Better to say something? Or keep quiet?

[dasgeh]

@PeteD 71099 wrote:

And then lastly, If I’m at a red light, and there’s a child/kid/impressionable youth on a bike near or at the intersection, I’ll stop and wait.

Thank you

[mikoglaces]

I have to admit that I don’t always stop at a light. But I usually do. Not only is it the law, and not only is it safe, but it’s more relaxing. I have peace of mind.

[Greenbelt]

@mikoglaces 71109 wrote:

I have to admit that I don’t always stop at a light. But I usually do. Not only is it the law, and not only is it safe, but it’s more relaxing. I have peace of mind.

This. The main safety rule (or it is a guideline?) is never hurry when on bike. Go fast sometimes, but never in a hurry to get someplace. Always enjoy.

[dcv]

@OneEighth 71072 wrote:

“Fixed gear. No brakes. Can’t stop. Don’t want to either.”

You with me dcv?

[OneEighth]

@dcv 71120 wrote:

I clicked like a bunch of times.

[KayakCyndi]

@OneEighth 71124 wrote:

I clicked like a bunch of times.

Because it is SOOO awesome!

[MattAune]

@dasgeh 71056 wrote:

Going downhill, jumping the light at Nash is particularly silly, as you’ll get caught by the light at Fort Myer.

Not for me this morning. I jumped both Scott and Nash after the cars cleared, and hit both Ft. Myer and Lynn on green.

The cycle for both Nash and Scott are unnecessarily long. 20+ seconds of green light for 2 cars seems excessive.

[americancyclo]

I’m curious how much the light timing cycle changes throughout the day. I have noticed big differences in the light timing on m st and Penn ave depending on what time I roll through. Same for the last .6 miles of rosslyn?

[Raymo853]

I wonder if he at all understood what you said. I rarely understand what anyone says to me while I am riding. And no I do not wear headphones.

It may be my head shape, but the wind noise drowns out voices enough that I have to always guess.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lordofthemark]

@dasgeh 71105 wrote:

For me, it still boils down to respecting the rule of law. If you don’t like a law, work to change it; don’t just ignore it. The rule of law benefits us all, and I don’t want others to individually start picking and choosing which laws to follow.

Have you ever tried to drive the speed limit consistently in Fairfax County? If selective obedience of traffic laws ended the rule of law, the rule of law would have been gone a long time ago.

I live near the corner of Hummer and LRT. My preferred route from that intersection to from points east on LRT is the service lane on the north side of LRT. Its a two way service lane(s) and each lane is not particularly wide, and its signed at 25MPH and there the general travel lanes are there for faster traffic, so I generally take the lane (also to get more experience and confidence in taking the lane). There is enough traffic that stopping, and then needed to restart at each stop sign (and there is one at every short block) can make it hard to keep pace, as well as being a general annoyance and inconvenience to me. Most of these stops do not have crosswalks, and do not have ped crossings (because there would be no way to get from the grass strip south of the service lanes across the general travel lanes – ergo peds go to the signalized intersections). So – no ped, no bike cross traffic. The only traffic I could hit would motor vehicles. The motor vehicles travel slowly, I travel slowly (I DO slow and yield, per Idaho Stop practice) the visibility is good. I should stop to demonstrate the rule of law to drivers – who see 80% of the traffic going 10MPH or more over the limit in the general travel lanes, a few feet away? Thats not supporting the rule of law, IMO.

I stop at those stop signs if A. I see intersecting traffic B. for some reason I feel visibility is not good C. Im particularly tired and want an excuse ot stop D. I see a police car E. I see a young person on a bike, or particularly paying attention (and then its not because I don’t want them to do Idaho stops, but because they may not be able to distinguish from a proper Idaho Stop from other infractions cyclists sometimes commit)

Note, in this case, I am not ignoring the law. I am very much aware of it, and making a conscious judgement about the law, the norms, enforcement, and the safety and self interest of myself and others.

