Originally Posted by
wphamilton
R58 absolutely right and it's even more true for driving in town in my experience. Sure, every once in awhile the speeder will get through a light they'd otherwise have stopped at, or get ahead of someone turning into the street instead of stuck behind them but even those successes doesn't save much time over the whole route. Racing to the stop light to get ahead of someone is another example.
You can't win if you don't play.
To the OP, it would be hard to count the people obeying the law since you wouldn't be passing them or vice versa.
I haven't done much riding on the road yet (mostly been a mountain biker and only recently bought a road bike), but with what little road riding I've done I tended to roll through stop signs on back streets and go with the lights for safety rather than to obey the law. (My attitude in general towards road laws/safety has been changing, though. i.e. more likely now to follow road rules on my bike.)
It occurred to me that both motorists and cyclists factor in both their perception of what's safe (enough) and the likelihood of getting a ticket, with what laws they'll bend. Bikes are probably less likely to get a ticket for not stopping at a stop sign and the perception of danger to others is certainly lower even if the risk to yourself is higher.