Hey cyclists, d'ya wanna stop running red lights please?

[aliquot]

I drive around Seattle every single day, and every single day, I see cyclists running red lights. Some stop, look both ways, and then decide, "Eh, the traffic laws don't apply to me," before blowing through. Others slow and then dart across the intersection, sometimes causing drivers to slam on the brakes if, e.g., the cyclist had to slow down to avoid a pothole. And I swear, other riders don't even bother to slow before barreling through an intersection, figuring, I suppose, that it's harder for oncoming traffic to hit you if you're going at 25 mph than if you're going at 5.

Now, when people jaywalk in a big city, it causes delays, but I'm not convinced that it's particularly lifethreatening -- people walk at, what, 3 mph? Easy to see and, as a driver, I have plenty of time to react. But you cyclists, zipping through intersections at upwards of 20 mph, especially if there is a hill (and we have some hills in Seattle) are really just playing Russian Roulette.

I'd be more frothy and vituperative, but I'm really just scared shitless that, one day, I'm going to, despite my squealing brakes and mad swerving, hit one of you bastards. So instead, I'm just going to implore you:

Wait for the green light, mmkay?

[Gukumatz]

Wait for the green light you fuckers, or I will hit you! No, I didn't mean "go play in traffic" literally, you retarded ass-scrape.

[John DiFool]

They also ignore other safety signals, such as stop signs. Free clue fuckwads, traffic laws apply equally to you too.

[matt_mcl]

That's fine, I won't (and don't) blow red lights. Now that we've come to a consensus about that, will you please do something about that whole opening-doors-directly-into-bike-lanes-without-looking,-clotheslining-passing-cyclists thing?

[Q.E.D.]

Originally Posted by John DiFool

Free clue fuckwads, traffic laws apply equally to you too.

Only on paper. Enforcement is so lax, they might as well not apply at all. And cyclists know this.

[blondebear]

Years ago, I got a ticket for riding my bike through a stop sign. I decided to take a chance that the officer wouldn't show up in court....wrong! I admitted my guilt to the judge, saying that I thought $128 was a lot of money. The Judge told me: "The law applies to cars AND bicycles..." He did cut the fine to $28, though.

I always put a foot down at stop signs now. Running traffic lights? No way.

Well, maybe on a Sunday morning without a car in sight....

[Shawn1767]

I am a cyclist and I never understood why cyclists want motorists to share the road with them, but then seem to scoff at traffic laws like the one mentioned in the op. I always obey the same traffic laws as motorists do when I am riding my bike. It's only logical.

[outlierrn]

Originally Posted by Q.E.D.

Only on paper. Enforcement is so lax, they might as well not apply at all. And cyclists know this.

suggests something about the relative impact of careless drivers compared to careless cyclists, no?

[Princhester]

Originally Posted by Gukumatz

Wait for the green light you fuckers, or I will hit you!

Who are you talking to here?

[Equipoise]

To the fucking dipshit idiot asshole bicyclist who was killed by a train at the Rockwell Brown line station yesterday:

You found out the traffic rules WERE meant for you too, didn't you? You found out that when the lights are flashing and the gates are down, that means something, doesn't it? You found out that just because one train had already gone by, it's not such a hot idea to zip around the gate because, wow, sometimes there could be a train coming the other way too, yeah? Hey, trains can't swerve, not even a little bit! Who'da thunk, huh?

Didja ever think you'd win a Darwin award? Ok, it's my own personal Darwin award, but you get it buddy. What's it like to be dead? No fun, eh? At least you won't have any nightmares like the poor train conductor who probably saw you zipping around the gate and knew you were going to get hit and there was not a thing they could do about it, knowing that once you went under the train you were being dragged along for the time it took to stop the train. The conductor and anyone else unlucky enough to see your torn mangled bloody body under the train has an image they have to carry with them the rest of their life. The cops and the firefighters and EMTs, they're used to seeing the results of dipshit soup (or stew, as the case may be), but I'll bet it was bad even for them. Pity the poor guys who had to get your body (or body parts, as the case may be) out from under the train. And your stupid mangled bike. Wonder where that is now? I imagine your body's at the ME's office. In pieces in a box. No open casket for you I guess.

