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Old April 15th 19, 10:35 PM posted to rec.bicycles.tech
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Default Cyclists triggering red light cameras

On Friday, April 12, 2019 at 5:51:21 PM UTC-7, jbeattie wrote:
On Friday, April 12, 2019 at 4:29:24 PM UTC-7, John B. wrote:
On Fri, 12 Apr 2019 15:58:10 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Friday, April 12, 2019 at 2:49:19 AM UTC-5, James wrote:
On 12/4/19 4:21 pm, AK wrote:


There is no valid excuse for cyclists to run lights and stop signs..

Yes there is. There are many places I've encountered where the buried
vehicle sensors do not reliably detect bicycles, and as a consequence it
is necessary to ignore the lights and proceed with caution.


Guess I am making a distinction between "run" ning lights and stop signs and not officially obeying the law down to the last letter. I think of "run" ning a light or sign as not stopping at all and just blowing right through them. That is wrong. But I consider it OK to not officially obey the letter of the law by a bicycle if they slow down and almost come to a stop but don't at a stop sign. Rolling stop I think its called. And for red lights, stop and look to see if anyone is coming and then cross illegally while the light is red if its safe and not wait for the light to change, if it will ever change if there are those magnets buried in the pavement that cannot detect bikes, only steel cars.


But, how does one determine the circumstances under which one can
selectively disregard the law?

If you steal someone's money can they get a gun and shoot you? I
certainly know people that believe that is justified.

Or perhaps, it is all right to steal from a large business? Apparently
a rather popular pastime from the care most companies take to avoid
theft by employees.


We're talking traffic laws and not employee theft.

We all disregard traffic laws sometimes. We often disregard laws that we don't even know we're disregarding. Motorists have been disregarding traffic laws since there were cars. https://gizmodo.com/on-this-day-in-1...ned-1579044541

Every small infraction does not lead one down the path to grand-theft, rape and murder. Some infractions are bad from a moral or/or safety standpoint -- and others not so much. https://tinyurl.com/yy3ot6g2 (Jeffrey City, Wyoming -- I probably rode my bike through that stop sign).

What I love are motorists who think I'm disregarding the law when I'm not.. Cars will honk when I take a left turn through a red light onto a one-way street. Cars will sit at the light when there is no traffic -- simply because they don't know the traffic law. The maroons should read the paper. https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...devils_in.html Cars will go ballistic if I get out of the bike lane to pass another bike or avoid hazards. All legal. Most people rant about others breaking the traffic law and don't even know the law.

Now, when I really DO break the law on my bike and get honked at or cited, well that's on me. If I hurt someone in the process, then I bear moral and legal blame. So, I try not to ride in a way that will place anyone, including me, in danger. But when I hit a stop sign with no traffic, I'm not putting my foot down. So far, it has not led me down the slippery slope to Felonyville.

-- Jay Beattie.


I think that I know the laws I'm disregarding most of the time. What ticks me off is waiting at a red light for two cycles and it not changing for a bike, so I roll through it and a cop stops me and says I should wait until a car comes to trigger the light.
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