Quote Originally Posted by fidlfreek View Post
I think you must treat a stop sign differently as a cyclist. In a car it is ALWAYS safer to stop. On a bike however I believe that your safety is always #1 and that means that you must analyze the situation and carefully consider whether or not to stop. If I am at a place where cross traffic doesn't stop I am more likely to slow and analyze the situation. If there is ample room I will roll right through. Otherwise I'm stuck starting, clipping in, with a small chance of having a catastrophically slower than usual crossing. I am causing LESS risk to myself and other drivers by being in full control and slowing and analyzing and then possibly going through. This IMHO is defensive driving which is what excellent cyclists must do.
+1. I always make sure that (1) I'm ABLE to put my foot down quickly when cross traffic has the ROW, and (2) I'm proceeding slowly enough and with enough visibility that I'll know WHEN and IF I may need to come to a complete standing stop.

But I agree 100% that a complete standing stop is not always the safest thing for a two-wheeled vehicle (motorized or non), even though it may be the legally required thing. Every intersection and every set of traffic conditions has to be analyzed individually; blindly stopping at every stop sign is not automatically safer, any more than blindly blowing every stop sign. IMHO.