Reply to Are bikes allowed to go through red lights on major roads?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Biker here.  My rule of thumb is to roll through red lights and stop signs PROVIDED that it has no effect on any traffic that would normally have the right-of-way.   If a car has to slow down (or jam on its brakes) because I'm crossing against the light then that's a big mistake on my part.   However, sometimes the most efficient path is to roll through a stop sign if the driver to my left or right is starting to slow for a stop - by the time they are actually stopped, I'm long through the intersection and they can actually get going more quickly than if I come to a complete stop.

There's some simple physics also.  [b]It's a PIA to get a bike going again after coming to a complete stop.  If you have to do that every block, it gets really bad.[/b]  Better for everyone if I slow down, verify that there is no oncoming traffic, and then keep the momentum going. [/quote]

Inconvenience is not really a good reason to ignore traffic laws. [/quote]

You missed the final sentence; it's more convenient for you, the car drivers, if cyclists in front of you don't come to a complete stop and then have to start up all slowly again. If you really prefer being stuck behind a bike that's riding slowly, by all means, feel smug.

I've seen drivers do crazy things in D.C. as a driver, a pedestrian, and a cyclist (among them, I've seen cars just suddenly start going through intersections at red lights after being stopped; have seen them blow through red lights; have been rear-ended while stopped in my car at a red light by a driver who told me she thought it was going to turn green). I've seen cyclists do crazy things, too (the craziest was, I once got yelled at in my car by a guy on a bike who blew through a four-way stop I had stopped at, while riding the wrong way down a one-way street, and was mad at me for attempting to proceed through the intersection without looking to see if someone was coming the wrong way down the other block). All things being equal, I'd say drivers do crazy things more often -- there are more drivers than cyclists -- and/but if I had to encounter someone breaking traffic laws, I'd rather they be on a bike. Very few bikes weigh over a ton or travel faster than 30 mph.[/quote]

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