Ira B

I try to keep it legal when it is safe to do so.

CliftonGK1

No.

making

in the last 200 yrds of my commute there is one of those MPH signs. I rarely go by it at more than 16 mph. I must be old and slow.

scottsmith

When I was a younger man, especially before marriage, I didn't get this... now older, though not old, I totally do.

If I can throw out a convincing, if not genuinely heart-felt, indication of my approval and that makes her feel good about the time and effort she put into something she obviously cares about and I totally don't, then I'd say it's all to the good.

I'm reasonably certain she does the same when I talk about bikes and biking.

When I'm tired though, I forget and will occasionally just say I don't really care either way. Oddly, she doesn't like that...

Cheers!

Zrane

I have two stop lights on my ride just outside of my office, one at the start of a busy overpass and one at the end. If I'm at the front, and the way is clear(On/off ramps from an interstate), I'll run the red just to not get stuck at the front of the huge pack of cars that builds up behind me.

There are 8 stop signs on my route, one that I always stop for. The others I slow way down and frequently stop as they're almost blind in one direction or another. I tend to slow down at all the stop signs, even when I don't have the stop in that direction. I've seen a lot of people blow through them(residential areas). I'd have gotten creamed if I hadn't slowed down on more than one occasion.

fietsbob

I respect all of Sir Isaac Newton's Laws .

particularly those of Inertia , and Gravity.

paul2432

You can always walk your bike across the intersection. That way you get across and don't violate the law.

Also there is a difference between not coming to a stop and not waiting for a green. Most state laws allow cyclists to cross if they determine the light is sensor activated and not changing.

I stop at lights and wait for green, but most of the places I ride either don't have lights, or if they do, the traffic is heavy enough that I'd need to wait for the green anyway. If I routinely encountered red lights with no traffic I might change my philosophy (and petition the town to change them to blinking lights).

Paul

cyccommute 

Educate yourself on how to trip stop lights. It's actually pretty easy. No need for cars.

making

One of my patients installs and repairs them. He says there is no way to do it. Nevermind I see. He says even Harley Davidsons wont usually do it. Humm, I really did beleive him.

Brittain

If there are no cars already stopped there, I will run every one of the 5 stop signs on my way to work. But I never run red lights (though I will turn right on red and only slow down, but not stop).

I also disregard the "No thru traffic" on the road that they have closed due to construction. I do this because I am totally rad.

cyccommute 

Your patient is wrong. Follow the link. If you want a highly technical explanation, follow this link. The only proviso is that you have to locate the wires on induction coil detectors. Paving can bury them. If I can detect the loop, I have a 99% success rate in tripping them.

The motion detector sensors are more difficult. You look stupid but waving your arms around like an idiot generally makes those work. Shining a helmet light at them works well too...in the dark of course.

making

I aint scared of looking stupid. hehe.

Booger1

Does a Grizzly fart make noise when there is no one around to hear it.......it's only against the law if you get caught.

I don't make a habit of running reds or stop signs,but if there is nothing in sight and it's the wee hours,if you blink,I might be gone.

Andy_K 

Those are really more like guidelines. There are definitely times when they don't apply.

sggoodri

I follow the traffic laws as best as I can manage when driving either my car or my bike. I do this for safety and to set a good example, as well as to protect my integrity in the eyes of the police, city employees, and students I've worked with on cycling safety and enforcement issues.

I've had no traffic tickets for decades now (last one was at age 18 or so). I've never been in a car-car or a car-bike crash.

I'm lucky that the traffic laws here don't discriminate against me in a way that would require me to break them for my own safety. The law here allows me to ride in the middle of the travel lane or ride outside a striped bike lane whenever I see fit to. If the law prohibited me from using the center of the lane I would probably violate it frequently and hope I didn't get stopped.

Group rides have been a source of frustration for me, however, when they roll through stop signs at speed. If I find myself in the middle of a pack on a large group ride, I create a hazard if I stop and nobody else does (and they don't). I try to get out of the pack so I can stop, but this is often difficult. On rides that I lead, I stop at stop signs, and encourage other participants to do so, with mixed results - some cyclists won't stop after gentle encouragement and I don't want to be heavy-handed or start arguments. Fortunately, the vast majority of my cycling miles are solo or with my kids.

myrridin

Considering the number of laws on the books for the various cities, counties, states, and of course the federal laws, I would be doubtful that there is anyone in the country who hasn't broken a few...

