BIKE: How to break the law?

[Patrick Goetz]

Mike Dahmus wrote:
>>
>> This is probably the biggest straw man argument I've ever seen in my 
>> life.  Who exactly is it who's advocating that cyclists run stop signs 
>> when it's not safe to do so?
> 
> 
> It's never safe to do so. But since you disagree, then I trust you'll be 
> with Patrick in pushing for removing the legal requirement to stop at 
> all stop signs in the city for motorists as well as cyclists. Ready to 
> put your body where your mouth is? Ready to assume that the motorist 
> coming up to the stop sign at the cross street is going to see you and 
> decide to stop this time?
> 

Mike D., that's just plain silly (and I can't believe I'm letting myself 
get sucked into this goofy debate again).  First of all, you're 
absolutely wrong.  For the last 10 years, roughly 50 (sometimes 100) 
times a week, I slow down as I approach a stop sign until I'm absolutely 
sure there is no car coming from either side of the intersection, then I 
continue through the intersection without coming to a complete stop 
behind the sign.  This action is legally defined as "running a stop 
sign", and on one occasion I was ticketed $120 or so when a motorcycle 
cop having a bad day saw me doing exactly this.  On the other hand, this 
is a completely safe thing to do.  Yes, it would be safer to come to a 
complete stop behind the red sign before proceeding, but then it would 
also be safer to just stay home and never leave the house.  The ordinary 
(i.e. non-dysfunctionally neurotic) life consists of taking reasonable 
risks (e.g. leaving the house in the morning) on a regular basis.

Since much of my daily commute to work is on quiet residential streets 
with lots of 4-way stops, I end up doing this a lot.  On those occasions 
when there is a car coming, I slow down even more until it is clear that 
the motorist plans to stop, or, if the motorist is going to get to the 
intersection before me, I stop, since they have the right of way. 
Coming to a complete stop in the prior case (and usually even the 
latter) is mostly an INCONVENIENCE to the motorist, since they end up 
having to wait longer for me to get through the intersection.  One of my 
pet peeves (despite the fact that I realize the motorist is just trying 
to be polite/safe) is motorists who insist upon waiting for me to go 
even though they got to the intersection first.  No, you got there 
first, you go -- once I've had to come to a complete stop, I don't care 
any more.  We both end up waiting like morons because the motorist can't 
follow the rules of the road, namely going first because they got their 
first.

What's silly is the idea that anyone is advocating that bicyclists 
"blast through stop signs".  The fact of the matter is that Bluejay and 
I are advocating EXACTLY the opposite of this, namely the idea that 
mindful cycling is the safest way to go regardless of what the rules 
tell you to do.  (Now it's time to deliver the Mike Dahmus smackdown, in 
case anyone was wondering.)  What you seem to be implying in your last 
paragraph is that bicyclists should trust that motorists will follow 
traffic rules (since this is the negation of "Ready to assume that the 
motorist coming up to the stop sign at the cross street is going to see 
you and decide to stop this time?")  The answer is an emphatic NO!  The 
reasons bicyclists get killed is that they assume that the rules of the 
road apply, so they can just tool around without being mindful of what 
is going on around of them.  No, no, no.  Intentionally or not, 
motorists run red lights and stop signs too, and as a bicyclist you 
DON'T want to be in front of them when they do.  Consequently, it 
doesn't matter if you have the legal right of way.  If it looks like a 
motorist might hit you, you stop REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT YOU HAVE 
THE LEGAL RIGHT OF WAY.

Furthermore, to answer your question, I have no problems with motorists 
negotiating stop signs and red lights the same way I do on my bike, 
(assuming they know how to take into account reaction times, 
acceleration, visibility, and momentum; i.e. assuming they are not 
dumbasses).  Moreover, THERE WOULD BE MANY FEWER ACCIDENTS if more 
motorists drove the way I (usually) ride my bike, since they would be 
paying attention to the road rather than tooling around like complete 
imbeciles listening to the radio, doing their hair, eating donuts, etc. 
while counting on traffic rules to afford them the luxury of not having 
to pay any attention to what they are doing.


Hmmm, it occurs to me that since I've "run stop signs" at least 30,000 
times since moving to Austin, technically I must owe around $3 million 
dollars in moving violations.  Ouch.