When Riding Today Who Followed The Traffic Rules Of The Road?

Most of us ride on the chainlink. All of us our in a hurry! So we know that bikes may get you from point A to point B quicker than a car. But how often do we actually follow the rules of the road? We want the same rights as a car does. So why don't we do these? Well today I did and you know that I found out a few things doing this. 1) I seen more respect from the cars today then any other day. 2) It really didn't take me that much longer to get from point (A) - (B) .  Maybe 5 minutes more in travel time. 3) It gave me a better workout when I really wasn't trying to achieve that. 4) Most of all it gave me a better safety feeling. I generally do follow the rules of the road, But I to do find my self coming to that stop sign & not making a complete stop. (Were one foot touches the ground) This is when a car knows what you are doing! Being predicable. 

My whole point is or was to see a difference in bike vs car as to respect.   

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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 21, 2012 at 8:17am

If there weren't any cars on the roads we wouldn't need ANY laws/rules for the most part to keep ourselves safe.  

It's the cars...

Permalink Reply by David on March 21, 2012 at 8:47am

1) I seen more respect from the cars today then any other day.


I'm on my bike every day, and I feel pretty safe in saying that at least 95% of the time the idea of seeing either more or less respect from the cars makes no sense at all.  We just don't interact that often, apart from occasional right-of-way waves and smiles on both sides. On rare occasions a car does something really dangerous, but that usually means not noticing me rather than being "disrespectful".  If you ride in such a way that a single-day change revealed a completely different reaction from drivers, then you really must ride like a total dick most of the time.  You should seriously think about how you're riding, and whether your usual practices pose a threat to yourself and others.

I generally do follow the rules of the road, But I to do find my self coming to that stop sign & not making a complete stop.

Periodically, someone or other posts one of these "we should follow the rules!" holier-then-thou kind of posts, but I have never seen cyclist stop at every stop sign on the side streets in Chicago. Not once.  Nunca.   I don't know where these strict-law-followers are coming from, but they sure aren't riding bikes in my neighborhood.

Permalink Reply by Charlie Short 2.9 on March 21, 2012 at 9:36am

I would suggest that motor vehicle operators are BETTER road companions than pedestrians, people on bikes and other people powered vehicles because they often have more exposure to a functioning road system. If you spend any time on the LFT, you'll notice what happens when people DON'T respect each other at all. I'd say the basic rules of the road (since there are many that are specific to motor vehicles,) do serve the bicycling community.


James BlackHeron said:

If there weren't any cars on the roads we wouldn't need ANY laws/rules for the most part to keep ourselves safe.  

It's the cars...

Permalink Reply by Tony Adams on March 21, 2012 at 9:40am

Going through a red light when there is no cross traffic will not cost you your life, unless a meteor were to happen to land in the intersection or something. The odds of that happening are the same whether you are travelling through the intersection or remaining motionless obeying the traffic signal. If I'm going out by way of a meteor or a bullet or whatever, I'd rather be moving when it happens.

Gene Tenner said:

Rules and regulations provide order for the roads and keep me and the rest of us as safe as can be expected; both drivers and cyclists do stupid stuff. Stop signs and lights give me that extra moment to pay attention to these kinds of things. Being one minute and 37 seconds quicker to work is not worth my life.

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on March 21, 2012 at 9:49am

I have seen cyclists collide with other cyclists, rear-end pedestrians, ram the back end of a parked car - that would be me in my pre-adolescent days - stop without warning to answer a cell phone, veer into oncoming traffic while ogling - that would be me in my post-adolescent days - pass with no room and do a header into the side of a pickup truck. Methinks the problem is not just the cars.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 21, 2012 at 9:58am

Methinks these folk spend most of their time riding their bicycle on the internet. 

David said:

Periodically, someone or other posts one of these "we should follow the rules!" holier-then-thou kind of posts, but I have never seen cyclist stop at every stop sign on the side streets in Chicago. Not once.  Nunca.   I don't know where these strict-law-followers are coming from, but they sure aren't riding bikes in my neighborhood.

