Braking Away

[BikeDutchess]

From the NY Times: Braking Away, by Chris Raschka

Perhaps looking for a new challenge, I’ve been attempting something unexpected in New York City bike-riding behavior: I stop for red lights.

for me, the real reason for stopping at red lights — seriously, not even right on red! — is simply to see if it can be done.

A fun Op-Ed piece.

[Aquila]

What a great piece. Thanks for sharing it with us. (I stop on reds, too, because I figure if I want to be treated like a vehicle, I should do my best to act legally.)

[malkin]

Cute.
I stop for red lights and for stop signs too, when there are cars. I plant my foot down and just stand there. Really! It's quicker ( and cheaper) than a trip to the ER.

[PamNY]

Hah. I'm surprised he didn't point out that stopping at the 39th St. light puts you in serious danger of getting rear-ended by the spandex crowd.

There's virtually no chance of getting hit by a car unless you are incredibly stupid; it's a cab stand, not a street, and you can easily see the cabs. But if you forget to pull all the way over to the right you are in serious danger from other cyclists.

[jdubble]

Red lights are coffee drinking time! I fully admit to slowing to a crawl at stop signs if there's no traffic present instead of a complete stop each and every time, though I am ALWAYS prepared to stop if need be. But red lights? No way. That's a full stop until the light turns green.

[PscyclePath]

My LCI instructor ground it into our heads, if you make a habit of running red lights and stop signs, you're gonna get hit. Might be sooner, might be later, but someday...

So yeah... I am locally infamous as the guy who always stops for traffic signals. I have been rear-ended 5 times in the past year and a half; 4 times by fellow cyclists and once by a drunken pick-up driver. I still have a bent quick release lever on the rear brake of my road bike where the local bike club prez got me while I was waiting on a string of cars to clear an intersection ;-)

So Mr. Rascha's little story really drives home to me...

Tom