Busting the myth of the “scofflaw cyclist” Danish Road Directorate studies reveal that while 66% of motorists routinely break road traffic laws only 5% of cyclists do so. Law breaking by cyclists is higher where there is no cycle-specific infrastructure.
“Thing everyone has known for decades is now officially documented, yet will continue to be ignored.”
That last sentence is especially important. The vast majority of the times when cyclists break traffic laws is WHEN THEY’RE FORCED TO.
When there’s no bike infrastructure that allows bikers to travel safely and adequately then they’re left with no other choice
Want bikers to follow traffic laws more? Literally just make a reasonable way for them to do it
New study is cool, but old studies in the US have found this to be true as well.
Do you know which studies?
No but they were in NYC, because I remember reading about this on StreetsBlog NYC like ten years ago. Sorry, would have linked them if I had them on hand.
People like to think that bicyclists are breaking laws all the time because they assume that bicycles must be treated as either cars or pedestrians. They are, in fact, a secret third thing with their own set of laws. Motorists don’t know those laws because they have no reason to look them up. It’s easier to just assume that the bicycle on the road/on the sidewalk/not stopping for the stop sign must be breaking the law because it would be illegal for a car to do it.
Cyclists go through red lights when it makes sense. Who wants to wait for dumb traffic signals when the road is empty and the infrastructure been built to protect pedestrians from cars (and cars from cars).
If a cyclist goes through a red light, the cyclist is dead*. If a car goes through a red light, the cyclist dead.
*yes, technically it could be worse for others too
they assume that bicycles must be treated as cars
Thank John Forester for that one
Precisely:
This was backed up by traffic officer PC Mark Hodson of West Midlands police who said that the “effects of behavior that people are moaning about is negligible. If you look at the statistics, if you look at the actual threat of harm, cyclists aren’t posing a risk to anybody.”
Interesting. Now check how many motorists are killed by cyclists and vice versa.
When they do break a law it almost never results in someone else’s death.
To get at what really matters, you have to multiply the infractions times the danger each one poses to others.
An easy is not texting for doom scrolling while driving.
The amount of bikes I see blasting through fully red lights is near 100%
Did you read the article? Are there bike infrastructure there? Are they “blasting through the red light” or crossing at the safest time, which does not happen to be when the light is green because of the way the infrastructures are?
I almost never see cyclists adhere to Stop signs in my area. Bicycles are vehicles and need to follow the postage signage too.
Bicycles are allowed to treat stop signs as yield signs in many areas; it may be worth checking to see if you live in one of them. But rest assured! Statistically, for every one of those you see, there are hundreds more cars violating traffic laws.
out on a bike you see much easier than when you’re sitting in a box on wheels.
when i’m driving i don’t even consider “not adhering to Stop signs”, when i’m on a bike slowing down is enough to look and consider stopping or continuing
i should also remind that bikes do not weigh a ton and don’t kill a million people every year
Cool. So there’s this intersection near my house where there’s a right-turn slip lane onto a 3-lane stroad. Used to be, it’d have a green arrow at the same time as the opposite direction had green and left-turn green arrow. It saved time by shortening the light cycle. Drivers are supposed to make a turn into the nearest lane of the street they’re entering, so you’d think that two cars could enter three lanes simultaneously, but nope. Too many conflicts with left-turning drivers crossing all three lanes into the far lane that the right-turning drivers were also entering.
So the city changed the light timing.
But, fuck, man, drivers think their shit don’t stink because they don’t even bother to learn all of the laws they’re violating.
(P.S. They also roll through most stop signs.)
Bicycles are literally allowed to yield. See - the law.
State specific, or is this a federal thing? Or not even a US thing?
State, Idaho Stop and Delaware Yield. Where i live its Delaware Yield - all bikes yield at stop signs.
@mellowistheyellow @Trilogy3452
I live in Idaho and enjoy our Idaho Stop Law. 😀
Have you paid attention to drivers then?
The study is not saying that cyclist respect all signage, it says that car drivers break FAR MORE rules.
Stop signs are the most dangerous place for a cyclist to stop. The only place more deadly is a shared bike lane where you can get doored. Safety stops are the only way for a cyclist to deal with a stop sign.