Note, the problem here is a combination of the lack of a law authorizing Idaho Stops, and excessive stops signs which to the extent they are warranted, are so by awkward access between the service lanes and the general travel lanes. The latter will be addressed by the expedient of removing the service lanes (and adding bike lanes, among other things) Unfortunately the county has not yet funded this change. I would talk to Supervisior Gross, but my priority next time I manage to talk to her will be getting the FFX cty bike master plan adopted. As for lobbying for change in the law, I will focus on the proposals which will be before the legislature this session, which include 3 foot passing, due care, and dooring – but not the Idaho Stop. I do not think we will get the Idaho Stop taken seriously till we have more cyclists. In view of that last need I wil not insist that all cyclists value rule of law above personal convenience more than users of other modes do. Though of course I will respect those who do.

[dasgeh]

@americancyclo 71142 wrote:

I’m curious how much the light timing cycle changes throughout the day. I have noticed big differences in the light timing on m st and Penn ave depending on what time I roll through. Same for the last .6 miles of rosslyn?

It’s always been the same for me, weekend and week day, except back when they were screwing with it (6+ months ago). But I don’t jump the light at Scott, so maybe there is a point in the cycle where Scott is red and by the time you get to Nash, Nash is red by Fort Myer is green. If you had waited at Scott for 20 seconds, you would have been around my time, which gets you to Fort Myer 2-3 seconds before the light changes. So it would have cost you 30 seconds out of your life.

The people I see jumping the light at Nash can see that the light at Fort Myer is red, but can’t see the countdown. I can understand people not familiar with the timing doing it, but regular commuters — you’d think they’d notice the pattern.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 71158 wrote:

Have you ever tried to drive the speed limit consistently in Fairfax County? If selective obedience of traffic laws ended the rule of law, the rule of law would have been gone a long time ago.

Not to mention the widespread flagrant violation of 18.2-344 and 18.2-361(A). See, the whole “obey every law or the whole system will collapse” argument only works if the system hasn’t collapsed and everyone is obeying every law other than the one you’re focused on. (Hint: they’re not–large parts of society have decided that many of the laws on the books are simply wrong or irrelevant and do not obey those laws. Changing the law requires a certain amount of effort that people generally only bother with if the enforcement of the law is causing them problems. E.g., 18.2-345 [prohibiting cohabitation by unmarried couples] was only repealed this year and caused a fight in the state house. This is why I’m generally more concerned with social norms than law, and concerned with law in the traffic safety context only insofar as it can influence social norms.) For myself, I’m going to focus on safety first and legality second, and continue to raise hell when violations of the law decrease the safety of others.

[Drewdane]

@dasgeh 71026 wrote:

Out of curiosity, why do you run reds on the Custis? We talk a lot about that here, too, and we don’t hear often from people who run them.

I treat red lights everywhere like stop signs. I stop, look, and proceed when/if safe. The Custis is no different (except I rarely consider it safe to proceed on Ft. Myer and on Lynn unless I have a green light).

[Drewdane]

@dasgeh 71057 wrote:

So for the stop-and-run-the-red-if-the-coast-is-clear people, do you do that in a car? Why on a bike and not in a car?

No, because the laws are written for cars, and I presume for good reason. Cyclists are, inappropriately IMO, lumped together with cars in the law even though we are a different mode of transportation with different patterns and needs. It doesn’t make practical sense for me to obey the laws in the same fashion as if I were driving.

If nothing else, the potential consequences of running a red light while driving are much higher than on a bike, not least for others. The potential consequences of doing so on a bike are generally lower, and mostly accrue to me – I am risking my own safety, probably not someone else’s.

[DismalScientist]

The crosswalk signals at Oak, Quinn and Scott are specific to bicycles and are generally ignored. It’s hard to argue in this context that the “laws are written for cars.”

I would assume that folks that think that cyclists should not be bound by red light laws also think that mopeds should be allow similar dispensation.

[Author]

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