sfreitas323

This is just a matter of curiosity here.

Do you as a bicycle commuter Really abide all traffic laws? I mean as a cyclist one of the bright sides is being in that venn diagram between being in a car and being a pedestrian.

obviously i don't mean be reckless and weave in and out of traffic and endanger yourself. but for an example if you're at a red light, and there are no oncoming cars, will you run it?

hammandegger

yeah, most of the time i run it

i can't help myself.

MijnWraak

I obey all traffic lights and other laws.

The thing I do NOT do is make a complete stop at stop signs especially and right-on-red turns. I have 6 stop signs on my commute. I put my foot down at 2 every time. 1 when there is traffic. The other three I usually blast through since I can see pretty far at those spots.

unterhausen

my motto is "no witnesses, no stop." Having said that, on my commute I stop every time

wolfchild

If there isn't a lot of traffic around me, then yes I will run red lights and stop signs.

TurbineBlade

Ditto -- I can see and hear quite well, and when I come through town it's 5:30 am. There is absolutely nothing "unsafe" about how I ride, though I NEVER blast through lights without breaking stride like a lot of folks do.

I do an Idaho stop, and since it's not legal to do so around DC I am technically breaking the law every time I ride.

In almost 4 years I've never had an accident.

TurbineBlade

BTW - no one is a law-abiding citizen. Everyone has their own standard of what they feel is safe -- including drivers.

DC has installed red-light cameras at many locations with great success, and speeding on the I-495 and I-270 interstates around here generates massive income.

Drivers break the law just as often as any cyclist, and they do it at a greater risk to other peoples' safety.

scottsmith

if lateral visibility is good and there's nothing around, I won't bother stopping.

I also will exceed the speed limit when I'm capable of it (when the limit is 40km/h down a nice big hill) and if it's safe to do so (no kids running around and light/no traffic).

I don't like to lane-split, but occasionally on busy roads, I will ride the sidewalk for a bit, but only if vehicle traffic is heavy and pedestrian traffic is light.

Or if there's a police car nearby, obviously I'll stick as close to the letter as possible.

Cheers

mconlonx

Not law-abiding. I try to break the speed limit every chance I get. Usually, however, I fail. But there's this one hill...

If I ever get a speeding ticket on a bike, I will frame it.

nelson249

Very well put.

jpatkinson

I absolutely won't run red lights ($200 in SF for that one, and cyclists DO get ticketed here). I don't put my foot down at stop signs, unless a car is already at the 4w stop, but I come as close to a stop as I can. I never ride on side walks. I am sure I look like a Fred with my day-glo yellow jacket, front and rear lights, but I just want to make it home alive to my family. I don't understand why everyone is in such a hurry, frankly.

UberGeek

Not meaning to hijack, but every report I've seen on red light cameras, it seems to increase accidents, and drain the budgets of the cities where they are installed.

I agree 100% here

justadude

I've seen too many close calls and injuries, and at least one cyclist fatality at intersections. Stop and count "one Mississippi, two Mississippi" while looking around. Running the red light or stop sign is not worth the risk. Even when visibility is perfect as you approach, running through them establishes a bad habit and sense of safety that might harm you the next time your visibility is partially blocked or less than perfect.

scottsmith

I know right! Big time!

justadude

As drivers adapt and unlearn bad habits of tailgating and accelerating through yellow and just-changed red lights, the initial increase in rear-end collisions as a percentage of intersection accidents drops off. Drivers running red lights decreases too. Since running red lights is major cause of intersection accidents, in general intersection accidents decrease as drivers learn to comply. The cameras cost money to install and increase in tickets costs administrative processing, but revenues from tickets offset that. Proper budgeting, matching revenues to costs, is all that's needed to make it a feasible and probably profitable initiative.

making

I leave for work about 0430. Often I approach an itersection there are no cars or any sign of movement for miles. If I waited for a green light I might be there till lunch if no large chunks of metal (cars) show up. Do you guys really stop in situaltions like that? Really?

UberGeek

I'd say no, and many drivers don't either lol

gdhillard

I try to be smart and good, as compared to law abiding. I also try to be a good example of a bicyclist for the car crowd.

dolanp

I try not to run red lights unless it's obviously not going to get triggered by my bike. Stop signs however I will slowly roll through if nobody's coming because I don't want to have to unclip.

justadude

I would stop. If it's rural and 04:30 like that, and light not changing: I'd look around, listen, and go when it's clear. I've seen intersections like that have flashing red lights in all directions overnight so you can stop, look, and then go.

coyotebanjo

Wisdom. As I've cycled more, I've become less & less ambivalent about such cameras: anything that makes drivers pay ANY more attention to traffic laws strikes me as a good thing.

Kojak

I do my best to do as traffic does. I don't necessarily come to a full stop at stop signs, but I do wait my turn at a 4 way stop. I at the very least stop at stop lights. If I'm sitting for a while, and there's no traffic I'll pull through. I generally try to conduct myself in a way so as not to make myself a target of some enraged bicycle hating driver. If one blatantly flouts traffic laws, it just provides fodder for their hate.
I also agree with TurbineBlade, most everyone has their own interpretation as to which laws are meant to be obeyed, and which ones you can ignore. There's a 4 way stop near my house and you could sit there all day long and never see a car come to a complete stop, and yet there's never been an accident there, at least that I've ever seen.

Tundra_Man 

For the most part I do. As someone else mentioned, we all break traffic laws on occasion.

I do have one stretch on my morning commute on the edge of the downtown area. There is a long gentle downhill where the speed limit is 20, then goes around a couple of curves and gets noticably steeper as the speed limit raises to 25. I think I break the speed limit by a few MPH on this entire 1/2 mile stretch. Never gotten a ticket for it though, and really doubt I ever will as there are usually cars trying to pass me in the 20mph section.

Seattle Forrest

I was in a car this one time, when the light in front of me turned red, so I stopped. The guy behind me stopped, too, but only because he ran into me. It would have been safer for me to run the light. So ... slavish devotion to the law isn't for me.

imi

nah, I run a red on my commute if no-ones around. However when touring fully loaded I ride legally all the time.