Pedaleur, the stakes are much higher with cars than with bikes. Implying that the risks are comparable is just silly.

The problem is not the cyclist that roll after slowing to a near stop and checking for traffic, the problem is when cyclists don't slow down at all and run into paths of cars and expect the cars to stop for them...that's the issue. And if you want to go that far a car could be just as safe to roll up to a red light an go through once traffic is clear. So your point is purely based on ignorance, the law is the law, follow the law or move to Mexico or some other 3rd world country where that sort of stuff is thrown out the window. I remember being in Moscow and car drivers were driving down sidewalks during rush hour, move there it's real fun for cyclists living there.

Laws are to keep the unskilled majority of cyclists and motorists safe from their lack of abilities. And if you want to state the Idaho law most cyclists in that state OPPOSED that law!! And in the UK and Europe cyclists death are on a dramatic upswing due to cyclists running stops.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8191308e-4...#axzz2m91ytsg4 This is just one of many sites about this. And giving cyclists the ability to run stops simply gives more ammo to motorists to hate us even more which would lead to more confrontations.

Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the largest per capital bike ridership in the world, all the cyclists stop for red lights and go for green lights.

But we has cyclists owe it to our relationship with motorists to obey the same laws they do if we are ever going to earn our respect from them. I'm not saying that I never roll a stop light, but only if there is clearly no traffic even close to my position that may be upset with my action. Sundays during certain time of the day the traffic is almost non existent in downtown Fort Wayne, so I slow down do my traffic/cop check and go, but the nearest car is at least a block away before I do so, or the sensor won't acknowledge my bike being there so after I stop then a couple of minutes have gone by I'll go through the light if traffic is clear enough for me to do so.

:innocent: Side note: don't get in the habit of running reds or treating them as stop signs if you also drive a car. Yesterday I was sitting at red light on a cross-street, thinking of bikes, forgot myself and when the traffic cleared, just decided to go. Through the light. Making a left onto the main street. Duh. Not the best move in St. Paul. With cops around.

:eek: :innocent:

:lol:

When I'm driving and approaching a queue of cars, I often catch myself moving over as if to cut past/between them all even when I'm going straight. Doesn't work so well in a car.

Bwahahahahahahhaha! Thanks for the laugh rekmeyata.

In point of fact, there has been an upswing in accidents associated with advanced stop lines and painted bike lanes. Whether this upswing is statistically significant or even relevant to your point is entirely unclear. Please try again.

Anal retentive fuss-budgetry.

:50: old people's version ... It Depends ..

5) A Foolish Consistency Is The Hobgoblin of Small Minds

When is it ever legal to run a red light regardless of where you live? Cops may not care if they see you run a red light or a stop sign but when you get / caused an accident, you can rest assure you'll be getting a citation.

If there's no traffic then the accident will be all my own. Where I live many lights are driven by a traffic sensor that won't turn green for my bicycle. I'd be running many lights anyway though. A bicycle can get much more visibility than a car and maneuver much better too. The intersection that requires a light for safety in a car does not for a bicycle.

Or a coffin.

lmao

Bicycle Media: “The Idaho Stop”
Idaho Stop Link
Idaho Stop Video Here
Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

...Surprisingly enough, this video that was mainly intended to educate a few state legislators about a relatively obscure law managed to go a little bit viral, at least by bicycle activism standards. 67k views at last count! It showed me the potential for this medium’s ability to explain things that are otherwise difficult to convey.
http://www.rockettreeart.com/wp-cont...idaho_stop.jpg
http://www.rockettreeart.com/wp-cont...o_s01_0586.png
http://www.rockettreeart.com/wp-cont...entum_0143.png

Car with 150 hp is rarely driven using all the 150 hp. Just as a cyclist can sometimes put out a lot more than 100 W - for short periods of time.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...ffic-laws.html

I make sure I'm safe without scaring or forcing drivers to brake, or swerve. If it's no traffic - I run red lights, stop signs, wrong way streets - you name it.

In the case of a red light at T-intersections, I'll usually either just wait or I'll get off my bike and walk across using the sidewalk.

:lol:

Legal? No. Almost certainly not. Many people do and I actually realize that in such a situation waiting for the light is pretty much completely pointless, but I've got this weird hangup about always obeying the law 100% - I think (actually in some cases I know for sure) that people see me doing it and they remember that not every cyclist is a scofflaw - which is of course the case but as we all know, it's the scofflaws that stand out in people's minds. I have an opportunity where I ride because there are so few cyclists, anyone that sees me will almost certainly not see any other cyclists all day, so I have a chance to set people's opinions that most cyclists do not.

So I will stop and wait at a stop light in the middle of nowhere with no cars anywhere to be seen in any direction. But I guess I'm a weirdo.

Waiting at a signalized intersection when there is no traffic is silly. I will always proceed through the red light in circumstances like this. Last night while coming home I encountered such an intersection. The intersection had great lines of sight. I noticed a idling police car facing me across the street in a parking lot next to a bar. I slowed to <10mph and made very visible left and right head motions to signal I wasn't an idiot, and cruised right through the red. As I approached the police car, the officer swung out of the parking lot quite suddenly and pulled up next to me. "I saw your lights a mile away! Is that a Cygolite?" he asked. I stopped and we talked about lights for several minutes. Turns out he builds DYI bike lights and thanked me several times for being so well lit!

You'r enot weird, relax. I obey the law most of the time, if I'm out in the middle of nowhere and come to a stop sign I will roll through at about 5 maybe 10 mph IF I have a direct line of sight in both directions for at least a 1/4 of mile and if I can see there's no traffic I roll, but if it's a traffic light in the middle of nowhere I will stop then look both ways before going, but in the city I don't do that I stop and wait for the light UNLESS the sensor in the street doesn't see my bike and I've sat there for more then 2 minutes then I will proceed through the light but only when it's clear. And in all situations I check for cops.

Maybe the red light runners would encounter less opposition if they simply ran red lights without asking for the approval of the rest of the cycling community. I suspect we've all broken a law somewhere along the way, and in most cases, the violation was minor, harmless, and justifiable. But we still broke the law. We shouldn't expect to get tacit approval for driving 5mph over the speed limit, nor should we expect to get approval if we blow a redlight or stop sign. Accept that you're taking a calculated risk and accept the consequences if you get called on it. Alternately, lobby to have the law changed.

BB (that guy stopped at the light).