do you ever go through red lights?

[shootingstar]

Were there some slightly different responses when a similar topic was discussed several months ago about whether or not one used a rolling stop vs. a full stop at an intersection?

[blackhillsbiker]

There is one place on my commute where I'm guilty of a rolling stop. I'm trying not to. At red lights I use the pedestrian buttons. There is only one place where I take the lane. The rest of the time I am on the bike path.

Deb

[Tri Girl]

On my morning commute I do rolling stops at stop signs all the time. I only ever encounter one car (two if it's a busy morning) on my way to work. When there's a car around, I do come to a full stop at a stop sign. If not, I slow down and check for cars and roll through. I know- I'm a bad cyclist. In the afternoons I always stop.

I have only "run" a red traffic light once (on my commute) and that's because I sat there for an eternity and couldn't trip it (goes back to seeing no cars on my morning commute). Now I just take a different way to avoid that light.

[skhill]

These days, I always come to a complete stop at red lights. If the light is on a sensor and there are no cars around to activate it, eventually I'll go on the red. But that's it...

I used to run reds a lot more, but don't anymore. There's one road with way more lights than it needs that is one of my favorite routes through town on my bike, but I almost never travel that road by car. I used to run the reds on that particular road regularly, but then one day I was driving there and realized that I was driving right on through the reds, out of habit. Including the one right by the fraternal order of police lodge. So I chanded my bike habits, and don't run the reds anymore...

[moderncyclista]

I stop for red lights but if my bike can't actuate them, I cross the street red light or not. Of course I look both ways,proceed with caution etc...
But some lights just won't change without a ton of steel actuating them!
I never "BLOW" through red lights.

I know. I agree with 100% of what you said Biciclista. Some mornings it is too early for a single car to be out (it seems) and my steel steeds don't trigger the actuators. I have to be cautious, but then I begrudgingly go through.

On Critical Mass, most of the people I ride with want to blow through the lights. I do not. I don't think it sets a good precident, it pisses drivers off, and is generally unsafe.

Also, on a funny note - sort of thread-drifty. I rode yesterday and got yelled at to "Get off the street!" Sometimes when drivers get aggressive I move to the sidewalk. Maybe 10 minutes later a man I biked past on the sidewalk yelled at me to "Get off the sidewalk!" In my state if you ride on the street, you act like a car. You can ride on the sidewalk (but not downtown) if you act like a pedestrian. Drivers get so mean sometimes. There needs to be a cycling awareness campaign in my state. IMO. *Sorry, needed to vent...back to your regularly scheduled thread.*

[Melalvai]

Also, on a funny note - sort of thread-drifty. I rode yesterday and got yelled at to "Get off the street!" Sometimes when drivers get aggressive I move to the sidewalk. Maybe 10 minutes later a man I biked past on the sidewalk yelled at me to "Get off the sidewalk!" In my state if you ride on the street, you act like a car. You can ride on the sidewalk (but not downtown) if you act like a pedestrian. Drivers get so mean sometimes. There needs to be a cycling awareness campaign in my state. IMO. *Sorry, needed to vent...back to your regularly scheduled thread.*

When I first started cycling, I couldn't figure out if I was "supposed" to ride on the sidewalk or the road. Motorists yelled "Get off the road!" and I was absolutely mortified when a pedestrian said "Bicyclists belong on the road" as I passed her. I was so mad: why can't "they" figure out which way it should be? Didn't she realize the only way to access the bike racks is by sidewalk, which implies that bikes use the sidewalks?

Now that I am a seasoned cyclist and I have taken Traffic Cycling 101 (was Road I when I took it) and am an LCI to boot, I know what is wrong: there is no consensus, no "they", no "supposed". The Bike League is generally regarded as the expert but not everyone knows about the bike league or agrees with them.

The best thing I got out of the bike class was confidence in my choices. I choose the road. I choose when to share the lane or take the lane. I choose to observe the signs, lights, and rules and regulations that apply to me. That power to choose made everything else much less stressful, like the mixed & hostile messages.

And to get to the bike racks, I have to use the sidewalks. I ride slowly & quietly behind the pedestrian traffic (if any).

[OakLeaf]

"Get off the sidewalk!"

In the past month, while running on the sidewalk, I've been run into the street three times by people on bicycles. I won't dignify them win the name "cyclist"...

[HillSlugger]

a few weeks ago a guy in a car yelled at me, "Get on the sidewalk!" as he was pulling away. I thought it particularly funny since there was no sidewalk where we were.

[Owlie]

As far as I can tell, in Ohio, it's not illegal to ride bikes on the sidewalk, according to that lovely little manual from the DMV, except where the city says you can't. (Cleveland says you can't ride on the sidewalk in business districts, for example.) It's just not encouraged. I know at home they just built wide sidewalks that are bike and pedestrian paths so they didn't have to put in bike lanes.

[blackhillsbiker]

There are a couple of places where I have to use the sidewalk on my commute. I am very watchful and careful of pedestrians. There are very few at that time of the morning. I don't make them get out of my way. Part of downtown has a split sidewalk with part being designated for bikes and part for pedestrians.

Deb

[Crankin]

I do exactly what Biciclista does. I never run red lights, but I do use rolling stops at some stop signs.
There was one highway crossing (a suburban street) that I had to do when I commuted. It was about 6:00 to 6:15 AM when I got there and hardly any cars. My bike would not trip the signal, so I did cross on the red a few times. There's no ped. signal there (why I don't know, since it's a major crossing for cyclists and runners to get from one side of town to the other) either.

[badger]

I ride on the sidewalk sometimes, especially when it's dark and rainy and there are big parked trucks blocking the bike path. It's along the same road that this whole thread started, and it's rarely used by pedestrians (if there are, I'll slow down and always verbalize if I'm coming up behind them).

I've had to alter my return route because the other direction of this road (they're both one way), people tend to use as a speed track. Which, incidentally, was used as a temporary Indy course when we actually had them. Now the bike path is blocked off by big huge barriers for the Olympics so there's really no place for cyclists to go.

It's getting off topic a bit, but I find it ironic how the powers-that-be tell residents to leave the car at home, to bike or take transit during the Olympics, but on the next breath they tell us to expect hours-long delays on transit or bike paths being closed.

[Cataboo]

I typically ride away from downtown when I leave my house, but it's pretty irritating when I do decide to go downtown to go to the post office or the library via bike. There's maybe a 1 mile stretch which has a lot of traffic dumping into it from the highway and a military base, with businesses , banks, restaurants, and gas stations all crammed in it... I tend to ride on the road there, but if it's rushhour, I will usually ride on the sidewalk. Although, the sidewalk in several places just has like 8 inch drops in it or disappears or has a telephone pole in the middle of it. And it's going up and down driveways constantly. Actually crossing the entrance ramp for teh highway can be hard, because everyone floors it when they get in the vicinity of it.

The way back in the same stretch is full of disappearing sidewalks and at least 2 parallel grates in the road with spacing larger than my tires. (both directions have grates with potholes all about them)

I'm pretty sure if I ever get hit by a car, it'll be on this one little stretch.

[marni]

a few weeks ago a guy in a car yelled at me, "Get on the sidewalk!" as he was pulling away. I thought it particularly funny since there was no sidewalk where we were.

My typical ride is on the shoulder of a 4 lane highway through endless miles of Texas farm land and prairie. I have had several pick ups pull into the shoulder ahead of me and yell at me to ride on the sidewalk. Talk about people unclear on a concept.

marni