Digital_Cowboy

I've heard that the steel plate/cleat associated with clipless pedals can also be used to trip a reluctant sensor.

bluefoxicy

Because of how many nice bikes I've nearly ground up to pulp because they do stupid **** and I don't see them until I'm skidding on my brakes. There was even one guy on a fixed gear running red lights... traffic going north-south had left turn arrow, lots of turning traffic at speed, no jams. This guy coming east, runs through the traffic, swerves, slips through moving cars, swerves again through more moving cars, makes his left turn.

The cyclists can be Darwin award winners but bikes take human labor to manufacture and destroying them is bad for the economy. We could give those bikes to someone intelligent who has the hard luck to not be able to afford car/gas/insurance.

Digital_Cowboy

+1,000

Or as others here have said when people have either suggested new laws, or amendments to preexisting laws that one always has to consider the unintended consequences. When one runs a red light or stop sign they may not be aware of the fact that they've just set off a whole chain-reaction of events that can and possibly will impact others and possibly for years to come.

So to those who say that if they run a red light/stop sign they're only "impacting" themselves, I have to ask do you want to be responsible for causing someone to suffer mental/emotional anguish because you couldn't wait for the light to change, or wait a few seconds before proceeding through an intersection controlled by a stop sign? Or do you want to be responsible for a driver swerving off of the road to avoid hitting you and instead ending up hitting and severely injuring or killing a small child?

Digital_Cowboy

[QUOTE=Slaninar;14007843][QUOTE=squirtdad;14007788]Think about this, how many criminals might have escaped justice because they were breaking some minor law but the police turned a "blind eye" to it because it was a "minor law." Ted Bundy had been stopped for a minor traffic violation (if I remember correctly) but had been able to talk his way out of it. Had the cop conducted a search of his car he would have found a cut up body in garbage bags in the backseat.

I'm sure that they do, but considering that it's not just your life on the line if you should make an error in judgement, but the lives of other innocent bystanders is it really worth the risk? So you have to wait a minute or two at a red light, or you have to do a trackstand and wait a few seconds at a stop sign.

It's a small price to pay not to ruin someone else's life.

Digital_Cowboy

Probably sadly, in a lot of areas not much of anything. But I do know that when I've seen motorists parking their cars in the bike lane and I've called it into the non-emergency number that they HAVE sent an officer out to have a chat with the person(s) who have parked in the bike lane.

Digital_Cowboy

True, BUT there are still laws/rules that they have to follow and they DO apply equally to ALL large trucks.

Digital_Cowboy

Agreed, it's so funny how the same people will ***** and moan about how motorists do this or that to them while out riding, but they feel justified in breaking the laws/rules themselves. Using the claim "hey the ONLY one that I'm hurting/endangering with my actions." I guess it's asking too much of them for them to stop a second and consider the unintended consequences of their actions.

Digital_Cowboy

I have a couple of trails (two are actually different segments of the same trail) that have a 20MPH (32.18688KPH), 25MPH (40.2336KPH) and 10MPH (16.09344KPH). The trail(s) that have 25/10MPH (32.18688KPH/16.09344KPH) speed limits is/are the same trail i.e. The City Trails in St. Petersburg, Fl, actually all three "trails" are pretty much one and the same.

Digital_Cowboy

Actually, I think that he might have been agreeing with the statement.

I would also like to know how many professional/commercial drivers have "walked" away from driving because some JAB ran out in front of them and they didn't have the time/room to stop in time to avoid hitting them.

Okay, I stand corrected, he wasn't agreeing with the other poster.

Digital_Cowboy

That is something that I have wondered about for a very long time. Sadly, it's my understanding that even if asked pointblank if they're a cop working undercover that they do not have to tell the truth.

But if "we" lie to them there is a whole host of charges that they can slap "us" with.

Bike Gremlin

That's why a man should always drive safely after robbing a bank.


When I run red lights, I do so when I'm 100% sure it is safe. I've been hit by a car 3 times so far and each time I had green light and right of way. I saw car slowing down, but it wasn't because they even noticed me - back on gass -bam! For me it turns out it is safer going on red lights when I'm sure there's no cars that can get to me. What do you say about that?!

It would be nice if all the people drove safely and respected the law. Since that is not the case and I can't change the world, I do what gives me less hassle (but lets me sleep at night). That's why I keep running red lights, going wrong way in one way streets (also when there is no traffic), using grass, roads, parking lots as shortcuts etc. Living on the edge! )))

Digital_Cowboy

Or maybe not break the law in the first place.

Sadly I've had more than a few close calls with motorists who themselves weren't respecting the lights or who on a road that appeared not to have any cross traffic have suddenly appeared after exiting a parking lot that I was unable to see the exit for.

Or as in the case this past December, as I was sitting at a stop sign at a four-way stop I had the driver of a BMW who couldn't wait for the other car on the side of the intersection opposite from him to clear the intersection and instead cut the turn short in front of said car and turn right into my lane hitting me head on. Had I been moving i.e. running the stop sign we would have hit with much greater force. And instead of just destroying my front wheel (which he did replace) he probably would have severally damaged my bicycle and/or seriously injured me in the process.

As long as you can sleep with yourself when your selfishness causes some other person to have nightmares because they hit you or worse they end up hitting an innocent bystander. As you are being just as selfish as the motorists that most of us here complain about as well as the driver of the BMW who hit me back in December.

As had he NOT been selfish and only concerned about getting wherever it was that he was going he would have waited for the other car to clear the intersection before he went. But no, he had to make his turn out of turn and he ended up hitting me because of it.

I have also had close calls with other cyclists who have also run red lights. My only response in those cases was to call out a "see that's why you don't run red lights."

