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Good responses. I agree that the most sensible response is "a light is a light..."
Interestingly, here's an old satellite view of the intersection...it USED to have lines going through the bike lane, NOW, it doesn't.
http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/...3/ea95b6be.jpg
I am amazed...the side street served by the light only has nine houses, and the main road has a speed limit of 15 mph! I wonder what politician lives on that side street...
Aw, heck, for nine houses I'd definitely blow the light. :p
The intersection I'm thinking of definitely needs a light - it's quite busy in both directions. It also doesn't have a stop bar through the bike lane. It was re-paved not too long ago, so just out of curiosity I had to look at aerial maps. All of them show the intersection just as it is now, with no stop bar in the bike lane. Yahoo's image dates to 2008, which I believe was before the re-paving.
I'm not interested enough to drill down through all the levels of Florida highway engineering regulations to find out more details about stop bar design, but it does seem pretty strange.
Another thing to consider is not just your safety & the safety of pedestrians and other travelers, but also the scenario: if you are hit for whatever reason as you are traveling, your position legally will be much stronger if you stopped than if you blew through the light. Whether it happens at that intersection or a few blocks down the road.
For me, I treat them as stop lights and stop. Funny, this morning I saw another cyclist up ahead a ways and his option was to move up on the sidewalk (opposite the side street), continue on, then on the other side move back into the road.
After a bit, I actually did still catch up and pass him (about 8 blocks), I guess time saving is all relative.
In another situation, however, I did a left turn on red because my poor little bike did not trigger the sensors. I only did this after just missing the first green left and sitting through 1 complete cycle. So with no cars, I made my left.
Culver City and a $500 ticket for blowing a red light in a similar situation says that a stop light is a stop light.....there wasn't a bike lane, but you are considered a vehicle on the road either way
nah, i go thru a couple of these every day on my way to work, and i never stop. i dont see any reason to, with good visibility and mindful of any traffic turning into the car lane next to my bike lane, seems goofy to me to stop. i slow but, no, i dont stop.
Whoa, good question.
Legally, I suspect you're responsible for stopping and waiting as in a car, although this does vary some from state to state.
Realistically, if it was me, I'd probably do what you did and come to a stop, wait, then get fed up and ride through the red.