Side note: I commute to work on a bike occasionally. My commute isn't long (~3miles) and I try to be considerate and move to the side when possible, stop at stop signs, not run lights, not sneak up while waiting at stop lights, and stay off the sidewalk. You know: behave like a considerate driver sharing the road.
The reason I do this is because all the bikes I see when I drive are flagrantly disregarding traffic laws and acting like they own the road. These pool noodlers seem like they are doing more of the same.
I wish they got pulled over by cops more often because all they are doing is endangering everyone else who is actually sharing the road.
My response, when I hear someone tell me that they see cyclists breaking the law, is to ask how many - in a given day. Five? Ten? Sure, I could believe that. Then I ask them how many drivers they see breaking the law in a given day...
Bicyclists where I live - even otherwise well-behaved bicyclists - routinely violate traffic laws all the time. I guess we live in different towns, but where I live I don’t also see drivers regularly blasting through red lights when they get tired of waiting.
On one end you have places like Copenhagen, where traffic lights are configured for cyclists and cyclists stop.
Most places aren't like Copenhagen. A few years ago I often had to pass through an intersection where cars had to wait for about eight seconds on average and my own average wait was two and a half minutes (one full phase plus a bit). That intersection was a big fuckyou to cyclists.
People learn from their environment and adapt their behaviour.
Thanks for the honesty? Everyday I see dozens of drivers blow through inconvenient stop signs - just like those lawless cyclists. But when they hit people, they maim and kill them. You could argue reckless cyclists are in contention for the Darwin Awards, but they're only going to get themselves killed.
I do, in Portland OR. And I have a dashcam on my bars, so I film plenty of bikes and cars blowing through stops. But I may be a little overly sensitive, I was run over by an inattentive commercial trucker who blew through stop without braking, plowing into an SUV and then rolling over me head-on - when I was stopped at the stop sign at the opposite corner, foot on the ground and everything. I was in a wheelchair for months, and I have quite a collection of Ti implants to show for it all. But I still ride to work every day, and I stop at stop signs, even though that hasn't always worked out so well for me.
Your last sentence is a fair point. But now I have to ask - where do you live? Is it really a thing to blast through stop signs there? I think I can say truthfully that in MN (USA) people stop at stop signs, always.
The reason I do this is because all the bikes I see when I drive are flagrantly disregarding traffic laws and acting like they own the road. These pool noodlers seem like they are doing more of the same.
I wish they got pulled over by cops more often because all they are doing is endangering everyone else who is actually sharing the road.
Cyclists are why I have a dashcam.