Obviously I spend a lot of time cycling, but also more than a little reading and listening to cyclist rants. If there is one thing cyclists do well, it is bitch about how cars, cities, and non-cyclists treat cyclists. Sometimes I contribute, sometimes I listen and nod. Today, I’m calling bullshit on a couple of common refrains that I hear in the cycling world.

Running Stop Signs

Talk to cyclists and you will hear all manner of reasons why they don’t stop at stop signs and red lights. No, not all cyclists, but enough of them that there is a legitimate gripe against them as a whole. Yeah, seriously it is time to call bullshit and get our collective attitude straight. Yes, a bicycle can slow to a near stop, look both ways and move through a clear space. However, you cannot legislate a ‘near stop’ and expect uniform enforcement. In a car, it is a California Stop, on a bike it is legislatively the same. There are a hundred reasons, I’m going to dissect a few:

I can see what is coming on a bike

Of course you can. You slowed down, you head checked both sides real quickly and are still travelling too fast to make a stop if you see something even a little late.

The red light won’t sense my bike

You are probably right, it won’t. But it will sense that car behind you, or across from you. If those aren’t there, you can waddle over to the pedestrian crossing button. If that isn’t an option, and you’ve stopped, you can check all directions completely, and proceed.

It is dangerous to stop and clip in mid intersection

That is like saying a manual transmission shouldn’t stop at a stop sign because it might stall mid intersection. I don’t think this one works all that well. If it is a problem, I encourage you to, oh I don’t know, practice clipping in until it isn’t an issue.

Cars don’t stop why should I

Apparently we are in kindergarten again. Joey did it, why can’t I? Such a compelling argument point, I think I’ll respond the same way my mom did. Just because Joey jumps off a building doesn’t mean you should. Let us all stop justifying our own bad behavior because of someone else’s bad behavior.

There are plenty of others, but let us stop here.

At the end of the day, I am calling bullshit on all of the cyclists playing fast and loose with the rules. As someone with many miles in the legs, there are times for doing things that violate the letter of the laws, but are in keeping with the spirit of the laws. What I am really trying to say is this. When out on the roads, honor the one cardinal rule:

Don’t be a jerk.

It really is that simple, regardless of your conveyance.