DX-MAN

Speed limits are for cars; I NEVER approach the limit anymore (don't care, either, a faster ride is over sooner).

Stop signs have become a suggestion, both for cars and for me; I'll stop for traffic, or if a cop is close by.

Red lights are a bit more serious; circumstances have to be just right for me to run one, and that's almost never in the presence of cars.

Also, I use lights in the winter (the only time I ride in the dark), and NEVER salmon in the street (well, there is that little access street, about 150 feet long....one way, coming at me, but it goes to a neighborhood I can get through quietly, as opposed to diving off into the HUGE food bank parking lot). *Guess I should say ALMOST NEVER.......*

Catgrrl70

Too much traffic almost all the time when I commute so yes, I generally obey all the traffic laws I can. One light does not change for cyclists at all (even though there's a marked spot in the bike lane for cyclists), and yes, it's been reported, so I do run that if there's no other vehicles around, making sure to stop first and make a show that I'm not doing it recklessly (yes, I've seen cyclists stopped here for blowing this light).

There is a newly desiged "one way" street near my house that totally made the bike routing more dangerous. Instead of being able to ride up the wide one way street and get a great view of an uncontrolled intersection, cyclists must now either cross a very busy street to access a different busier route or use the sidewalk, both resulting in a poorer view of the uncontrolled intersection. Since it's not a busy one way, I often enter it the wrong way so I can see cars jamming on the busier route and watch out for them.

Other than that, I can't think of anything except breaking the 30 mph speed limit on a downhill section of my route.

ZmanKC

I'm guessing that not all traffic lights can be tripped by bicycles and/or motorcycles. That's why my state just enacted a "dead red" law.

I have two lights on my daily commute that I can not trip. And yes, I did the dead red thing even before the law. I also treat stop signs as yield signs when there is no other traffic present.

harshbarj

I always follow the laws of the road. In my opinion if you don't then you have no business on the road, cyclist or motorist. I come to a full stop at stop signs (upsets motorists to no end ) and always stop on yellow if I can safely (it's the law in Nebraska anyway and you CAN get a ticket for running yellow here, though everyone does it).

dcrowell

When I'm riding alone (including all of my commuting), I follow all traffic laws. When riding with a group, I follow them. Yes, I am a lemming.

bragi

I always obey all traffic laws, exactly as if I were in a car. I'm very aware that motorists are watching me, waiting for me to do something stupid or illegal so they can confirm their (generally ridiculous) preconceptions about bicyclists.

Digital_Cowboy

It doesn't matter if I am the only one at an intersection or not. If the light is red, or there is a stop sign I will stop. If it's a non-three/four-way stop I'll do a trackstand, if it's a three/four-way stop I'll unclip and put my left foot down on the road. Nor do I filter or lane split.

About the only thing I will do is if I need both hands to control my bike not signal a turn or stop.

Digital_Cowboy

I would also like to know the answer to that as well. Why is it such a "sin" for people to leave with enough time to get to their destination in the event of an unexpected event, such as a flat tire, or closed street forcing a detour? I am sure that over the last couple of days in Tampa that there were plenty of detours because of flooded roads that caused people leaving at the last possible minute (or later) for their appointments to be late.

Digital_Cowboy

Yes, yes, I do, why is that such a hard thing to fathom? If the light doesn't change I'll either dismount walk over to the button for the crosswalk light and push it if there is one, or I'll make a right turn go down the road a little bit make a U-Turn and come back and make another right turn through the intersection.

The only time that I would go through a red light is if I pulled up to it just as it turned red for my direction of travel and a left turning car pulls up along side me and gets a green arrow/light and makes their turn and it cycles back to red for my direction without turning green for me. Than it is a "defective" light and I would treat it as a stop sign. And from talking to more than a few people that is legal in my area as I think it is or should be in all 50 states.