How's it feel to know your family is in deep mourning right now? I'm sure you had plenty of loved ones, even fucking dipshit idiot assholes have loved ones. Now they're going to have to call all your friends and let them know what a fucking dipshit idiot asshole you were. They'll have to make funeral arrangements and all that really sad horseshit. I'm sure they'll buy (and pay a pretty penny for) a full-sized casket even though your remains could probably fit in a small trash sack. I'm sure the service will be nice though if you hadn't been such an idiot they wouldn't have to have one in the first place. Then they'll have to go through all of your crap and then figure out what to do with it. Hope you don't have any weird porn stashed away.

All that trouble you caused, simply because you thought the traffic rules didn't apply to you and your precious bike.

Train - 1
Fucking dipshit idiot asshole bicyclist - 0

[threemae]

What the hell: I'm another cyclist with every intention to make it past 80. I obey traffic laws and I really do believe that the bad cyclists grab a disproportionate amount of attention.

[Princhester]

I wonder if I started a thread about motorists breaking traffic rules whether people would vent the same amount of venom?

[Rick]

Originally Posted by threemae

What the hell: I'm another cyclist with every intention to make it past 80. I obey traffic laws and I really do believe that the bad cyclists grab a disproportionate amount of attention.

Count me in with your group also.
My biggest pet peeve is I slow for a light, get my shoe unclipped, put my foot down and the damn light turns green! Frankly, I was hoping it would stay red for another 30 seconds or so.

[Voyager]

Originally Posted by Princhester

I wonder if I started a thread about motorists breaking traffic rules whether people would vent the same amount of venom?

Try me about red light runners. One of those fuckers nearly killed my wife. If my car was equipped with phasers, they'd all be hot vapor.

Bike riding idiots pretty much only get themselves killed, so they're not nearly so high on my hate parade.

But one nasty not mentioned yet. If I'm signaling to pull into a parking space, which I actually do, don't zip between me and the curb and get mad at me for not seeing you.

[Princhester]

Originally Posted by Voyager

Bike riding idiots pretty much only get themselves killed, so they're not nearly so high on my hate parade.

Precisely. I can recall a (very) few threads expressing outrage about motorists who've done something very stupid resulting in deaths of others. But I can't recall anyone ever expressing the type of spitting venom Equipoise displays about an incident where a stupid motorist killed himself.

[Mtgman]

I remember visiting Seattle a year back or so and we were walking from the company I was visiting to a resturant just north-west of Pike place market. We were coming along Elliot towards Western Ave and were crossing the base of the on ramp to get to highway 99, Alaskan Way. There was a steady stream of traffic at the light from Elliot onto the on ramp, accelerating like mad so they could reach highway speed and merge, and we waited, like good pedestrians, for the signal to cross. A bicyclist just blew right past us on the sidewalk and crossed in the crosswalk. Amazingly traffic stopped for the guy. I remember seeing that and thinking, "In Dallas, that guy would have been street pizza."

Tonight a cyclist blew through a four-way stop right behind my wife and I and we were both thinking she wasn't very clever because Dallas is not a cycling friendly town.

Enjoy,
Steven

[Yag Rannavach]

Originally Posted by Princhester

Precisely. I can recall a (very) few threads expressing outrage about motorists who've done something very stupid resulting in deaths of others. But I can't recall anyone ever expressing the type of spitting venom Equipoise displays about an incident where a stupid motorist killed himself.

Slight difference...the cyclists are forcing someone else to kill them by zipping in front of trains and ignoring traffic laws.

If the cyclists were killing themselves by riding into brick walls I don't think we'd see that kind of venom, though I could be mistaken.

[Princhester]

Originally Posted by Yag Rannavach

Slight difference...the cyclists are forcing someone else to kill them by zipping in front of trains and ignoring traffic laws.

How many posts have you seen expressing Equipoise style venom towards motorists driving small cars who are at fault and the only casualty in collisions with trains or semi trailers?

[Red Barchetta]

Originally Posted by Princhester

How many posts have you seen expressing Equipoise style venom towards motorists driving small cars who are at fault and the only casualty in collisions with trains or semi trailers?

Sticking to the subject matter strictly at hand; I see far more bicyclists run stop signs and traffic lights than I do motorists.

[DrDeth]

My hate for cyclists is reserved mainly for those who bike at night without any lights or reflectors. No fucking reflectors? I mean, give me a fucking break you worthless fucktards- reflectors and/or reflective tape is cheap and weighs next to nothing.

Interestring the hatred in SF about a couple of dudes who hit a cyclist during the completely illegals and fucktard-jerk rude "Critical Mass". Someday some dude is going to lose it and plow his SUV full speed into Critical mass.

[Princhester]

Originally Posted by Red Barchetta

Sticking to the subject matter strictly at hand; I see far more bicyclists run stop signs and traffic lights than I do motorists.

