Great piece, but there's a big missing chunk: The social and psychological dynamic at work here. The best reason to obey traffic laws is because they're laws. The second best reason is because bicyclists who obey traffic laws keep other bicyclists from getting killed, by improving the social compact between drivers and riders. I ride and drive both rural and urban roads in the Northwest. I know the impulse as a bike rider: One car's sitting at a long light, you roll up, slow, see nobody coming, and keep on moving. No harm no foul. Except there is a foul. By rolling through, you've pissed off the driver sitting there obeying the light--a driver who normally is happy to share the road with bicyclists, give them extra room on tight rural shoulderless corners. The driver watches the rider's butt roll away and, in his mind, thinks of every ugly stereotype about bicyclists: Ie, that they're insufferably smug hypocrites, demanding that cars "share the road," while feeling free to flaunt the rules when the rules are inconvenient for cyclists. The next time the driver encounters a commuting cyclist on a wet road in the dark, the driver is that much less likely to slow down and wait until it's safe to pass. Call it social grease, karma, whatever you want--it matters. If bicyclists want respect from drivers, we've got to give respect to drivers. And that means stopping at the stop sign.

Thank you! You are exactly right and I say this because I drive a car and don't ride a bike and nothing irritates me more than to see cyclists flout the law by running stop signs and running into our traffic circles while we are patiently waiting our turn. I live in a resort area that is saturated with bicycles in the summer time. In our private community there are bike paths and stop signs on the bike paths specifically for the bikes that are compulsively ignored. The unfortunate part of this is that many times the stop signs are ignored by small children riding in front of parents who do not make their children obey these signs. There is a tragedy here waiting to happen. When cyclists are ignoring the rules of the road - what on earth makes anyone think they will obey the rules designed especially for them.

Recently, I saw a minivan squeeze a cyclist out of his lane, forcing him to pull off the road to avoid being crushed. I could not have been more angry for him at that driver, who was little more than a bully at that moment.

On the other hand, I saw a cyclist nearly hit a pedestrian in a crosswalk, then double back and ream him (the pedestrian) out for being unsafe and not paying attention.

I feel that in both cases the faster moving vehicle should take the most responsibility for the safety of both parties, as they are in the position to do greater harm. As a driver, I treat cyclists as I would any other slower car in the lane, moving over to pass instead of recklessly squeezing them out. I would like to think that a cyclist would consider me as carefully when our paths meet at an intersection, and slow down or stop where signs and lights insist.

I find it hard to believe the average person, who will depress the right pedal and pass me momentarily, is actually pissed off when I brazenly flout the law (horrors!). I have been honked at by drivers irritated they have to wait 15 extra seconds for a safe place to pass on a narrow road with me nearly in the grass already but never just past an intersection.

I cross a major four lane road next to my office on my lunchtime ride. The direction I'm heading has two lanes converging to one. I encounter this type of interesection all the time. Given the choice, I am MUCH happier if I get a chance to cross against the light so I am (hopefully) past the merge area by the time the cars arrive, attention focused on merging and not necessarily on me. Cross traffic I can see and evaluate - cars behind me and alongside, not so much.

is actually pissed off when I brazenly flout the law (horrors!).

This is the attitude that pisses off drivers - "why are you upset? It's no big deal if I disobey the rules of the road...you sit at the light and wait I don't feel like it - it's too hard to get going again"

You're kidding right? I am sick and tired of waiting at a light or at a rotary (we have those to add to the fun and challenge of "sharing the road" as well) and seeing some Lance Armstrong wannabe blow right by traffic and charge into the insection like they freakin' own it.

Ignoring that you ascribe to me an attitude I don't have (I stop all the time when safety dictates - "getting going again" does not trouble me), you pass Lance, what?, 30 seconds later? It's not clear how Lance affects you one bit except for the terrible unfairness of it all.

*shrug* It clearly pisses at least two of you off but as far as I can tell, I haven't encountered any of your breathren on the road. And I live in NJ, where people aren't shy about expressing their displeasure, especially from the safety of a car. :)

I've been hit by a car while riding merrily - and legally - along and have a crushed T6 to show for it. I will continue to make the decisions I feel are in my best interest.

"I find it hard to believe the average person, who will depress the right pedal and pass me momentarily, is actually pissed off when I brazenly flout the law (horrors!)."

Well, you should believe it because it is true.

I'm not buying it. For DECADES, I was very much a law-abiding cyclist, and it doesn't do squat to change the behavior of drivers. I certainly cannot be held responsible for the behavior of cyclists I've never even met. Furthermore, there's no logic to "cyclists should obey the law". The two main arguments are generally "it's the law, you're supposed to obey it", and "it's about safety". If it's the law and you're supposed to obey it, almost anyone who drives a car and complains about cyclists is a hypocrite. Speed limit? It's a law, around 30-50% of drivers break it on residential streets, more than 90% break it on highways. Full stop at stop signs? Stop AT the stop line? Both laws, both widely broken by drivers. (And NOBODY has ever seriously suggested that drivers should be required to put their foot to the pavement, to prove that they were stopped.) Okay, so maybe it's about safety. Safety for whom? The cyclist, or other people? If it's the cyclist, that's somewhat nanny-statish, but we do have laws like that -- for example, the widely ignored, secondary-offense seatbelt law, here in Massachusetts, or the non-existent seatbelt law in Live-Free-or-Die New Hampshire. So maybe that's not it, maybe it's the terrible threat cyclists present to other people. And I agree -- cyclists should absolutely defer to pedestrians. But cars? A cyclist is no physical threat to a car driver -- he's wearing a motorized suit of armor. A cyclist has literal skin in the game, a car driver does not. If all cyclists were as crazy as so many people claim they are, there would be no old cyclists, and I am a counterexample to that. As near as I can tell, anyone who is serious about getting cyclists to obey traffic laws, would start with cars. There's more of them, and they are much more dangerous to other people. Without that, the only thing draconian enforcement will accomplish, is to make cyclists much more careful about getting caught, and roll their eyes whenever the topic is raised.

