flangehead

OK, I can tell I'm the contrarian here. However, some newer riders may value a different perspective.

My context: I ride on suburban roads to get to places.

I always slow down for intersections. If I don't have a clear line of sight, or if there are any moving motor vehicles in sight, I stop at stop signs. I check my mirror and I know what's going on behind me. I drop a foot to show that I'm stopped. If I encounter a "nice-hole" I take my hands off the handlebars and look around.

My reason is that I have to ride defensively. I've seen motorists blow through red lights and stop signs and yield signs and I'm the one that is going to get hurt crashing at an intersection. And I'm not in that much of a hurry.

Will this guarantee I don't get hurt? No. But I've ridden enough in traffic to know that this improves my odds.

About a week ago I pulled into a parking lot and there was a car leaving. Without signaling, he crossed right in front of me to loop through the parking lot again. I had the right of way but not the weight. I was ready and stopped. I had a flashing white light on and was wearing bright colors. He said he didn't see me which isn't impossible; I might have been obscured by his A-column. More likely he just wasn't paying attention. The point is that even when I have the right of way, I have to be ready to avoid a collision.

I will also say that in my view there are way too many stop signs in my area; I don't know about yours. Almost all those places where I don't stop, don't need a stop sign to begin with. The trend of putting in stop signs in residential areas to "slow down traffic" is particularly, well, stupid. The over-use of traffic signs habituates road users to ignoring them.

OK, blast away...