FLCC> [BHV] beware the "rules of the road"

[William Lodico]

Please don't think I'm suggesting blowing through red lights and stop  
signs.  It's a good way to get clobbered, or to clobber some other  
poor cyclist.

On the other hand, consider these instances when going through a red  
light might make sense on a bike (taken from my real world experience):

1.  You are waiting at a red light with a magnetic trip sensor, on  
your aluminum rimmed, kevlar spoked, carbon fiber bike, and there is  
no cross traffic or oncoming left turn traffic.  Do you have to wait  
until a car comes up behind or beside you to trip the sensor?  Do you  
have to go up on the sidewalk and push the walk button, if one is  
available, and then rush off the sidewalk and back into the street  
before the light changes?

2.  You are waiting at the head of a line of motor traffic intending  
to go straight; unfortunately. even though you have tried to move as  
far left as you safely could, you are blocking  a continuous right  
turn lane (having been maneuvered there by the realities of dealing  
with multilane traffic on a bicycle) and you are intending to go  
straight, AFTER making sure the coast is clear, in order to clear the  
light for the right turners behind you.

3.  You are in a group behind several bicycles who have gone under  
the green and yellow at 25 mph, and you are not yet in the  
intersection as the light turns red.  There is traffic  close behind  
you (motor or other bicycles) which may not manage to stop if you  
suddenly stop, and may not be expecting you to stop.

In none of these instances would going through red in a car be  
justified.  In a bike, they very well might be.  The justification,  
however, does not eliminate the risk of collision associated with  
going on red when people in cars (or on bikes, or on foot)  are  
expecting you not to.  Nor does it eliminate the risk of angering  
people who are absolutist about their traffic rules or who are  
looking for another reason to hate cyclists.

Incidentally, checking cross (and oncoming) traffic when you have a  
green light is at least as important as checking it when you go  
through a red light (if only considering the generally legal right on  
red).  People are accidentally going through red lights and smacking  
green light traffic all he time.  All that a green light means is  
that you're coming to an intersection that's busy enough to require  
signaling, so watch out.

Bill L

On May 9, 2007, at 10:46 PM, Andrejs Ozolins wrote:

William Lodico wrote:
> I think the real message is that you've got to make your way in
> traffic and make sure everyone around you knows that's what you're
> doing.
>
-- all terrific suggestions, pretty exactly what John Forester 
recommends in his Effective Cycling. But none of it has any bearing on
or justification for going through red lights. On the contrary,
effective cycling requires close adherence to car-like behavior. I see
where you have time to invent excuses for running the light while
waiting, but I can come up with just as good excuses for running them in
a car. Not a good idea.

Andrejs (of the pulled chain)

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