I don’t have an agenda one way or another; I’m genuinely curious. Is this legal in most jurisdictions? If so, what’s the reasoning (seems like the fatality rate in a cyclist vs. car collision would be much higher than in a car vs. car collision). If not, why do they run red lights so often?
as a frequent bicyclist, I find that I (cautiously) run the lights because it’s hard to regain momentum after stopping. There’s a strong disinclination to lose all the energy that you have expended into motion by stopping. i’m not necessarily proud of this behavior, but it’s a mentality that I wager most anyone would have a hard time fighting if they bike regularly.
No it’s not legal, and to answer your question: Because they’re idiots.
I ride my bike on and off streets and I just won’t run a red light. If I can see absolutely no one is nearby, maybe I’ll coast through a stop sign though.
Some cyclists, I think, think they don’t have to follow traffic laws. They suck, and give some of the rest of us a bad name.
I think that in most, if not all, jurisdictions bicyclists are obliged to follow the same rules as motorists.
As to why they do not stop - stopping is a nuisance, and if there is no traffic coming many cyclists will just truck on. Presumably most folks have sense enough to stop when the alternative is being converted to bug splatter.
Ok, I’ll give you this - it’s why I coast through stop signs, building that momentum back is a bitch. But stop lights are generally at either (A) busier intersections, or (B) intersections with higher speed limits. I do NOT want to mess with a dump truck going 50 that I misjudged.
Sure, car-cyclist can be quite fatal for the cyclist, but typically, a cyclist comes to a stop, looks both ways and then runs it.
A guy who just flies through a red light is just a guy with a death wish.
The ones I commonly run are ones where there are multiple lanes of traffic and there are left-turning arrows. If I’m going straight through the intersection, I wait until no oncoming cars are turning left, then I go. They’re all I have to worry about.
But as to a bigger reason why. . .well, you don’t want to stand there waiting. You want to ride. If I don’t think I’m endangering myself or inconveniencing drivers, I go.
I don’t obey laws just because they exist.
Mr Bus Guy has it right in his second post. Stopping at a red light is good for m. If that truck hits me, he may feel bad or whatever but I’m going to be the one who’s dead.
People ask me why I wear a helmet, why I follow traffic laws. Well, because between a car and my bike, guess who’s going to win every time? It’s incumbent upon us bikers to take every precaution they can because drivers just don’t care.
Momentum makes sense; I’ll take your word for it. Thanks. One obligatory nag: please, please be careful; even if it was your decision to run the light and even if the driver bears no liability, you’re still very likely to traumatize the driver for the rest of his/her life psychologically.
I won’t blow through a red light without stopping. But I do often ride through red lights at low-traffic intersections, after stopping, if i’m on the cross street.
The reason: I can’t, by myself, trigger the sensor that will turn the light in my direction green. Occasionally, I’ve had a good fortune to find a very sensitive sensor that will react to 10 pounds of aluminum. But these times are rare. The rest of the time, with no other cars to come and assist me in changing the light, I’ll ride through the intersection after I’ve verified that it’s clear.
This is perfectly legal in my jurisdiction, and all others as far as I know. It’s basically the same procedure that a motorist would follow for a broken stop light…wait until you’re fairly certain it’s really not going to change, then proceed with caution. And from my point of view on the bike, the light is broken.
Where I used to live, there’s a 4-lane undivided highway. I found it easier to cross away from an intersection in the middle of the road. Wait for a lull in traffic, and dash across. All the traffic is AT the light, but there’s always a dead spot if you wait somewhere else.
Pun intended?
I collided with a bicyclist who was going down a one-way street at night, the wrong way, without a light.
If it’s a question of momentum, then coming to a stop first kills it anyway. And of course you want to ride, rather than wait… But I’ll bet most of the folks in cars want to drive, rather than just wait. I’m not seeing anything here that should make bikes special, compared to any other vehicle on the road.
While this is true, the problem is not the aluminum, just that there’s so little of it. The type of sensors used at most intersections will actually detect aluminum more easily than iron. It’s based on conductivity, not ferromagnetism.
Another way to look at it is: They do it because the police don’t enforce the law sufficiently. Same reason why so many car drivers drive faster than the speed limit.
Another reason is that you don’t need to pass a license exam to ride a bike, and many schools and parents never bother to teach proper bicycling laws and techniques. So many people just don’t know, and learn what they can get away with by trial and error (and by observing others).
I know that…that’s why I made it a point to mention the low mass. The reason for mentioning aluminum was because i had to say what it was 10 pounds of 
There are actually some tricks for triggering the inductance loops more readily…good places to line up relative to the square on the pavement. But I still can’t trip them most of the time. i feel really sorry for the guys on the carbon bikes. 
This is a pet peeve of mine, I have to admit. I often see bicyclists running red lights. Of course they’re bound by the same traffic laws as those of us in cars and trucks, and on motorcycles. I’m more than happy to share the road with bicyclists, but would hope and expect them to play the same rules. Wish so many of them didn’t pick and choose which traffic laws to obey.
Me neither. I’m breaking the law every time I do it. Completely admit it.
A car can do it too. Cars roll through stop signs and speed all the time. I put it pretty much on the same page.
It definitely has something to do with it not being enforced at all.
I won’t roll past a line of cars, and then get in front of them and slow them down. The alternative – and proper behavior – is to sit in your proper spot in a line of cars, and try to accelerate with them when the light changes. See how happy that makes the cars behind you.
I just wanted to second this post. I follow the same procedure with the same logic. I can trigger some lights, but only a small percentage of them.
Do you ever speed?
Or jaywalk? I don’t have a problem with bikes running reds. The only thing that irks me is when they’re coming on an open intersection, see that there’s no cars and then zip on through without checking for pedestrians crossing.
As an avid and accomplished cyclist, I absolutely agree.
Last weekend, I did the Tierra Bella 100 kilometer road ride in Gilroy, CA (just south of the San Francisco Bay). It was on regular roads with traffic, and cyclists were told to obey all traffic laws. Yet I seemed to be the only person who was actually stopping for stop signs and traffic lights.
I always put a foot down when I do this stop. A few people at least slow down, but some just zoom through like they were on their own private road. Not only does this constitute an enormous danger for them, but they also annoy motorists, who I then have to ride next to.
I don’t always like what motorists do, and I think that bicycles get the short shrift on regular roads, but acting thoughtlessly or “fighting back” doesn’t solve the problem.
Anyone who sees a cyclist ignoring traffic laws, particularly going through a stop sign or traffic light, has a right to be annoyed. The case of having to do left turns through a stop light is a minor issue.
BTW, many intersections in the SF Bay Area are now getting bicycle-specific sensors.