for another route. There are 12 lights on my 7 mile commute and some days they are all red and it gets me batty. For the OP: I generally stop for lights, but will roll through if nobody is around (at 6:15 in the morning it's not an issue).

Bit less, 264 feet on average, 20 blocks to the mile. The MUP adds a mile and a half to the ride and for various reasons you can't, and shouldn't, go as fast.

I never run or roll through red lights but I do something probably just as bad if I'm running late.

I'll make a right on red, go about 50 feet and then U turn and make a quick right. Obviously, I only do this when there are no other vehicles (including other cyclists) in sight, and in Seattle that is generally only if I am on the commute before 530 AM or so.

I do that maneuver too, not so much to save time, but to avoid unclipping.

When I feel it is safe, I go. If I'm the only vehicle at that intersection, the light may be on a sensor or camera actuated system which will be unlikely to detect a bike. I'm not going to sit and wait for car to come along.

Marc

That's actually legal now in Seattle for both bicycles and motorcycles, but you have to wait at least one full cycle where the magnet sensor fails to detect you first.

That can be a loooonnnngggg wait at some intersections.

Another evil thing I admit I do is I selectively become a pedestrian, only without dismounting, especially at T intersections where the only possible directions are straight and left... if there is no right turn possible from my position, meaning no cars are crossing in front of me, I will often go onto the sidewalk (but not if pedestrians are present) and cruise past the intersection, then pop back on the street 30 feet later once out of the intersection.

But if the lights say STOP for vehicles but the crosswalk next to me is GO for peds, I'm a ped and I'm in the crosswalk.

I have 6 or 7 lights to go through in 20 miles. Most lights I'll come to a normal stop like a vehicle and rarely roll through a red. One light shown below is essentially a 3 way intersection even though technically cars could go through the intersection from top left to bottom right they seldom do so I just take the path shown in green if the light is red.

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...hmentid=473960

That has been legal in all 50 states for a very long time. It's part of the Uniform Vehicle Code that all states use as their template for traffic rules. Colorado's Vehicle Code states

A car doesn't have to sit at a light forever until it turns green if the light is malfunctioning. Bicyclists don't have to sit at lights either...if the light is malfunctioning.

I find, however, that a major problem with cyclists and motorists as well as the general public is that they don't have a clue as to how an inductive loop...the "magnet" sensor...works or how to position themselves so that they can actually trip the light. If you ride directly over the wire in the pavement, the light can be easily tripped even by a carbon fiber bike. It's not the bike that trips the system but the wheels of the bike that trip the system.

It might be that not all trigger systems are the same.

I'm motorcycle licensed, and at the certification course the instructors told us that even a motorcycle can fail to trigger the light, despite positioning the wheels right over the outline.

Maybe the sensitivity of the system can be tuned? After all, you wouldn't want a raccoon dragging a hubcap to be able to trip the signal.

This link does make it sound like the legality of going through the light is a new thing for Washington, though, maybe it's just poor research on the part of the journalist.

Governor Inslee signs the ?Dead Red? bill into law | Seattle Bike Blog

And then there are companies making products to capitalize on the frustration of waiting at an endless light:

Seattle Cycle Center, Inc. - Amanet Red Light Changer

Although you are quite right, it's not a magnet sensor, it's an induction sensor and so you don't need to have iron and even carbon fiber will cause an induction disturbance if positioned right over the sensor.

Maybe but I've had to explain myself to cops before and now, I guess I still will but I'll have some recent headlines to refer to.

In addition to the dead reds I've been pretty routinely rolling red lights at T intersections w/ no cross traffic in my direction. It's usually not too hard to hop onto and off of the curb to become even more pedestrian-like in those circumstances, if I feel like I want to.

That's a whole other issue, a lot of induction sensors where I commute are being unplugged and replaced by cameras that do not see cyclists. There's no indicator of whether a sensor is actually connected or not. When connected, they work, obviously.

That's what I do. For stop lights -
1. Always at least slow down
2. If there is very very clearly no one else at the intersection, and I have a good view to see anywhere cars would be coming from, roll through at reduced speed
3. In any other circumstances come to a complete stop - any cars at the intersection at all, not having a good view, etc
4. After coming to a stop, if I can see that there's absolutely no traffic I'll conflict with by going through the red, I'll go through the red. A lot of times it makes things easier for drivers when the light does change that they're not conflicting for space with a slower moving bicycle in the intersection.
5. If that's not the case, I just wait for the light to change.

Go for it OP! I know the lights in my route I can blow through and the ones I can't. When I am out in the suburb part it is very unlikely I will be able to go through a red, minus the one light that is at a T intersection. Once I am in the city it is fairly easy to get through the lights, though I have been more hesitant since college started back up