Originally Posted by
bicyclelove
Very interesting article. The comments at the end say it all; blowing through a red light is illegal no matter how you look at it. I believe this is the single biggest thing cyclists do to give us all a bad name. I admit to treating stop signs as yield signs when there is no traffic, but when it comes to light controlled intersections I will always follow the lights.
Here's my take. The motorists who dislike us don't do so because we are engaged in an illegal behaviour. They do because we are cyclists. If every single person on the bike followed the strictest letter of the traffic laws, they would come up with something to hate us for - be it riding too slow in the traffic lane, wasting their tax money on bike infrastructure, etc.
I follow the traffic lights almost all the time, but that's for my own safety.