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this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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Bicycles
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As a cyclist, I've seen more motorists blow through stop signs than other cyclists, and they are the ones who can kill someone.
Idaho Stops need to come to Canada. Not only have they been proven to be safer, but it makes sense in a dozen different ways.
I've sat at red lights (as a cyclist) and the light DOES NOT CHANGE unless a car is waiting at that same light. We're talking 10+ minutes. Who the hell thinks it's OK for cyclists to have to sit there indefinitely when no other cars are around, just because of some outdated laws? We need to change with the times!
As a Torontonian cyclist, according to what I see, we blow through stop signs way more than cars. Way more. Of course physically we can mostly just harm ourselves.
But yes the rules of the road have to change in this regard. The status quo is clearly car-friendly. Not only it doesn't prioritize cyclists, but it doesn't prioritize pedestrians either.
BTW, ebikes help negotiating the status quo a lot. They make stopping at stop signs trivial, as well as keeping a safe speed when riding where there's no bike lanes.
I'm east of the city, and we don't have nearly the same amount of cyclists as you do, but only very few ever cautiously ride through a stop sign. I won't lie, but I did see quite a few cyclists going through stop signs when I was in the city last weekend... not putting anyone in danger, just to save time.
I thought I read about a protest in Toronto where cyclists were stopping at EVERY stop sign as a large group, backing up traffic in an act of malicious compliance. I'd be totally down for that if crazy motorists didn't turn their rage onto me, rather than onto these outdated rules.
I agree that e-bikes can level the playing field, but the general public shouldn't need to have a powered bike to have fair rules, either.
That protest sounds amazing. Motorists can't actively rage at a large group of cyclists. 🤭
Yes, ebikes shouldn't be needed by everyone to cycle safely. The rules are bad and so is the infrastructure.
Ohio allows this. If the red doesn't detect your bike it you can treat it as a yield
Stop signs should be treated as "yield" and red lights should be treated as "stop".
Cyclists always try to use this defense/whataboutism way too often, without realizing that to a pedestrian, you on your bike are just as deadly as a car. Motorists are at least expected to know the rules of the road, cyclists openly oppose any sort of education and even act offended at the idea that they too should know the rules of the road they're on. As a pedestrian in Toronto, cyclists are my biggest danger, not motorists.
Statistically, that's not true. A car at any speed can kill a pedestrian or cyclist. For a cyclist to kill a pedestrian, which is exceedingly rare, it would take a lot of speed and bad luck to result in a fatality. I don't think I've ever even heard of a cyclist killing a pedestrian at a stop sign.
But to be clear, I don't advocate for cyclists blowing through stops when there are pedestrians around, since that's obviously not obeying the right of way. I aim to be a defensive and respectful rider when I'm on my bike.
But I would still like to see more enforcement of stop rules being applied to motorists (and not cyclists on empty roads), since they really are responsible for the vast majority of catastrophic injury and death for pedestrians and cyclists.
At the same time, we can't ignore that far too many pedestrians put themselves at risk, so everyone has some personal responsibility here.