One Reason Cyclists Are Disliked

Oakleaf, I was faced with blatant disregard of red lights on my old commute. It was 6:15 AM, so not a lot of traffic. The first situation required stopping at a residential street that crosses a busy state highway. There is also a left turn arrow, for traffic on the highway. There's a detector thing, but it doesn't get triggered by my bike. I would wait for another car to come, but the first time, I didn't make it across the highway before the light turned yellow. So, from then on, I started across when I saw the traffic on the highway get the yellow and I clearly saw no cars coming. The second one is a T intersection that's on a little uphill, where I had to turn left. I have trouble navigating these for whatever reasons. Again, my bike doesn't trigger the sensor, but there was more traffic here. If no cars were coming, I went through the red. Sometimes my boss would pass me on her way to work, but thankfully, she never saw this...
I would never blatantly blow a light or stop sign. I have seen this plenty of times. Once my dh did it and I told him I would never ride with him again! It worked.

Going back to my OP--If you were right behind me along with 2 others in single file, would you pass me ON THE RIGHT after I have signaled a stop and yelled, "Stopping"? Remember--there was a truck approaching from the left. Her husband told me this morning that she told him I was mad at her. Maybe I am, but it's because she potentially gave the entire group a black eye. More like I'm annoyed with her decision.

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Originally Posted by Aint Doody

Going back to my OP--If you were right behind me along with 2 others in single file, would you pass me ON THE RIGHT after I have signaled a stop and yelled, "Stopping"? Remember--there was a truck approaching from the left. Her husband told me this morning that she told him I was mad at her. Maybe I am, but it's because she potentially gave the entire group a black eye. More like I'm annoyed with her decision.

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You are right...you were in front and communicated the stopping.
I agree w/ almost everything said in this thread. I avoid a lot of groups d/t the blowing thru. I also think there is a diff between ignoring lights/stop signs and the slowing down or "rolling stop".
I gues this is how I handle it:
Stop signs = rolling stop at times.
Traffic lights = stopping but w/some exceptions...early morning when the light DOES not or WILL not change and I can truly assess the situation. We have a small downtime w/ lots of one way streets...fairly easy to assess.
Does this equal "obeying" traffic laws? Proably not, no more than pedestrians that WALK with the Do Not Walk sign flashing or don't cross at corners/intersctions/cross walks.

But I do try and do think I am safe. Safer than most.

I agree with Katluvr's actions. That's what I do, too. (And I jay-walk!)

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Originally Posted by Aint Doody

I agree with Katluvr's actions. That's what I do, too. (And I jay-walk!)

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Jay-walking OMG!:eek:
I am sure you slow down and assess the situation fully!;)

I think we all agree here it is that blatant disregard for traffic signs/signals that the problem AND DOES give all of us a bad reputation!

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Originally Posted by katluvr

I think we all agree here it is that blatant disregard for traffic signs/signals that the problem AND DOES give all of us a bad reputation!

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Yep.

Double Yep.

ah, the old stop sign debate...

but back to the original post, yes, the dangerous blatant disregard that happens scares me and helps me appreciate driver hostility... and, frankly, is one reason I often don't dress like a racer. (I figure the resistance of my sweats vs. tights gets me in better condition...) Our paceliners are reasonably compliant, too, I'm happy to say - it does help that we have many miles of truly open road.

I obey the spirit of the law... and when in doubt, I obey the law. Stopping at a four-way stop in the middle of the prairie when I can see for two miles in all directions means I've surrendered my thought processes to the signage. I'm much more cautious at the totally unmarked intersections, when the corn's up...

I'm too chicken to go through a stop sign after about 630am :o. If it's 530 am or so, í'll just do a rolling peek & go through. This all depends on the road of course!!

Traffic lights..I aim to set myself on the line where the sensors are. I wasn't aware of this until someone mentioned that if you place yourself on the cracked lines at the lights, green light!

Since I normally ride on my own, I am not about to make a fool of myself!

Another thing that irritates me is cyclists with no rear lights.