Permalink Reply by Gort 12-mile Pinklegneep on March 21, 2012 at 10:02am

I started to, until some SUV in a wide side street with no traffic on it decided to pull up slow behind me and blare the horn despite having plenty of room to get that oversized piece of crap around me easily, after which I decided "fuck it."

Permalink Reply by Gene Tenner on March 21, 2012 at 10:23am

Oh, you mean like this, this, or this?  


Tony Adams said:

Going through a red light when there is no cross traffic will not cost you your life

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 21, 2012 at 10:27am

Permalink Reply by C.R. on March 21, 2012 at 10:37am

i use common sense. Everyone here seems to be really big on policing cyclists. Hopefully most of the cyclist complaining about others not following the rules aren't cherry picking which rules they follow.. E.G. cyclists going down the side and skipping to the front at stop signs instead of waiting behind traffic for each cat to go. Motorcycles certainly arent allowed to do that. i understand why drivers bitch. because i hate sitting in traffic in my car too.. But lets be realistic, cars have their rules because there are some serious issues. The driver of that auto is essentially driving a 2000lb bullet. If i wreck into someone on my bike, someone might end up with a concussion, broken bone or other likely non life threatening injury. if someone wrecks their car, the chances of serious injury are much more likely.

I'm all for following the rules, but let's be serious they are completely one sided. If a car hits a cyclist, more then likely even if It's the drivers fault, It's ruled an accident. Unless It's "determined" to be completely malicious there is rarely charges filed even if the cyclist is killed. Yet if a driver hits another cat and someone is killed, it can be wreckless homicide or manslaughter.. Yeh some of these accidents may or may not be the cyclists fault, but not all.

If they really want all of us to start following the rules, hopefully they are sling to get more bike lanes, hopefully separated by cones or. Barrier. Then we should start talking about federal licensure and mandatory insurance for ALL cyclists. At least liability insurance, which would begin to cover damages when someone gets hit. Address texting and driving, which in my book is a thousand times more important than most of these conversations. I see a lot of people facebooking or texting and driving daily, both when I drive and cycle.

Just my .02 and forgive the spelling its on my mobile (not driving or cycling). I think some common sense needs to rule here. I'm not going to sit at a long red light with cars when there is no cross traffic, sorry. I guess I will start when I have to pay 100$ for a city bike license and proof of insurance, and when police or drivers at autos hitting cyclist as a bad thing.

See u guys on the road, ill be the one riding thru that red light when no traffic is coming..

Permalink Reply by Anne Alt on March 21, 2012 at 11:03am


There are plenty of places in the city where you may think there's no cross traffic at that red light - until you run the light and end up in front of a speeding driver who was nowhere in sight when you entered the intersection.  Sometimes pedestrians or cyclists end up dead or severely injured in situations like this. And sometimes there really is no traffic and you get through fine.  It's not safe to assume that it will work out that way every time just because there's no one in sight when you start to cross the street.

On wider streets, ped refuge islands can literally be a lifesaver.  I've often felt that way about those spots in the median at night when crossing 95th St. and seeing a driver approaching at 40+ mph on an otherwise empty street - or in the daytime when there are lots of cars whose drivers refuse to ease up on the gas pedal even for a few seconds.

Tony Adams said:

Going through a red light when there is no cross traffic will not cost you your life, unless a meteor were to happen to land in the intersection or something. The odds of that happening are the same whether you are travelling through the intersection or remaining motionless obeying the traffic signal. If I'm going out by way of a meteor or a bullet or whatever, I'd rather be moving when it happens.

Permalink Reply by C.R. on March 21, 2012 at 11:22am

Although I am a big privacy advocate, the use of these speed cams are going to be useful. As far as I'm concerned they can throw them up all over the city. Most people will respond accordingly if their wallet is involved. Unfortunately they are usually taken to excess, you can see that with some states beginning to use drones already. But red light came can deter people from going full blast to try to get thru a yellow light, and hopefully if the start putting up these speed cams the roads will become much safer. Hopefully they use some of that cash flow to build separated bike lanes and add more bike racks, since parking meters have dwindled away and sometimes finding a decent rack can be tough.

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