Do bicyclists really think like this?
11-03-15, 02:37 AM
#26
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In my state (Georgia), a bicycle is legally a vehicle, and subject to all the same rights and responsibilities are an automobile driver. You have to follow the traffic laws, same as a car. So, around here, it's pretty academic.
11-03-15, 03:38 AM
#27
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As far as traffic lights, I will generally stop for the lights that will eventually turn green. As I'm getting older, I'm loosing patience for those that either never turn green, have 50/50 chance of turning green for me, or perhaps require waiting for a car to come up behind me.
Yes, I do treat stop signs as yield signs. Stop if there are cars around, slow down if there is no traffic. And, I can justify it as being safer to keep some momentum up.
I have discovered that turning left out of my grocery store is a nightmare, but if I keep on the left side of the road for 1 block or so, then traffic clears, and I can easily get across to the right side.
We have some bike path networks around here. Bikes, pedestrians, skateboards, and the occasional wild goose all sharing the paths. Quite a few T intersections. A few true cross intersections. No stop signs. No traffic lights, and for the most part no center lines.
I have no doubt there is the occasional pile-up, but they are rare, and they can't be that severe, otherwise there would, in fact, be more regulation.
Yes, I do treat stop signs as yield signs. Stop if there are cars around, slow down if there is no traffic. And, I can justify it as being safer to keep some momentum up.
I have discovered that turning left out of my grocery store is a nightmare, but if I keep on the left side of the road for 1 block or so, then traffic clears, and I can easily get across to the right side.
I have no doubt there is the occasional pile-up, but they are rare, and they can't be that severe, otherwise there would, in fact, be more regulation.
06-06-16, 08:27 PM
#28
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Treehugger has been running a couple of articles like this one, Bad infrastructure design leads to bad behavior on bikes : TreeHugger. I find it disturbing that a common theme running through these articles is that traffic laws are for regulating automobiles, presumably they also mean large trucks, motorcycles, anything that has an engine/motor. Maybe I'm thinking too much like an engineer but it seems to me that traffic laws are predominately used for standardizing user access to a shared resource, roads and sidewalks. Sidewalks because they are mentioned in the traffic laws and do impact the road system. In other words, the laws are for regulating the behavior of people regardless of what they drive.
I can sympathize with the example they give in the latest article of a street with stop signs at every intersection. I live by a street like that, I avoid it as much as possible. But I have no doubt that if the stop signs were not there and it was used by speedy
velomobile packs the home owners would still want stop signs to slow those things down.
Another thought comes to mind, if we got rid of all the cars, by their way of thinking we could get rid of the traffic laws. So with streets full of unregulated bicycles, carnage. And then the re-emergence of traffic laws.
I can sympathize with the example they give in the latest article of a street with stop signs at every intersection. I live by a street like that, I avoid it as much as possible. But I have no doubt that if the stop signs were not there and it was used by speedy
velomobile packs the home owners would still want stop signs to slow those things down.Another thought comes to mind, if we got rid of all the cars, by their way of thinking we could get rid of the traffic laws. So with streets full of unregulated bicycles, carnage. And then the re-emergence of traffic laws.
06-06-16, 08:32 PM
#29
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Well I won't agree that if we get rid of all the cars, we could get rid of the traffic laws... but let's face it, before cars, the laws (what may have existed) were quite simple... and in areas with little motor vehicle traffic, what traffic there is tends to flow in a much more organic manner.
Go one further... If we reduce the amount of overwhelming information we feed to motorists, they tend to drive better... Look into the studies of Hans Monderman.
Go one further... If we reduce the amount of overwhelming information we feed to motorists, they tend to drive better... Look into the studies of Hans Monderman.
06-07-16, 11:32 AM
#30
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06-07-16, 11:51 AM
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traffic code in the city of Buffalo is a joke, and is basically totally unenforced at all times. also the condition of the roads and bike lanes is laughable. counter-intuitively, enforcement is even more lax during high volume times. red lights are a suggestion, and stop signs are regularly disregarded, as are bike lanes, pedestrian walkways, and so on. couple that with unusually high anti-bike sentiments, and it amounts to a very dangerous place to ride a bike. as such, I ride safely first and foremost.