Firstly that is no answer to the point I made. Secondly, is there any other balancing consideration you see as relevant?

[Sublight]

Originally Posted by Q.E.D.

Only on paper. Enforcement is so lax, they might as well not apply at all. And cyclists know this.

I'm seeing more and more of them get nailed lately, and it gives me a nice warm feeling every time I see it. Idiot cyclists are a far greater hazard to me when I ride than cars and trucks.

A couple of weeks ago I saw one jerk getting reamed by a traffic cop after sailing through a red light (which I was waiting at) at night without so much as a reflector on his granny bike. He pointed over in my direction and asked the cop why he was just picking on him and not me. Because I've got my lights on and I'm following the traffic rules, asshole!

[ignoramus]

Hi, my name is ignoramus and I'll be the target for your ire today - as I happily cycle through red lights every day (well, not necessarily on weekends). Stopping is just too much of a hassle and if I wanted to be stationary 90% of the time I’d drive.

And while riding without lights is certainly moronic it’s the cyclists without mudguards that are the real bastards…

[Cheesesteak]

Originally Posted by Princhester

But I can't recall anyone ever expressing the type of spitting venom Equipoise displays about an incident where a stupid motorist killed himself.

There's a first time for everything. There have been threads in the way past about car vs. train accidents, where people were pretty unhappy about the motorist. It's definitely not an everyday topic around here, though.

I think the issue here is not just that the cyclist did something stupid, but that it's a continuation of an obvious pattern cyclists have of ignoring road signs. When a car blows straight through a red, it's unusual, and nobody is out there justifying it the way cyclists do. So this cyclist, who very likely blows through red lights all the time and justifies it, simply thought of this as another red light to ignore, and has now gotten himself killed in the process.

Ignoramus, what's so bad about not having mudguards?

[Cryptoderk]

The key thing about cycling is to maintain momentum. Stopping really should be avoided if at all possible. While red light jumping is illegal, it can be perfectly safe and in these circumstances (when I used to cycle) I would jump the light.

I also regularly jump lights when driving, to save time.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by ignoramus

I happily cycle through red lights every day

Originally Posted by Cryptoderk

While red light jumping is illegal, it can be perfectly safe and in these circumstances (when I used to cycle) I would jump the light.

Interesting. Do motorists have any obligation to avoid you when you run a light? Or can I crush you into a pulp without being a bad person?

[Cryptoderk]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Interesting. Do motorists have any obligation to avoid you when you run a light? Or can I crush you into a pulp without being a bad person?

Legally they do in this country, as a green light is only permission to proceed if safe (and I assume it's the same over there). However I don't jump lights where it would bring me into conflict with other traffic.

[Ruken]

Originally Posted by ignoramus

Hi, my name is ignoramus and I'll be the target for your ire today - as I happily cycle through red lights every day (well, not necessarily on weekends). Stopping is just too much of a hassle and if I wanted to be stationary 90% of the time I’d drive.

Sorry, you're going to have to share being the target. I typically run 2 red lights and ~a dozen stop signs every day. For the stop signs, I stop if there's cars around. It's pretty flat around here, so it's rather difficult for them to sneak up on you. I always stop for red lights, but I'll ride across if there's no one around, just like I jaywalk if there's no cars around. Occasionally I'll also drive across in my car, usually late at night.

[ignoramus]

Originally Posted by Cheesesteak

Ignoramus, what's so bad about not having mudguards?

Try cycling behind someone without them on a rainy day, the plume of muddy water they can fire out behind them is impressive...

[ignoramus]

Originally Posted by Fear Itself

Interesting. Do motorists have any obligation to avoid you when you run a light? Or can I crush you into a pulp without being a bad person?

Probably worth trying to avoid me, you wouldn't want to bugger your no-claims bonus after all...

[Aspidistra]

Originally Posted by Princhester

Precisely. I can recall a (very) few threads expressing outrage about motorists who've done something very stupid resulting in deaths of others. But I can't recall anyone ever expressing the type of spitting venom Equipoise displays about an incident where a stupid motorist killed himself.

There's always this one from a couple of weeks ago

[Princhester]

Lacks the spitting venom. Plus a major source of ire in that thread is the threat to others.

[Great Dave]

When biking, I have much better awareness of traffic- I can hear much better, and see much much better. So I have no problem crossing against red lights and stop signs. I do slow down and make sure though. One accident is more than enough- I was riding against traffic, on the left hand side of the road, and someone turning right onto the street clipped my back wheel. Now I wear a safety vest like highway construction workers, and take the whole lane if I need to. Drivers are starting to realize that I'm entitled to it. Doesn't really change their ire levels, though.

