Quote Originally Posted by PamNY View Post
Cyclists do break traffic laws more often than auto drivers in Manhattan and Brooklyn (the two boroughs where I bike). That's just the way it is.

No one is saying that auto drivers are perfect, but if you calculated a percentage of violations such as going the wrong way on a one way street and running red lights, you would find a much higher percentage of cyclists violating the law. Nothing is gained by pretending this isn't the case.

In some cases, if you are careful, breaking the law on a bike is safer. Jaywalking is also safer -- most pedestrians killed by cars are crossing legally.
If you want to cherry pick laws, you might be right, certain traffic laws probably are broken more often by cyclists, but if you look at traffic laws as a whole, I doubt you'd find one driver out of 100 who doesn't violate some sort of traffic law every time they drive..... 99.9% of drivers around here don't stop legally at stop signs. If they actually do fully stop, its usually in the middle of the crosswalk.... 99.9% of drivers go over the speed limit, even if it's just a little, that's still breaking the law. Lots and lots of people pass on the right on the interstate, tons don't use turn signals - and right o' people - you need to use the *all the time*, even in a parking lot. Don't get me started about right on red.....

Lets not fool ourselves either that drivers are somehow any better. If anything it behooves drivers to be better than everyone else and to be the most careful of anyone because they have the greatest destructive potential.