I stop at intersections because I don't want to get t-boned by a vehicle, but when it's clear, I will go, or at least start early so that I'm clipped in by the time the maniacs behind me jam the accelerator. I split lanes to avoid being stuck in congestion, and try my best to ride in the space between waves of cars as the lights change, which means I'm often cutting close to "blowing red lights" to stay in the space between. I will forcefully take the lane and hold my line, and make eye contact, and vocal contact if required, with anyone and everyone who does not give me the space the law and common sense require, and I will move over to allow passing only when it's safe for me. I have, on several occasions, had words, sometimes heated, with motorists who feel the need to threaten my life with their car. I've never been stopped, I rarely see cars stopped, and I've only once in my life seen a cyclist pulled over.
if, in the course of these actions, I were to violate actual city traffic law, I'm sure the cops wouldn't care because they don't enforce it anyway, and if pressed on the issue I would argue that my safety trumps all of that, especially given the general disposition of drivers around here. I like to think that I would be let off with a warning. Commuting, especially on Monday morning, sometimes feels like war, and the "rules" do absolutely nothing to keep me safe. I agree, the infrasctructure is horribly designed for cyclists, and misinformed motorists are the other half of the equation.
I stop at intersections because I don't want to get t-boned by a vehicle, but when it's clear, I will go, or at least start early so that I'm clipped in by the time the maniacs behind me jam the accelerator. I split lanes to avoid being stuck in congestion, and try my best to ride in the space between waves of cars as the lights change, which means I'm often cutting close to "blowing red lights" to stay in the space between. I will forcefully take the lane and hold my line, and make eye contact, and vocal contact if required, with anyone and everyone who does not give me the space the law and common sense require, and I will move over to allow passing only when it's safe for me. I have, on several occasions, had words, sometimes heated, with motorists who feel the need to threaten my life with their car. I've never been stopped, I rarely see cars stopped, and I've only once in my life seen a cyclist pulled over.
if, in the course of these actions, I were to violate actual city traffic law, I'm sure the cops wouldn't care because they don't enforce it anyway, and if pressed on the issue I would argue that my safety trumps all of that, especially given the general disposition of drivers around here. I like to think that I would be let off with a warning. Commuting, especially on Monday morning, sometimes feels like war, and the "rules" do absolutely nothing to keep me safe. I agree, the infrasctructure is horribly designed for cyclists, and misinformed motorists are the other half of the equation.
07-04-16, 10:10 PM
#32
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The great majority of cyclists are actually OFF-DUTY Motor Vehicle Drivers; driving their bikes. Double-Standard to their claims; their beliefs.
The extreme few (like me) only ride bicycle&public transportation.
12-09-16, 01:16 PM
#33
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I roll through stop signs all the time, I'll do the same in a car. If it's easy to ascertain approaching a stop that no one else in near then I treat it as a yield sign. I explained this one night to an Iowa sheriff that pulled me over for rolling through an intersection where it was clear for miles I was the only driver, I lucked out that he was capable of grasping simple logic so did not get a ticket.
Last night I approached a 4 way stop going downhill, a car on the left was sitting there with their signal on to turn the same way I was headed. I slowed down and then since they hadn't pulled out yet I coasted right through well to the right. The driver saw fit to squall at me that there was a stop sign there, when I'd only done the logical thing. The 4 way is about halfway up or down a steep hill, when I'm going downhill I always blow through it if the intersection is empty, by then I'm really flying and hate to slow down. Bear in mind this is a small town so usually pretty light traffic, but I an an anomaly here for cycling instead of drunk driving or roaring around on a 4 wheeler.
I did do something ornery this morning. I turn down a down sloping street going a pretty good clip and there's a mom with her little boy behind her walking down the street (the recently rebuilt sidewalks here are not much used, but I'll ride them quite frequently as they're often smoother than the street). I keep a safe distance but just that knowing I'll spook them when I whiz by, the boy does yell out "Aahhh!" and I'm sure mom had a startle as well. I've done the same thing in a canoe coming up on swimmers, out of nowhere there'll be a canoe a few feet away from them.
Last night I approached a 4 way stop going downhill, a car on the left was sitting there with their signal on to turn the same way I was headed. I slowed down and then since they hadn't pulled out yet I coasted right through well to the right. The driver saw fit to squall at me that there was a stop sign there, when I'd only done the logical thing. The 4 way is about halfway up or down a steep hill, when I'm going downhill I always blow through it if the intersection is empty, by then I'm really flying and hate to slow down. Bear in mind this is a small town so usually pretty light traffic, but I an an anomaly here for cycling instead of drunk driving or roaring around on a 4 wheeler.
I did do something ornery this morning. I turn down a down sloping street going a pretty good clip and there's a mom with her little boy behind her walking down the street (the recently rebuilt sidewalks here are not much used, but I'll ride them quite frequently as they're often smoother than the street). I keep a safe distance but just that knowing I'll spook them when I whiz by, the boy does yell out "Aahhh!" and I'm sure mom had a startle as well. I've done the same thing in a canoe coming up on swimmers, out of nowhere there'll be a canoe a few feet away from them.
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