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Just posted to our blog:

A new post on Slate asks whether bicyclists should obey stop signs & other traffic controls. What's your take?

http://www.activetrans.org/blog/awelty/are-you-vehicular-cyclist-or...

Ethan, with Active Trans

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Do you ride in the middle of the road then making shure that cars are in line behind you?

Duppie said:
Vando said:
[...] I think that sometimes when I stop at a red, I slow traffic up because the cars then have to wait for me to get going and get across the street and to the right before they can proceed normally. I think sometimes that frustrates motorists more than cyclists treating red lights as stop signs.

This sounds like an attempt to justify your behavior. Just imagine you are the first car in line instead of a bicyclist. Would you consider driving thru a red light so that the cars behind you aren't slowed down by you? Didn't think so...
Besides, a true vehicular cyclist doesn't filter to the front. He takes his place in line of waiting cars ;)
frank
Yeah, you are correct. Anytime anyone tells you how they behave and then proceed to give reasons for said behavior, they are attempting to justify their behavior. Plus, I can't get up to 35mph in 4-5 seconds like I could if I was the first car in line.

As a motorist, I sometimes would prefer cyclists to be in front of me where I can see them instead of behind or alongside where I might have a blind spot, even at a light.

Duppie said:
Vando said:
[...] I think that sometimes when I stop at a red, I slow traffic up because the cars then have to wait for me to get going and get across the street and to the right before they can proceed normally. I think sometimes that frustrates motorists more than cyclists treating red lights as stop signs.

This sounds like an attempt to justify your behavior. Just imagine you are the first car in line instead of a bicyclist. Would you consider driving thru a red light so that the cars behind you aren't slowed down by you? Didn't think so...
Besides, a true vehicular cyclist doesn't filter to the front. He takes his place in line of waiting cars ;)
frank
I think that Idaho has the right idea. Stop signs should be treated as Yield signs for cyclists when there is no other traffic. When I come to an intersection with stop signs, I will slow and and look, and yield to traffic that has the right of way unless they wave me through.

I stop at red lights. I've seen so many near misses and occasional accidents involving cyclists who blow through red lights that I consider red light running to be an unsafe practice under most circumstances. Obviously if there is no other traffic in sight, it's probably not an issue.

More courtesy by both cyclists and drivers would make the roads a lot safer for everyone. There's plenty of room for improvement on both sides.
I'm with Eric on all counts. Including the stop at lights thing if there are girls to look at.

Same here- yield at signs, stop at lights.  

Anne Alt said:

I think that Idaho has the right idea. Stop signs should be treated as Yield signs for cyclists when there is no other traffic. When I come to an intersection with stop signs, I will slow and and look, and yield to traffic that has the right of way unless they wave me through.

I stop at red lights. I've seen so many near misses and occasional accidents involving cyclists who blow through red lights that I consider red light running to be an unsafe practice under most circumstances. Obviously if there is no other traffic in sight, it's probably not an issue.

More courtesy by both cyclists and drivers would make the roads a lot safer for everyone. There's plenty of room for improvement on both sides.

Same - just a nitpick - a yield sign does mean you yield to traffic, so saying that stops are treated as yields, it wouldn't matter if there were traffic or not. I feel like yields should just be called "proceed with caution" haha.

Anne Alt said:

I think that Idaho has the right idea. Stop signs should be treated as Yield signs for cyclists when there is no other traffic. When I come to an intersection with stop signs, I will slow and and look, and yield to traffic that has the right of way unless they wave me through.

I stop at red lights. I've seen so many near misses and occasional accidents involving cyclists who blow through red lights that I consider red light running to be an unsafe practice under most circumstances. Obviously if there is no other traffic in sight, it's probably not an issue.

More courtesy by both cyclists and drivers would make the roads a lot safer for everyone. There's plenty of room for improvement on both sides.

woot! zombie halloween thread!!!

I stop at signs if other traffic (car, bicycle, pedestrian) is present, otherwise I yield. 

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