The Chainlink

I run red lights. There, I said it.

Let me explain.http://www.mybikeadvocate.com/2010/07/why-i-run-red-lights.html

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Permalink Reply by Jera Sue on July 16, 2010 at 7:09pm
Shared your blog entry on my Facebook profile. Well said.
Permalink Reply by Brendan Kevenides on July 16, 2010 at 7:34pm
Thanks!

Jera Sue said:
Shared your blog entry on my Facebook profile. Well said.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 16, 2010 at 9:34pm
I've had the same experience.

Tim S said:
Ryan L.
"What has really been weirding me out lately is how to approach stop signs. I've noticed a rising trend where cars actually refuse to go through the intersection until I go first. I've even tested out this issue by completely acting like a car and waiting my turn and still cars will just sit there till I go through."

I have noticed this as well.
Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on July 16, 2010 at 9:36pm
Well said, Lee.

Lee Diamond said:
This sort of goes along with my theory that the worst thing about cycling is all these damn cyclists.

Everyone has an easy time justifying their own particular brand of safety and lack thereof. I admit that I break laws of a variety of types and orders or have, or know someone who has. ...

The problem is that the social contract that we have between drivers and cyclists is that drivers really don't want what they say they want. Drivers who are irritated when a cyclist breaks a law really just want to be free of cyclists altogether. They are envious when a cyclist blows a red in large part because the social contract says you can do that without getting a ticket in most cases, but a car can't. No fair! But they fail to recognize the absurdity in the consequences if they do it, or a cyclist does it. Two to three thousand pounds of material moving at you at 1 mph can kill you quite easily, so a rolling stop in a car vs. a blaze-through-the lights-kamikazee-run-around-the-knife still is far more likely to kill the squishy rolling thing in the event of a collision.

The efforts I make to obey the law have a lot to do more with the image I want to project of cycling. My less proud moments of narcissistic selfishness, are merely that....
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on July 17, 2010 at 6:32am
Whether I'm a pedestrian, a bike, a scooter, or a car, my expectancy is that traffic keeps moving with a minimum of impediments. My rule of thumb when I'm a bike or a pedestrian is that no one should have to apply (or even cover) their brake, or divert their path to avoid me. At controlled intersections with multiple vehicles, I yield the right of way and gesture with an open palm to make sure the vehicle with the right of way knows I'm waiting for them to proceed. When I have the right of way, I visually confirm that others agree, and I proceed-and that includes rolling through without coming to a complete stop. At controlled intersections with no vehicles present, or vehicles at sufficient distance that they won't have to slow down, I cheerfully blow through the traffic control device. Chicago is a largely no harm, no foul city. If you don't scare anyone, i.e. make them brake, divert, swerve, etc., you are a welcome (mostly) addition to our multimodal roadways.

Now about the bicycles that stop in the right turn lane at red lights, thereby preventing cars from being able to make a right turn on red...those people should be shot.
Permalink Reply by Greg Coleman on July 17, 2010 at 9:35am
The last stretch for most of my approaches home is about a quarter mile of stop signs. I have noticed a lot within the last year people waving me on as I approach one of these intersections. It was a little weird at first, but I started chalking it up to drivers being a bit more aware of cyclists. I wave thanks, give a smile, and ride on.

I also agree with Kevin Conway who wrote:
"Chicago is a largely no harm, no foul city. If you don't scare anyone, i.e. make them brake, divert, swerve, etc., you are a welcome (mostly) addition to our multimodal roadways."

That is very well put. When a cyclist is riding carefully and alertly, if you roll through a stop sign, most people will realize that you are just being efficient. The unfortunate side is that , as has been pointed out before in this thread, there are those who blow through signs and lights without realistically looking at traffic. I commute year round and see people doing not just unsafe, but plainly stupid things when riding through red lights. They are putting not just their own bodies at risk, but they could also have a lasting impact on the driver should someone stirke and/or kill them. It is for this reason I am out to lunch on going through red lights as a general practice. Everyone thinks they are a great rider (its sort of like driving), but the truth of it is that we all are not. By just keeping it on the books that cyclists should follow the same flow of traffic will keep accidents a little less frequent in a city on this size, in my own humble opinion.