[Trunk]

This shit comes up every year on the dope. Bile spewed at bikers outweighs the amount spewed at speeders or drunk drivers, or red light runners in cars. . .every one of which is insanely more dangerous than anything bikers do.

There's really only one explanation: people get mad at cyclists who run red lights because of their own self-loathing at being wasteful, fat slobs who can't balance on two wheels.

At least be honest enough to admit it.

[Lord Ashtar]

Originally Posted by Princhester

How many posts have you seen expressing Equipoise style venom towards motorists driving small cars who are at fault and the only casualty in collisions with trains or semi trailers?

What exactly are you trying to prove here?

[Mama Tiger]

I get mad at cyclists who run red lights and put me in the position of having to take evasive action to avoid hitting them not because I can't ride a bike and I'm envious of them (I'm a perfectly good cyclist, thank you), but because in a car/bicycle collision, the odds are pretty good that the bicycle is going to get a lot more damage than a car. In a 25 mph collision, a car hitting another car might cause some dents and maybe a some minor injuries. Hitting a bicyclist at 25 mph is a very, very different animal.

So I'd rather not spend the rest of my life haunted the image of striking a bicyclist and seeing their severely injured body go flying over the hood of my car, if you don't mind.

[Martin Hyde]

Originally Posted by Trunk

This shit comes up every year on the dope. Bile spewed at bikers outweighs the amount spewed at speeders or drunk drivers, or red light runners in cars. . .every one of which is insanely more dangerous than anything bikers do.

There's really only one explanation: people get mad at cyclists who run red lights because of their own self-loathing at being wasteful, fat slobs who can't balance on two wheels.

At least be honest enough to admit it.

I might feel that way if cycling was even a remotely feasible way to commute around here. I have a mountain bike and I ride it every weekend, but there's just nowhere on the roads here where I'd ever consider cycling. I don't live that far from where I work, but I don't live in a major urban area, my commute is about 20 minutes (almost no stop lights that whole time) on roads with top speeds of 65 mph, minimum speeds of 40 mph, where it is actually illegal to drive any vehicle that is not capable of going 70 mph (for example even small motorized bikes that can't go 70+ cannot legally be driven on these roads.)

I think the reason cyclists get so much bile is precisely because of people like you and Ignoramus. Not only do you gleefully admit you run red lights, but you look down on people who drive cars for well, driving cars. In my experience on the road no one is quite as reviled as the car driver who barrels through a four way intersection, running a red light going 55 mph. He risks the lives of several other motorists simply because he can't be bothered to push his foot down on the brake. However, in general those are the rare motorists, and even most of them will more or less admit that they were in the wrong when confronted about it, but will justify it saying "well, I thought I could beat the yellow." Cyclists on the other hand will say shit just like the moronic cyclists in this thread say, that "if I wanted to be stopped all the time I'd be driving a car" and then add some insult where you actually have the stupidity to generalize that every person who drives a car does so because they're too fat and lazy to pedal around on a bike.

It shows that you live a very sheltered life, and I see this from pretty much all cyclists who think that way. These are people who live specifically in areas where cycling is viable, and are too stupid or too short sighted to realize that, hey, guess what, most of the United States isn't an urban metropolis, most Americans live in suburban areas and small cities where pedaling around on a bike just isn't a feasible way of getting around. Or, they work in a professional setting where walking in to the office smelling of BO you've worked up pedaling to work and wearing cycling clothes just wouldn't fly.

[beergeek279]

Originally Posted by Trunk

This shit comes up every year on the dope. Bile spewed at bikers outweighs the amount spewed at speeders or drunk drivers, or red light runners in cars. . .every one of which is insanely more dangerous than anything bikers do.

Well, I haven't seen vehicle red light runners come here and defend their inalienable right to do so. Of course, I've never seen a pitting of a drunk driver at any time here.

There's really only one explanation: people get mad at cyclists who run red lights because of their own self-loathing at being wasteful, fat slobs who can't balance on two wheels.

At least be honest enough to admit it.

Or maybe.....it's because it becomes MY responsibility, when I have the legal right of way, to stop in order to prevent your dumb ass from becoming a splatter on my fucking bumper.

If you're Lance Fucking Armstrong, a superhuman god amongst us poor wasteful, fat slobs, I'm sure you can get your bicycle back up to speed a couple of times.

