Re: [Ebbc-Talk] Bicyclists Running Red Lights

"Not really. Running red lights is extremely rare among motorists."

I see car drivers run red lights constantly, every single day. Usually in
the form of racing through an intersection at high speed well after the
yellow has gone red, or rolling through a right turn on red while looking
to the left for oncoming car traffic but never to the right for
pedestrians. And yes, about once a week I see a car go straight through a
solid red or stop sign without braking, usually involving a driver with a
cell phone to their ear. Just because this has become normalized behavior
doesn't mean it is safe.

That is is not to say that red light running cyclists are excused, but it
seems to me that most of them are doing it intentionally while looking for
and yielding to cross traffic, while most of the red light running
motorists are either distracted/not paying attention or are being
antagonistic/aggressive. Of the many times I have been cut off by cyclists
I have certainly been annoyed, but never felt that my life was in danger.
However, after being similarly cut off by motorists just as many times I
can only thank my luck and persistent vigilance for keeping me from serious
injury.

I spend a lot of time educating cyclists on their rights and
responsibilities in the safety classes I teach for the EBBC and have a
vested, personal interest in helping people stay safe and maintaining
civility on the roadways while still having fun. That being said, the
little word that is so often overlooked is "context". Most police officers
understand this, which is why they usually ticket cyclists for flagrantly
dangerous infractions but often look the other way when they see cyclists
make stupid but inconsequential decisions. Our organization is trying to
capitalize on this and is working to set up a "traffic school for cyclists"
program in Alameda County (we already have one on the UC Berkeley campus)
where ticketed cyclists can attend a bike safety class to have their fine
reduced/removed. This allows us to target the folks most in need of the
education who otherwise would not elect to attend a safety class, and it
allows the police to ticket cyclists without feeling that they are putting
an undue burden on them via the very steep fines (usually the same a car
driver would receive, despite a bike's slower speed and greatly reduced
mass).

At the same time, education and enforcement only goes part of the way, as
better infrastructure and roads designed with cyclists' needs in mind
promotes better compliance as well. What many non-cyclists don't appreciate
is that people on bikes encounter many more red lights and stop signs than
do people in cars, as arterial streets often have signals timed at car
speeds, and the side roads that bikeways are usually routed through have
many more stop signs than signals, many more turns, and when there is a
signal the arterials always get preference in terms of green time and wait
time. I guarantee you if we subjected car arterials to as many turns, stop
signs and red light waits as we do bike routes there would be plenty more
car drivers ignoring stops as well.

Better infrastructure also encourages a more diverse bicycle ridership to
take to the streets, meaning more older cyclists, more families, more
women, etc. This has a calming effect on the traditionally young, male
demographic, encouraging less aggressive behavior and more compliance with
the law. And speaking of the law, it is possible that we could legalize
some types of common but disallowed behavior by enacting a "stop-as-yield"
law (I know, it's controversial) which allows cyclists to roll through an
stop sign after slowing and yielding to any cross traffic with the right of
way. In some ways this would be safer than the status quo where some
cyclists stop at every sign while others roll through. A big part of road
safety is about predictability, so if the law was changed and cyclist
behavior was more consistent there would be a net safety gain, and the
stats from Idaho where this has been the law since the 80's bears this out.

On Sat, May 19, 2012 at 9:29 AM, Mike Vandeman <mjvande-yBeKhBN/[email protected]> wrote:

> At 10:33 PM 5/18/2012, you wrote:
>
>> On my ride today I saw at least four cars doing rolling stops through
>> stops and lights. Maybe we learned it from them?
>>
>
> Not really. Running red lights is extremely rare among motorists.
>
>   And don't even get me started with cell phones.
>>
>
> How does that excuse bicyclists running red lights? I've seen bicyclists
> on cell phones, too, but it doesn't bear on red-light running.
>
>  r
>>
>> On 5/18/12 9:41 PM, Mike Vandeman wrote:
>>
>>> Why is there no discussion of this issue? Every time I go out, I see
>>> several bicyclists run red lights. You want respect from motorists, but
>>> this kind of behavior can only have the opposite effect. Monkey see, monkey
>>> do. Pretty soon, motorists will start doing the same, following your
>>> example.
>>>
>>> I guess many bicyclists think they are above the law. The "entitlement
>>> mentality". Practicing civil disobedience? That's not how it's done. You
>>> have to notify the police first, so they will be ready to arrest you.
>>>
>>
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>
>
> --
>
> I am working on creating wildlife habitat that is off-limits to humans
> ("pure habitat").
> Want to help? (I spent the previous 8 years fighting auto dependence and
> road construction.)
>
> Please don't put a cell phone next to any part of your body that you are
> fond of!
>
> http://mjvande.nfshost.com
>
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