ptempel

A doctor that I work with at the hospital was pulled over by an unmarked car this morning. He was lucky to receive a warning and not a ticket. I'm guessing that it was around 145th and St Nicholas since he told me a few blocks down by the park. So take it easy and don't blow through those red lights.

General Geoff

If we want motorists to respect us, we have to obey traffic signals just like they do.

Skipjacks

I made a little adjustment to your post that makes your statement a little more relevant to me.

While I care if motorists respect me, I care more than they don't kill me.

It seems like common sense. If you run a red light on a bike, you're taking a HUGE risk of getting run over by a truck who has no reason whatsoever to expect cross traffic when his light is green. But nope. Cyclists do it all the time.

79pmooney

I've had zero issue with crashes when I've run stoplights with no traffic for blocks around. One of my worst crashes (multiple broken ribs, collarbone) happened when I was riding through my green light and was hit by a car running the red. I am willing to tell a judge that my experience has been that entering an intersection illegally with no traffic near has been consistently safer than stopping and waiting for it to show up. (I've had issues with right turning cars, oncoming left turning cars and close passes, non of which have ever happened when I've run empty intersections with no traffic around.

Ben

General Geoff

Being seen is step one, being respected is step two. You need both to avoid being killed in traffic.

Skipjacks

Not being in the intersection when cross traffic has the right of way goes A LONG WAY towards reducing being run over by trucks.

Skipjacks

I don't think they have streets with no traffic for blocks in New York City.

It's really crowded.

Stay in Oregon. It's much more peaceful.

rhm

I'm a pretty incorrigible scofflaw rider in NYC traffic, but I don't generally do anything truly dangerous. I don't ride the wrong way down one way streets, I don't ride through crossing traffic. I do, however, run lights quite a bit.

I got a ticket last year. I blew through a red light right in front of a police officer. I didn't get in the way of any cars, I didn't startle any pedestrians, really nothing dangerous; but not legal. $50 or something. I think the citation was "improper use of a bicycle" rather than running a red light. Could have been worse; running a red light is a more expensive ticket.

Okay, that said, I totally support the police cracking down on scofflaw cyclists, even me, as long as they do it uniformly and fairly. Cracking down for a week or two, now and then, does nothing. But if they could actually change the culture, that would be great.

blacknbluebikes 

Blowing thru red lights on the way to a hospital... umm... ah...

ptempel

Yeah, and not being a general back part of a horse towards others. I also stop (or at least slow down when light is green) for peds in the street. Especally in larger intersections like 135th st and St Nicholas. There almost always is a decent amount of ped traffic at those intersections.

ascherer 

Saw a cyclist exchanging paperwork with the occupants of a police car around mid day today on Central Park West at 103rd. Soring blitz, perhaps.

InOmaha

Are you required to carry ID with you when you ride? Would a road ID suffice or can you just give them someone else's name and address?

Daniel4

So when you prepare to run a red light or a stop sign and you see another cycling crossing your path, what are you expecting from this cyclist, to yield to you?

Would it have been proper for you to yield to the motorist running the red in order to avoid the collision?

And how would argue your case in front of a judge when the other cyclist didn't yield to you as you ran a red light or a stop sign?

robertorolfo

More or less the same here. I don't run reds at any busy intersections (be they busy with vehicular or pedestrian traffic), but will occasionally slip through on others (1st ave, for example, has a few lights with traffic only coming in from the west, and often there are only a few cars, or none at all.) Ditto some of the non-through traffic lights on central park west, where there is virtually zero risk of collision.

That said, I know a guy that got a ticket for exactly that (going through a light at an intersection with no cross traffic, late at night with no pedestrians around), and it's ridiculous.

I can't stand the morons on bikes riding like lunatics and narrowly slipping through gaps in people and cars when they have a red light, and I don't mind the cops enforcing the law, but literally every other block I see an Uber driver doing something illegal, and often with cops in plain sight. They need to crack down on that stuff first, before they go after the average bike rider.

desconhecido 

So, you get stopped and give the cop my name and address and DOB. Cop goes back to his car and looks at my driver's license photo on his computer. The ticket doesn't come to me and you leave the scene in cuffs. Seems like dangerous fun to me.

Abe_Froman

If motorists want cyclists to respect them, they need a mode of transportation that doesn't put the lives of others at risk.

That's the big difference IMO, and why the "cyclist need to follow the rules too" arguments aren't really valid. Cars are lethal. Bikes aren't.

OBoile

Agree 100%.