Anne Alt said:
I've had the same experience.

Tim S said:
Ryan L.
"What has really been weirding me out lately is how to approach stop signs. I've noticed a rising trend where cars actually refuse to go through the intersection until I go first. I've even tested out this issue by completely acting like a car and waiting my turn and still cars will just sit there till I go through."

I have noticed this as well.
Permalink Reply by payton on July 18, 2010 at 10:14pm
Everything that I could have written about this subject, I already have:
http://westnorth.com/2008/02/07/hello-criminal/
http://westnorth.com/2009/10/23/scofflaws-scoff/
http://westnorth.com/2005/12/24/70-years-after-berenice-abbott/
http://westnorth.com/2010/06/04/oh-please/

and better than anything I could write is this:
http://www.thewashcycle.com/2008/07/the-myth-of-the.html

As for me, I'll continue to stand my ground and wave drivers through stop signs -- and roll through them if clearly no one is around. I'll also continue to be annoyed by cyclists who roll through the light or sign when I've been waiting. ("You might be better than the cars, but you're not better than me.")

I'll begin respecting the law when either:
(a) everyone else around me shows equal respect, by obeying speed limits and crosswalks [I adapted really quickly to not jaywalking or jaybiking in Vienna or Singapore, but I was really sure that I wouldn't be run down, either], or
(b) the law changes to reflect reality, as in Copenhagen or Vancouver or Nagoya where cyclists and pedestrians are rarely obliged to make full stops. (And guess what? Those places have more cyclists, more pedestrians, and fewer dead bodies on the streets.)
Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on July 19, 2010 at 12:20am
Permalink Reply by Ryan L on July 19, 2010 at 2:47pm
payton said:
As for me, I'll continue to stand my ground and wave drivers through stop signs

I've been doing this a lot lately too; especially at Leland/Clark. I hate that intersection with a passion. So many impatient drivers that hate stopping between Wilson and Lawrence. It is so much easier sometimes if I wave a driver on so they don't have to wait on me because they think I'm going faster than I really am; although, every now and then a driver still won't go, ignores my hand gestures and waits till I go anyway.
Permalink Reply by payton on July 22, 2010 at 11:57am
The one jurisdiction I know of which has "stop and proceed" red lights is British Columbia. There, you'll find many intersections where the major street has a flashing-green signal and the side street has either a flashing-red signal or just a stop sign. The flashing-red means full stop, then go when clear; the flashing-green means go, but be prepared to stop. These intersections have pedestrian buttons (and often cyclist buttons as well, mounted at curbside) which will turn the flashing green to solid red within a few seconds.

H3N3 said:
tml;dc

Howard, you're speaking in Suliban again.
Permalink Reply by Rick norris on July 22, 2010 at 12:20pm
While I too am guilty of running (slowing down checking for cross traffic and then going) reds and stops, I don't think we need any law that allows bicycles to do so.
Things then become "watered down" and the habits get pushed...I don't have to stop, I'm a bicycle !! THAT sign is for cages. More than once while driving my cage I come to a stop, check trafic see the cars stoped, take my RIGHTFULL turn to pass the stop sign only to have some idiot who's gene pool would have ended long ago if not for laws passed to protect idiots from themselves, come up fast on the right of the cars to run through the stop sign and almost becom a hood ornament.
I also hate when I take my stop at stop sign that cars wont go untill I do...these idiots have no idea I cant go from 0 to 30 as fast as they can? Sometimes I use those stops for my rest....

I also want to add that as I stated sometimes things are a matter of habbit. Since too many people are too stupid to seperate the way they think in each situation, someone that bicycles, runs red lights and stops, will possibly develop the habit of ignoring them when they get into their cage...."WHAT I FORGOT I WAS IN A CAR AND NOT ON MY BIKE!!! Sorry I killed you and your kids....

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