[Shawn1767]

I am a cyclist and it pisses me off to see cyclists not following the rules of the road. I mean, how can you expect courtesy from motorists when you aren't willing to follow the same rules they are following? We want the motorists to share the road with us, but then we want to do whatever we want while on that road? Plus, to have this behavior when you are soft tissue exposed on a bike and motorists are in their heavy, hard, shiny metal boxes, does not make sense.

[ignoramus]

Originally Posted by Mama Tiger

I get mad at cyclists who run red lights and put me in the position of having to take evasive action to avoid hitting them not because I can't ride a bike and I'm envious of them (I'm a perfectly good cyclist, thank you), but because in a car/bicycle collision, the odds are pretty good that the bicycle is going to get a lot more damage than a car. In a 25 mph collision, a car hitting another car might cause some dents and maybe a some minor injuries. Hitting a bicyclist at 25 mph is a very, very different animal.

So I'd rather not spend the rest of my life haunted the image of striking a bicyclist and seeing their severely injured body go flying over the hood of my car, if you don't mind.

Must admit I skimmed the OP somewhat. While I ride through red lights I do that when all traffic is stationary, zipping through junctions while dodging traffic is something I'm much too cowardly/sensible for. I've even been known to stop at roundabouts, on occasion.

[Martin Hyde]

Originally Posted by beergeek279

Well, I haven't seen vehicle red light runners come here and defend their inalienable right to do so. Of course, I've never seen a pitting of a drunk driver at any time here.

Precisely.

Or maybe.....it's because it becomes MY responsibility, when I have the legal right of way, to stop in order to prevent your dumb ass from becoming a splatter on my fucking bumper.

Yeah, despite the haughty attitude of cyclists here that is particularly grating, the simple fact of the matter is almost no one wants to splatter someone on their windshield. Even if it's in a situation where there's no way I could have seen the cyclist, and the accident report clearly marks it as being the cyclist's fault, I have no desire to send someone to the hospital or the morgue. Would the fact that I couldn't have prevented the accident make me feel less guilty? Well, I probably wouldn't feel guilty at all, there's no sense in feeling guilt if you haven't done anything wrong. But it wouldn't make it any easier to stomach, that I'd just killed someone. I'd be pissed that that person, out of arrogance, stupidity, or simple impatience risked their life and paid for it, and I'd be pissed that because they did that, they forced me to play a part in their death.

[NurseCarmen]

My mantra while biking is that every motorist is about to do something stupid. Hell, I even cross at green lights cautiously. Not stopping at a red light is just plain stupid.

[Jamaika a jamaikaiaké]

Can we all at least agree that some of the disagreement in his thread is bound to come form geographical differences? For example, someone who blows a stop sign on a country road where you can see no cars for miles is not the same as someone who runs a red light in mid-town Manhattan during rush hour. Until such distinctions are taken into account, I have little hope for Bike/Car threads. Many posters seem to realise this, but enough don't that it muddies the 'discussion.'


My current policy as a cyclist: I stop at stop lights. If, while stopped, it becomes apparent that I could safely walk against the light, then I bike across.

ETA: I say current, because I used to be more of a jerk on the bike.

[Merkwurdigliebe]

Originally Posted by Rick

Count me in with your group also.
My biggest pet peeve is I slow for a light, get my shoe unclipped, put my foot down and the damn light turns green! Frankly, I was hoping it would stay red for another 30 seconds or so.

See, this is why we need freaking two-way yellow lights in the US like they have in Northern Europe. Pretty simple really. It goes Green to Yellow to Red, and right before red goes to green again, the yellow light comes on simultaneously with the red. It takes very little time to use this to judge how much you actually need to slow down.

But I digress, biking in Copenhagen is a real treat. You ought to see the "rush hour" traffic that occurs. They have people standing just off the bike paths handing out newsdalys to passing bikers. It works really well here. I've ridden a bike here for 2 years, and I'm thinking of riding when I go back to America. What should I watch out for? I know how most accidents occur though (vehicles turning right into a bike).

[Martin Hyde]

Originally Posted by ignoramus

Must admit I skimmed the OP somewhat. While I ride through red lights I do that when all traffic is stationary, zipping through junctions while dodging traffic is something I'm much too cowardly/sensible for. I've even been known to stop at roundabouts, on occasion.

The thing is, that doesn't make it okay. Do you think that motorists who run red lights do so thinking they're going to get hurt, or hurt someone else? Of course not.