But just keep on telling yourself whatever it takes to make your "safe" actions alright in your brain. Just don't come back here complaining when some cop pulls you over for running a red light/stop sign or when you end up getting hit by a car that you didn't see.

CB HI

So you think it is common place for trains to run into church buses killing lots of kids. How did you guys jump from cyclist going through red lights with no one close enough to hit them, to trains hitting church buses with kids.

Your's and catmandew52's extrapolation is extreme.

Since it was catmandew52 that started the train claims, then he gets to go first with proof. And one off extreme cases do not count.

And I see you are back to the tactic of trying to puts words in others mouths that you can then argue against.

I gave you a few examples of drivers injuring cyclist without remorse (even when it was the motorist fault); please do show all the articles of the drivers with such severe trauma that they gave up driving for life. Did any of the non-drivers involved in your accident claims give up driving for life?

david58

CB HI, you are very entertaining. Thanks for my morning lift.

JimCanuck

I once got stopped by a cop, back in high school still, cause I was apparently speeding in a school zone. Next day I picked up a speedometer and have been careful about it.

As for running red lights, that is a 180$ fine here. Its also a 110$ fine not to stop at a stop sign.

Jim

Bike Gremlin

You a cop, or Ned Flanders?

Just joking.


What's the use of complaining? It might make me feel a bit relieved, but useless still. Got hit last time last September on a green light. Got hit several more times when having the right of way by careless drivers. Nothing I do will change drivers behaviour. I stay alert, careful and disregard rules when they are pointless in a particular situation. I find it silly to wait on an empty road for the light to change, knowing I won't get fined for it. Laws aren't always = justice, not even order for that matter. Guess our argument is more about mentality than anything else. When cops start fining cyclists for speeding, running red lights etc, I might change the practice, until then I like freedom.

chandltp

Most states have laws about non-functioning traffic lights. If you proceed through a red light after waiting several cycles, the light would be considered non-functioning and you wouldn't be breaking the law.

As a matter of practice, I have several lights that I can trigger *sometimes* with my bicycle. If they don't turn within 20 seconds of me arriving and there's no other traffic I proceed, since I know from experience if they aren't green by then they won't be. I could possible still get a ticket in that case (if there was a cop around of course), but give the amount of time I used to wait and my past experience I feel like I've done my due diligence.

Stealthammer

You have to place your bike properly over the induction loop. Induction loops work by detecting a change of inductance and even aluminum or carbon fiber bikes can be used to trigger them.

One of my favorite riding moments of last year was rolling up on a stop where a large group of full-dress Harleys were impatiently waiting for the left turn light to change for them. Apparently the two riders in front were not willing to roll on the red, so they were holding everyone else up, and none of their bikes were properly positioned over the induction loop to trigger it.

As I approached on my mountain bike, I swung very close to the front end of the 2nd rider in line and nearly touched the 1st rider's rear fender, to put myself directly over the induction loop, and then I did a quick trackstand that triggered the light. Then I hopped a couple of times to swing my front end clear of the 1st rider's bike and then I rode to the front of the line, just as the light changed.

As they passed me in the turn every passenger and several riders stared me down as if I had just levitated a car. I just smiled and nodded.

snowman40

I don't get why they quit. It isn't like they could swerve the train to avoid them or anything....not to seem gruesome (probably to late....) I'd have no problem if I hit someone. Someone made a mistake and it wasn't me. Trains don't exactly stop in remotely the same timeframe/distance as 18-wheelers, especially freight trains.

I agree, that seems like a really extreme few cases. Car vs train, train pummels car, flawless victory (assuming the engine is what makes contact, there could be some scratched, doubt it though). It sounds kinda like car vs bike, car pummels bike, victory (the car sustains some damage).

himespau 

And I know someone (a high school coach of mine actually) who hit a guy (both in cars) through no fault of his own (the other guy blew a stop sign and ran straight in front of him in a bad rainstorm where there was no visibility or ability to stop) and the other guy died. My coach was seriously messed up for a long time. You don't have to be driving a train to get messed up when someone dies, that's the point of the example not how many people quit afterwards. My coach still drove, but he was very uncomfortable doing so for as long as I knew him after that. The point is, if you pull out in front of someone, they hit you and you die, you're not the only one affected by it. Your family (probably) will be for starters, and there's a good chance that the guy who killed you is going to be f@#$ed up psychologically. You aren't the only victim of your actions. Railroad employee turnover isn't relevant to that overall point.

squirtdad

for anyone who questions the psychological impact on train engineers after killing a person on the the tracks...(in the range of 900 a year and increasing.... suicide by train is increasingf in the SF bay area.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/1319...engineers.html

https://www.mercurynews.com/ci_12970005

https://www.progressiverailroading.co...rience--23536#

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local...-52361717.html

And to restate my point. Running a red light is self centered behavior, with no real justification. All arguments as to it is only the cyclist at risk don't take in other consequences.

elkootcho

This is the street in the original post. Would you roll this light after checking for traffic? Yes, it's illegal but, be real, would you wait for a "walk" signal here? I'm not talking bombing the intersection without slowing.

weshigh

Location on Google Maps
https://g.co/maps/ppyuf

Do you know the lights operate for the MUP? I haven't ridden on it yet. Are they timed? Or do they activate when someone is getting near/push a button?

Were you riding the MUP and crossed Tyrone? If so it doesn't seem like running the red light would be the violation, but more like jay walking/riding. Or were you on Tyrone and ran the red across the MUP/OrangeLine Busway?

elkootcho

Riding the MUP and crossing Tyrone. The light is timed for the transit buses but there is a push button to eventually get a walk signal.

weshigh

Shouldn't that be a j-walking/crossing against signal ticket and not red light running ticket then? It is not clear you running any red lights, but crossing an intersection while the red stop hand was displayed.