This explains a lot

[Longjohn ★]

[maddmaxx ★]

Stolen for future use.

[Prophet Zacharia]

[MickinMD ★]

1 hour ago, maddmaxx said:

Stolen for future use.

Ditto

[MickinMD ★]

I actually got a warning ticket against my driver's license, several years ago, for running a do not cross light on my bike.  I was trying to beat the start of rain back to my car, there was no traffic on the side road I had crossed, and by the time the officer handed the paper ticket to me it had begun to rain hard and was soaked beyond legibility before it left his hand.

I wanted to ask, "Who do I complain to that you've put me in danger to try to get back to my car after I crossed a road with no traffic to try to beat the rain?"

But I'm too long in the tooth to be that foolish, so I took the ticket, put it where I could retrieve it if I had an accident, and rode away.

It turned out that a girl had been hit by a car and hospitalized after jaywalking after attending a local carnival and the police had a "quota" of warning tickets to hand out and I got unlucky.

So now, I have to wait at crossing lights on side roads where there's no car within 100 yards - unless others are crossing and no cop ambush appears.

[12string]

I do despise a lot of cyclists.  And bear the wrath of drivers' view of all cyclists beuuase of them

[Ralphie ★]

12 minutes ago, 12string said:

I do despise a lot of cyclists.  And bear the wrath of drivers' view of all cyclists beuuase of them

The peletons on the local roads seem to have dissipated some over the years.

[Longjohn ★]

On my New Years ride in downtown Pittsburgh just before the start of the ride they said “we will obey all laws, please repeat” and most of the riders said”we will obey all laws”. We started down Carson street and the first traffic light turned red before the first rider got to it. Everyone stopped. The light turned green and we started again. The next light was green when the first third of the riders went through it. It was red when the rest of the hundred riders went through it. So much for obeying all laws. 

[Longjohn ★]

4 hours ago, Longjohn said:

It was red when the rest of the hundred riders went through it. So much for obeying all laws. 

I suppose I should qualify this by saying there was only one car waiting at the intersection and she was enjoying watching all the bikes go by and she was waving everyone on. Other red lights on the ride as the group spread out we did stop for.

[jdc2000]

In my state, and in Utah, cyclists must stop at stop lights, but are allowed to treat Stop signs as Yield signs.  Note that most of the roads we ride on have little traffic, so most of the time we don't see any motor vehicles at the Stop signs.

 

[Dottleshead]

12 hours ago, 12string said:

I do despise a lot of cyclists.  And bear the wrath of drivers' view of all cyclists beuuase of them

Well start blowing through them.  Seems like you are carrying that unnecessary burden. 

[Dottleshead]

39 minutes ago, jdc2000 said:

In my state, and in Utah, cyclists must stop at stop lights, but are allowed to treat Stop signs as Yield signs.  Note that most of the roads we ride on have little traffic, so most of the time we don't see any motor vehicles at the Stop signs.

Same.

https://sdotblog.seattle.gov/2020/09/30/washington-states-new-bicycle-safety-stop-law-allows-people-biking-to-treat-stops-signs-as-yield-signs-with-some-exceptions/#:~:text=Under the new law%2C a,safely stop if needed%2C and

[Razors Edge ★]

8 hours ago, jdc2000 said:

In my state, and in Utah, cyclists must stop at stop lights, but are allowed to treat Stop signs as Yield signs.  Note that most of the roads we ride on have little traffic, so most of the time we don't see any motor vehicles at the Stop signs.

My rule of thumb is "ignore the rules EXCEPT to focus on safety".  IOW, I can literally slow to 1mph or less and look around and assess a situation. Stopping completely can be totally unnecessary.  If, after decades of riding (and driving and walking) on public roads, paths, sidewalks, shoulders, etc., I can't assess the safest thing to do in a situation, I've failed miserably at learning.   

Ride defensively and smartly.  Sure, you might eventually get a ticket or warning from a cop doing their job, but that's no reason to ruin all rides in perpetuity with senseless or non-applicable rules. 

[12string]

3 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

"ignore the rules EXCEPT to focus on safety"

I do the opposite.  Follow the rules except for safety.  That's often using stop signs as yields, especially if there's traffic behind.  Getting out in front of cars is safer than being next to them at intersections

sometimes what's safe for a car is more dangerous on a bike.

A big consideration on handllng rules of the road is understanding that most drivers don't understand what cyclists understand.  So, I'm not going to do something on a bike that confuses the drivers and makes hem unpredictable.  I will on occasion, base on the situation, do things to make the driver think they need to give me extra attention or space.  Like wander out into lanes on shoulderless roads when I see a car approaching too fast.

Also note that many "rules" aren't really safety related, but solely intended to make traffic move easier.  Drives me nuts when a driver wants to be "nice" and yield when they shouldn't and now there's gridlock

[Razors Edge ★]

40 minutes ago, 12string said:

I do the opposite.  Follow the rules except for safety.  That's often using stop signs as yields, especially if there's traffic behind.  Getting out in front of cars is safer than being next to them at intersections

sometimes what's safe for a car is more dangerous on a bike.

A big consideration on handllng rules of the road is understanding that most drivers don't understand what cyclists understand.  So, I'm not going to do something on a bike that confuses the drivers and makes hem unpredictable.  I will on occasion, base on the situation, do things to make the driver think they need to give me extra attention or space.  Like wander out into lanes on shoulderless roads when I see a car approaching too fast.

Also note that many "rules" aren't really safety related, but solely intended to make traffic move easier.  Drives me nuts when a driver wants to be "nice" and yield when they shouldn't and now there's gridlock

True true true.

I'm sort of saying the same thing, not the opposite. IOW, the only thing that matters to me on a bike is staying safe (me and all around me). Period.  As a cyclist, you can repeatedly do the "right" thing by the law, but it might really the "wrong" thing from both a practical and safety perspective.  

And it isn't just in cycling.  I've seen folks sit at a red light at a wide open & clear intersection in the middle of the night after failing to trigger the light to cycle.  Idly waiting while the flawed trigger system ignores you is not the "right" thing to do if your experience and awareness of the situation have a much better grasp on the situation. Likewise on a bike, with a view near or greater than 360^o and with no blindspots and your other senses - especially hearing - fully engaged, you are in a MUCH better spot to call the proper action than a law drafted during the horse and buggy ages and slowly updated if some folks decided it made sense.