mfennell:

Ignoring that you ascribe to me an attitude I don't have (I stop all the time when safety dictates - .

See, that's the attitude part. You'll stop when YOU want to, not when the law says to. If that's ok for you, why shouldn't it be ok for cars to do the same thing? Roll stops when it's safe, go whatever speed is safe for them, etc.?

I completely agree, though I do think the laws for cycling should be slightly different than those for driving, like the idaho stop.

Every morning I come to an intersection at the bottom of a hill with a bike line. It's a big intersection, maybe even like 6 ways. There's always a line of bikes stopped at the light. But there's also always some guy that just rides past everyone stopped at the light and blows through the intersection. I hate those guys. We're all waiting with one foot on the ground, but the world revolves around Mr. Hipster. I don't know how they don't get hit.

I'm prefacing this by saying that I'm a cyclist, and have been commuting on and off for about 14 years (solidly for the last four). Me, if a cyclist blows a light/stop sign and gets killed, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, any more than I would if a drunk driver plows his car into a tree and dies. When you are breaking the law, you are taking your own life in your own hands, and the vehicle operator shouldn't be considered responsible.

My guess, Mr. Hipster has a fixie and couldn't do an emergency stop if his life depended on it (which it probably does).

mfennel - and I am willing to bet you are equally guilty (or worse, hypocritical) in your "attitude" sermon, since YOU break posted speed limits now and then, and maybe you "forget" to properly turn on (or off) your signals on occasion, NO? Did you ever jaywalk in your life - as in illegally crossed an empty road with no sign of traffic - not at the crosswalk? If you have never done any of those things, then you are perfect, I apologize. If not - you have expressed the same law-less "attitude".

I will gladly admit I am not ALL "perfect" when I drive my car, I may be breaking a law or two every single day in fact - but I don't think it's a problem since I am driving very safely overall, and these are minor infractions. For example, posted speed limit on highway is 55, but most traffic moves at 60-65, so going 50 all the time is asking for trouble. I am anal about signaling, but probably miss a signal now and then. It's entirely possible I stopped AFTER crossing the stop line. I have also jaywalked plenty of times. But I do try not to be careless or inattentive - which is more than I could say for many of my fellow drivers.

Bondsman:

See, that's the attitude part. You'll stop when YOU want to, not when the law says to. If that's ok for you, why shouldn't it be ok for cars to do the same thing? Roll stops when it's safe, go whatever speed is safe for them, etc.?

I once had an argument with a facilities manager over bringing a bicycle into an office I was using. He asked me "would it be OK for someone to bring a CAR in here?" Your response approaches that level of absurdity.

Cars kill people. Bicycles do not (and there are no pedestrians where I ride, so save the post).. As another poster said, I have skin in the game that you don't. My mistake OR your mistake can kill me. It may inconvenience you.

Again, I find it hard to wrap my head around anyone having enough energy to actually care about this. Really. Slowing down, looking both ways, proceeding when safe. If I cross against the red, noone will turn left into me (breaking my back again) or decide to go right at the last second while I'm alongside. I'm not changing my behavior but I guess I've been educated.

I'm not sure if the hipster comment was addressed to me but while I do make fun of hipsters on fixies with their cute little handlbars (an epedemic in Cambridge where my brother goes to school), I do not own a fixie.

OGS1976:

mfennel - and I am willing to bet you are equally guilty (or worse, hypocritical) in your "attitude" sermon,

I think you meant to address another poster.

I do occaisionally drive faster than the law would dictate though.

mfennell:

Bondsman:

See, that's the attitude part. You'll stop when YOU want to, not when the law says to. If that's ok for you, why shouldn't it be ok for cars to do the same thing? Roll stops when it's safe, go whatever speed is safe for them, etc.?

I once had an argument with a facilities manager over bringing a bicycle into an office I was using. He asked me "would it be OK for someone to bring a CAR in here?" Your response approaches that level of absurdity.

Cars kill people. Bicycles do not (and there are no pedestrians where I ride, so save the post)...

No, his argument says it's the law, which you ignore when it fits YOU. You say it's because cars can kill people and a bike can't. First off, the obvious counter since all the bikers keep talking about coasting through empty interesctions is a car can't kill anyone in an empty intersection either.

Second, you can use that same argument for breaking most of the laws in the US: "I can take drugs, it's not gonna kill anyone else." "I can shoplift, it's not like it'll kill them to lose some merchandise" etc, etc. It's not whether the law is good or not, there's some pretty stupid laws. But, you choose to live in this society, you choose to follow whatever laws there are. You can't just run around breaking whichever ones you see fit, then get pissed if people call you on it.