Rainier22

I've been riding my bike to college for about a month now, and I've began to notice how other students biking to school act in traffic. My city is known for having the longest stop lights in the state (we timed one at 4 minutes), so when I come to a red light on my bike, there is always that urge to become a pedestrian and use a crosswalk. I decide that to be respected as traffic, I need to behave as such - and I wait.

As I'm sure you've already guessed, every single rider I've ever seen rides over to the crosswalk and rides across, perhaps believing they have some bike-pedestrian right. They do so on when the lights say clearly not to cross and such, but all pedestrians do that. Then there are those that just blatantly run the light when cross traffic passes.

When cars are backed up, instead of riders acting as traffic, they will ride between the cars and the curb to get ahead - and then of course cross the stop light they are waiting at illegally.

One more point: at one point, I decided to be a pedestrian on the sidewalk because there was a lot of traffic on the road at that point, and I didn't want to get in the middle of that. I waited for my green hand signal to cross the road at the crosswalk. The traffic light turned green, but my crosswalk light did not - I waited. Then I was honked at! "What kind of idiot is this?! I can't go!" I thought. I turned around to see a police officer.

I'm saying all of this because people aren't going to respect bikers as traffic if they don't behave as such. These college riders ride distances measured in blocks on tiny streets, so they don't really experience what a lot of other riders do in the way drivers behave towards bikers. At least in my city, bikes are freelance modes of transportation that always have the right away apparently, even when the light is red or the cross walk sign says not to go. What else always has the right away? Pedestrians.

Okay, I'm done.

Rainier22

Feel free to move this to an appropriate board if so desired. I didn't realize we had a board that specializes in this stuff.

itsthewoo

There's nothing wrong with riding on the shoulder to get ahead of cars. Running stop lights/signs is another story though.

Bheleu

On stubborn lights I hop off my bike, push the crosswalk button, and walk it across. I do this because I have yet to glue some ND magnets to my cycling shoes (to trigger the light). The predominant problem for me is one specific intersection on campus that is an old traffic light system (and just won't trigger for a bicycle).

wunderkind

Ahh.... you can only do so if you ride a Hybrid. With a hybrid, you can become whatever you want. Anything!

Bianchigirll 

I judge wether to go on a red light or wait for the green but the intersection. if it is large busy intersectionand there is clearly no traffic coming I'll go before the green, but only after I have stopped and never using the cross walk.

coffeecake

You can trigger the sensored lights by lining your bike up directly over the cuts in the pavement. I haven't had to buy magnets to do this. If I'm waiting at an impossibly long light I'll get off, push the button and walk across the crosswalk.