I'm a courteous rider and driver. Haven't had a ticket in 22 years of driving. Today was the first time I've headed to work mid-day. Apparently the timing on the lights changes between the morning, when I generally ride, and now. Whoops. I timed a light like I generally do and ended up taking a left turn through a red light. Fortunately the green wasn't for the cross traffic or I would have been in trouble. It was green for those coming the opposite direction. Probably had a few cagers in their A/C enclosures cursing me under their breath. No harm done...

I hate it when that happens; I have a light in a valley on my commute home that, if I'm riding smooth, I cross through at 31mph just as it turns yellow. It's caught me off guard a couple times, though, resulting in quick stops and dirty thoughts about the uphill on t'other side (and the city planners...). Only once have I blown through it (by accident), and I almost got run over by the bishop's wife. I think she still doesn't know it was me....

Glad to hear you're all right.

You are a bad person.

I have several lefts that are arrowed, but the arrows only activate when there is a vehicle sensed in the left lane. If the left arrow doesn't activate, obviously, the oncoming traffic has the green at the same time as my direction of travel. Gotta watch out for that.

Consider me scolded.

I'll do a yield at stop signs, but the only time I run red lights is when they don't detect me and skip me. Even then, I make sure nobody is coming.

There is alight right beside work that is activated by presence of cars. My bike will not trip sensors so I must run the redlight. Luckily I leave late at night and view is unobscured well down the road. Yet I still feel guilty every time I run it.

I know a guy who runs red lights every day.. and not just 1 or 2... almost every single one he can find !

I've ran a few. On Franklin Blvd there are tons of lights that never trip. Especially at 5:00am. No traffic, me, the crazy people.

Careful...my buddy just got a ticket for running a red.

If the sensors aren't detecting your bike (and it has a metal frame) then the sensor is malfunctioning or you aren't stopping on it. Usually there are little grooves in the pavement where the loop is embedded. If you're stopped on that and the light doesn't change after a reasonable time you should contact your city streets maintenance department and report the sensor is not detecting your vehicle.

You are an evil man and you should be spanked.

I position my frame right over the metal sensor [you can see it] and it never works. If the light skips me, I make a right, then pull a U-turn instead of running straight through.

feel free to call me stupid, but is it illegal to run a red in on your bike? I really do it all the time, many times per commute. I always stop and check for traffic, then ride right through.

I've been bad about stop signs lately, many I just wizz by at 20mph or so.

In California, the vehicle code applies to all vehicles, including bicycles. Pretty hefty fine for running a red light or stop sign.

When I went to college at a California state university I would watch police officers pulling over bicyclists on a regular basis for failing to stop at stop signs. Every time I had time to wait and watch I would see the officer issuing a citation to the cyclist, most likely for a violation of California vehicle code. They would do it fairly regularly near a bus stop I would wait at, at the bottom of a very long hill.

Yeah. It is.


And you are.

Is it illegal to run a red light in your car? Same answer for bikes. Except when the light sensor isn't detecting your bike (then the light is malfunctioning and you're ok to treat it as a stop sign).

Ever wondered what would happen if a car that you couldn't see due to fast speeds went through that intersections just as you were going through it?...

One of my bikes is all carbon fiber. There's no way it will ever trip those sensors.

Hell, my steel Lemond doesn't trip them either.

I was flipping through a copy of "Urban Bikers' Tricks & Tips" by Dave Glowacz at a friend's house the other day, and it had a bit to say about this; First of all, they suggested laying your bike flat on the sensor, as this will put more metal closer to the inductive loop. But, it also had a photo of this cool little product; a big magnet that you attach to the bottom of your pedal. This should trip even the most unruly sensors.