Stopping at red lights, 1.1

[Bike Fort Collins]

Bike Fort Collins

Advocates for Safe and Enjoyable Bicycling in Fort Collins, Colorado

I gave this a volume.chapter designation kinda in jest.  I mean, what could be simpler than understanding red light means stop, right?  But watch street traffic, both cars and bicycles, and you get all sorts of interpretations of what constitutes a stop (and just now, I'm talking about stops at RED LIGHTS - stop signs are similar but even more complicated).

Most automobiles come to a complete stop at red lights unless they are gunning the yellow (we all know to watch for that behavior) or making a right turn on red.  Those right turns on red can turn into drifting stops, not full stops, and I've seen lots of motorists drift right across the stop-line, drift through a marked crosswalk with their eyes locked to the left on approaching traffic from the through street.  Another thing we all know to look for if we are using the crosswalk as a pedestrian.

Bicycle behavior at red lights is even more creative.  First there's the full, foot down stop.  Then there's the track bike stand - I'm just learning to ride a fixed gear so that's not something I can do.  There's the drift forward because "I know that light is just about to change" stop.  There's the complete stop, foot down, then proceeding before the light is green for a variety of reasons, some good ones, some bad ones.  And of course there's the complete disregard for the traffic signal for whatever reason (anarchist philosophy, distracted riding, etc.).

I like to come to full stops, foot down, and wait until green.  Like Robert Hurst, the author, says, doing this shows solidarity with motorists - we cyclists share in the pain of waiting for a signal to change even though the cross traffic has cleared - or appears to have cleared.  Many of the induction loop controlled signals, even in this very Bike Friendly City, don't reinforce waiting for green, however, because they do not detect bicycles.  In those cases, bicyclists are within the law to proceed through the intersection since the traffic control device is defective.  I hate doing that ... it puts me at risk, as the following Lego animation demonstrates.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LydEn_cJ-dM

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