While i'm here, i have another complaint. I am frustrated with VERY bright blinky front lights...Geez, if you're cycling along a path towards or behind other cyclists, can you turn them to normal mode? OW..it hurts me eyes & don''t appreciate it at 6am. (as a motorist as well..)

C

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Do you have a steel frame? Where you ride, are the lights triggered by optical sensors, or the older magnetic induction loops? On a bicycle, particularly a non-steel frame (and even some motorcycles) you may not be able to trigger a light. In busier areas there may be a pedestrian crosswalk button that you can dismount and push. That carries its own set of risks - but at a lot of intersections, there's no button.

Most of the places I ride, the induction loops are slowly being phased out, and I am SO loving the optical sensors! But at many intersections, a cyclist may have no choice but to either run the light, or to do a right turn on red and then a U-turn which may be quite a bit more dangerous.

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Most of the time, there is traffic where I'm riding. Sometimes a cycle of lights passes me by, but a car comes up shortly and I move along. If I just can't catch the light, I'll walk it across. If there is an area without a lot of traffic, it probably doesn't have a light, just a 4-way stop.

Heh. It's funny you mention this. On the self-same ride, near the beginning, the ride passes through a couple lights. There was no officer at the lights, like there usually is on a large organized ride. We never got the light, probably through 2 or three cycles, so we just started piling up. It was almost ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by katluvr

I think we all agree here it is that blatant disregard for traffic signs/signals that the problem AND DOES give all of us a bad reputation!

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...and so does spandex:p

Oops, was that a hi-jack?

I used to ride with my best friend. But I swear she was going to kill me or get me killled! She is not that great of a rider in the first place but I thought if she was with me she would get out more etc...but she was bringing me down. And the whole not watching what she was doing and so on i just couldn't take the stress of it anymore. Actually after we did a mountain bike trip with her...that was pretty much it. The trip was awful for her cause she wasn't prepared and almost ruined it for the rest of us. She again almost got herself killed. bad part is her Doc said she can only ride her bike now cause she has a bad hip problem. Hope she doesn't call me to ride. I love her but....

Last year I went for a test ride with a couple tri buddies. They can't ride in even a loose paceline (not that I can ride a tight one). Squirreling left and right (specially in aero), into traffic, no signalling, unpredictable moves, and they missed pointing a piece of wood on the road, in fact they just rode a hair's width next to it and I ended up riding almost over it - I nearly wiped out and was soooo pished off. I won't ride behind them anymore. Ever.

I'm a bike cop...and I bike off duty. On duty, I ride 12 hour shifts. I have given cyclists tickets for running stop signs (primarily). The law (for Texas anyhow) says that a bike is a vehicle, and as such subject to the laws of the road, just as one in a car would be. I have worked plenty of car v. bike accidents, seldom are they pretty.

I was driving one day (off duty but as I was coming from the range I was wearing plain clothes but had my weapon holstered and my badge on my jeans waistband} when I passed a guy on a bike. He was in the middle of the road, cruising around a set of curves. I waited until I could see around him, then passed him, giving him plenty of room....but he WAS riding to the center of the two lane road, I guess because it was more level there. I stopped at the light about 1/8 mile up and was startled when he pounded on my window. As I was armed and curious , I rolled my window down to see what he wanted (a little conversation? after all, the bike rack, specialized sticker, etc. should clue him in that I am a cyclist) only to have him start yelling at me about passing him at all. I gave him the blank cop stare until he was done (the light had cycled through...no one there but us so we didn't block traffic), calmly pulled my badge off my waistband and showed it to him (which also exposed my weapon) and explained to him exactly the rules of the road involving bicycles. He shut up at that point.

People are rude when they operate a vehicle...bike or otherwise. I theorize that it the anonymity of dealing with people you will probably never see again. The bike generally loses road rage cases...

As to iPods. Just like radios in a car, they are a distraction. On duty, I bike, of course, with my radio. The earpiece lets me hear as opposed to tilting my head to listen to the handset so if dispatch is looking for me to respond to a call I can hear. Off duty I have to admit to cycling with the ipod. I listen one-ear style and keep it low. I am aware that I have to be aware. Anything can be used unsafely...ipods are one of many distractions.