Before anyone says anything, Colorado has a rolling stop law for cyclists.
"Why do cyclists just blow through stop signs???"
byu/Morall_tach inbikecommuting
by Morall_tach
Before anyone says anything, Colorado has a rolling stop law for cyclists.
"Why do cyclists just blow through stop signs???"
byu/Morall_tach inbikecommuting
by Morall_tach
22 Comments
Seattle does too.
The amount of drivers I see do this is infuriating, even when I’m driving. I’m also in Colorado, so I guess it isn’t just my town.
Bc they feel entitled ….. and yes I’m a cyclist myself
Cars “slowing down” and “rolling” through a stop sign often do so at a greater speed than a cyclist who doesn’t slow down at all.
Everytime I’m riding my bike I have to be extra cautious around all way stop signs because so many people don’t give a fuck.
Michigan has yet to enact these laws. I have emailed my representatives, but I am sure they never see it. Therefore, I am a scofflaw. I never stop unless there is a car coming. I run red lights if no one is coming, too. I will continue to do so until I get a ticket.
Why one video represents all of us…
I don’t need a license to ride this thing.
Yup, drivers break more laws than cyclists in general.
Yeah, because nothing screams “safety” like forcing someone on a 15-kg bike to obey a rule designed for a 1.5-ton car with 30 meters of braking distance. Totally the same situation, right?
It’s not like they have better visibility, slower speeds, shorter stopping distances or are more aware of their own vulnerability.
Not sure how things work in U.S, but in here Finland i see cyclists running red lights all the time. I also see them hopping from car roads to pedestrian roads whenever they are closing in on red light, then hop back in car lane.
In here some lights have this button pedestrians have to press , so the lights give green light on next cycle. I often see cyclist pressing the button, then crossing when the light is still red. That usually leaves cars on red and no pedestrians / cyclists to cross the street when they get the green light. Its a small thing, but also stupid thing. Just don’t press the button, if you are going to go over with red lights anyway, imo.
Seen some “road rage” from cyclists as well, ramming cars when/if they have positioned themselves poorly on the pedestrian crossing and are in the way.
I personally drive a van because of work and i also started cycling recently ( 3 months behind ). Red light simply means red to me. Gives me the excuse of having a break. Get a sip of water, breath, relax etc.
As a side note. I also see drivers driving over red lights and being total ass most of the time. Speeding is common thing in here as well.
People in general seem to have very little tolerance for anything “they don’t like “and seem to be “in a rush all the time”.
Unimpeded vision, low speed, little liability for harm to others.
Let’s maybe apply just a bit of perspective, in the video, how many people were not appropriately yielded to?
On a scale of 1-10 how much was the publics safety threatened?
Again this was a cherry picked compilation video.
Now, for what it’s worth, I pause at all applicable stop signs/lights, but that’s because there are frankly too damn many cops in my area with absolutely nothing to do.
I mean, I do. WA has a law that bicycles can treat stop signs as yield signs.
It makes sense because bicycles can’t go or accelerate as fast as cars. We can also stop a lot faster, and our visibility through intersections is better being higher up and not having an obstructed view.
A bicycle going through a stop sign without stopping just doesn’t represent anywhere near the level of danger a car does.
The car-brained refrain about how cyclists always ignore stop signs drives me insane. Bikes and cars are fundamentally different in how they can and should be operated safely, and if a city hasn’t caught onto that with its laws, infrastructure and signage, the blame rests on the city, not the cyclist.
Put another way, stop signs are a blunt tool that may be appropriate for giant death machines trying to quickly maneuver past other giant death machines (and pedestrians), but are overly restrictive for people who are walking, biking and the like. “Yielding” is more appropriate, which is why, as you allude to, many state and city laws allow bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs.
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I’m also biking in Denver. At the other end of the spectrum you have drivers who clearly have the right of way stopping and not moving, presumably waving you to go but you can’t see them through the tinted glass, so than you start moving and they start moving.
It is different depending on the country. Here in Chile, only one road has a Stop sign, so you can safely assume who has preference (You see a Stop? They have preference. You don’t, proceed with caution). Only case kinda safe is a connection between a main road and a secondary, secondary has to yield to traffic so main can assume they have priority. Blowing a stop sign here is usually a guaranteed fine…
… unless no one is looking.
For me, seeing all corners with a stop sign is nonsense.
I was hit by a pickup who pulled this little maneuver. He slowed down then sped up right through the stop sign, into my poor bike 😭
The police don’t ever really enforce the rules of the road on cyclists because it’s a pain, they don’t need to have id on them making giving a ticket more troublesome if the person is not honest or being difficult.
I feel like most people know that doing this is equivalent of doing so in a car and you can be ticketed, but unless the police start enforcing this people will just keep doing it.
Like people walking dogs off leash everywhere, there are leash laws for pretty much all public places but people stuff continue to do it because nobody says otherwise.
Because stop signs are stupid! [Not just bikes](https://youtu.be/42oQN7fy_eM?si=0hwGsfw1uhyCVVAI) made a perfect video about this!
I will sometimes do this, even though my state doesn’t allow it. I do it partly for safety to keep myself ahead of traffic where possible but mostly as a courtesy to drivers.
If I make a full stop at every single stop sign on my way to the bike path, it will make drivers insane. They get stuck behind me and our overall speed drops from about 10 or 12 miles an hour to about 5 miles an hour as I have to stop and then gain momentum every other block. They can’t safely pass so they they are stuck forever behind a slow cyclist.
If I just keep moving as fast as I safely can through all of the intersections, we make it to a place where they can pass safely or I turn off and go a different route much quicker.
Angry motorists are dangerous motorists. So I try to keep them as happy as I possibly can. I know that running stop signs makes them annoyed, but having to stop at every single stop sign makes them furious.
As a driver I generally stop in the middle of intersections when someone follows behind me after rolling through a stop sign. Always on their fucking phones and upset about it.