"I didn't see any other vehicles coming" or, "well, the light just turned so I could get through before anyone started moving" are rationalizations motorists who run red lights use all the time. About the only situation where I really think anyone should be running a red light is in a case where it's at an intersection where you can see approaching traffic for a significant distance, and there's no one around whatsoever. Even then, I don't personally run red lights. The only time I can remember in the past few years I've gone through a red light is one two-day period where a particular red light on a road in my town was stuck on red for about 48 hours and traffic had to essentially use it like a stop sign.

Even if you really do only run red lights when you're sure it's entirely safe, that doesn't really mean it is. And even if it is safe, that still makes you an asshole. Traffic lights exist for a reason, to control the flow of traffic. When a light turns red for you, that means it is green for someone else, when you pull out in front of them, stopping them from moving when they have the legal right of way, it means all the people behind that car have to sit there for longer than they otherwise would, in general in contributes to greater traffic delays and traffic congestion. Which contributes to more pollution, and global warming! But seriously, it is high grade, jerkish behavior to assume that your time is more important than someone else, so the rules of society don't apply to you.

[Chimera]

Last Fall. Downtown Minneapolis. Me driving 20,000 pound Armored Truck down a one-way at 30mph. Approaching a one-way coming from my right. I have a green light.

Guy on bike zips across the front of me, running the red light, looking the other way!

Approximately 0.75 seconds later getting into that intersection and you'd have been splattered like a water baloon over the front of my truck, you stupid sack of shit. (Or maybe that's it, you'd have splattered like the sack of shit that you are!) Here's a clue for you: The one way arrow is not pointing in the direction that you're supposed to look.

I don't think he ever saw me. OTOH, I damn near had a heart attack in that split second.

I quit that job over Pay for Risk issues. It wasn't only carrying large amounts of money in a busy setting, it was the driving as well. I figured that it was only a matter of time before I'd nail one of those idiots.

[Fear Itself]

Originally Posted by ignoramus

Probably worth trying to avoid me, you wouldn't want to bugger your no-claims bonus after all...

This presumes I have insurance. Mandatory insurance laws are more like guidelines, right? Wanna risk getting creamed by someone with no insurance?

Originally Posted by beergeek279

Of course, I've never seen a pitting of a drunk driver at any time here.

You're new, aren't you?

Suspected drunk driver causes fatal pileup

drunk driver injures 7 on the sidewalk

And those are just a quick search on "drunk driver", more will undoubtedly come up searching with "DUI", "DWI" and other variations.

[The Librarian]

Considering all the stupidity that can kill you on the road me running a red light is the least of your problems. Get mad at me when we interact when I cross without having priority?
Get mad at yourselves when you cut me off turning right without indicating, get mad when somebody opens a door of a parked car without using the optional extra's called mirrors.

I am a life long cyclist and ALL accidents (about 15) I had involve motorist being blind deaf and dumb, none involve my (very adventurous) riding style. So: Mister Motorist piss off!

[Sublight]

Originally Posted by Shawn1767

I am a cyclist and it pisses me off to see cyclists not following the rules of the road. I mean, how can you expect courtesy from motorists when you aren't willing to follow the same rules they are following? We want the motorists to share the road with us, but then we want to do whatever we want while on that road? Plus, to have this behavior when you are soft tissue exposed on a bike and motorists are in their heavy, hard, shiny metal boxes, does not make sense.

What he said.

Rights and responsibilities are sides of the same coin. I ride in the road, I follow the rules of the road. No patience and less sympathy for those who want one without the other.

[Martin Hyde]

Originally Posted by The Librarian

Considering all the stupidity that can kill you on the road me running a red light is the least of your problems. Get mad at me when we interact when I cross without having priority?
Get mad at yourselves when you cut me off turning right without indicating, get mad when somebody opens a door of a parked car without using the optional extra's called mirrors.

I am a life long cyclist and ALL accidents (about 15) I had involve motorist being blind deaf and dumb, none involve my (very adventurous) riding style. So: Mister Motorist piss off!

The simple truth of the matter is, motorists with attitudes like yours are precisely why you've had so many bad experiences with motorists.

People who think they're above the rules, whether on four wheels or two, are a big part of minor and major traffic accidents in this country. The only redeeming thing about cyclists who think the laws do not apply to them is, they probably won't hurt anyone* (although if they run down a pedestrian they would), but that doesn't change the fact it's incredibly reckless, stupid, and selfish behavior.

*Not counting family and friends who have to attend your funeral