[Goose]

I wrote a way too long post about this before the Grizz game. The short story is that there are times when it's perfectly reasonable to roll through a stop sign. But 360° awareness is crucial because you're always going to lose the fight. Especially with a car but with anything else, really. You're the one with all the momentum delicately balanced inside of an inch.

Totally agree

My personal peeve is when I see people riding at night without lights. I've even given lights to neighbors when I've seen them doing it.

Also totally agree. I would also add people riding without lights and wearing black/dark blue clothing. Pedestrians do the same thing. Oftentimes the bikes and pedestrians are not actually in the beam of the headlamps until very late in the game. The driver could be totally vigilant and still not see them in time. Very dangerous, and unfortunately common in the bay area.

Plenty of people might say you should stop completely at every stop sign but it's often totally fine to roll through if you're paying attention. It really does take a ton of effort if you're in a low gear to get your momentum going again from a full stop. You can disagree and that's ok. I'm not talking about situations where bikes blowing through, but when the street is wide open and it's clear that there's no danger. But you have to be vigilant every single time you make that choice. And calculate it every time with no assumptions.

Here I have a bit of a problem. Obviously there are lots of cases where it doesn't matter if you stop at the stop sign. That is also true if you are driving a car. Many times you can see the 4 way stop is clear except for your vehicle. The problem I have is that bikes are supposed to be treated the same as motor vehicles. If so, they should behave the same as a motor vehicle would. When that isn't the case, drivers tend to say "See, they don't follow the rules. They aren't like cars and we can't/shouldn't treat them as such". Yes, you may be perfectly safe, but it sends the message "I don't necessarily follow the rules, and I alone decide whether I will or won't.", and IMO that is problematic. If you wouldn't run the sign in your car, IMO you shouldn't on your bike either. I know it is a pain, but I think that is part of the drill.

[Goose]

I wrote a way too long post about this before the Grizz game. The short story is that there are times when it's perfectly reasonable to roll through a stop sign. But 360° awareness is crucial because you're always going to lose the fight. Especially with a car but with anything else, really. You're the one with all the momentum delicately balanced inside of an inch.

Totally agree

My personal peeve is when I see people riding at night without lights. I've even given lights to neighbors when I've seen them doing it.

Also totally agree. I would also add people riding without lights and wearing black/dark blue clothing. Pedestrians do the same thing. Oftentimes the bikes and pedestrians are not actually in the beam of the headlamps until very late in the game. The driver could be totally vigilant and still not see them in time. Very dangerous, and unfortunately common in the bay area.

Plenty of people might say you should stop completely at every stop sign but it's often totally fine to roll through if you're paying attention. It really does take a ton of effort if you're in a low gear to get your momentum going again from a full stop. You can disagree and that's ok. I'm not talking about situations where bikes blowing through, but when the street is wide open and it's clear that there's no danger. But you have to be vigilant every single time you make that choice. And calculate it every time with no assumptions.

Here I have a bit of a problem. Obviously there are lots of cases where it doesn't matter if you stop at the stop sign. That is also true if you are driving a car. Many times you can see the 4 way stop is clear except for your vehicle. The problem I have is that bikes are supposed to be treated the same as motor vehicles. If so, they should behave the same as a motor vehicle would. When that isn't the case, drivers tend to say "See, they don't follow the rules. They aren't like cars and we can't/shouldn't treat them as such". Yes, you may be perfectly safe, but it sends the message "I don't necessarily follow the rules, and I alone decide whether I will or won't.", and IMO that is problematic. If you wouldn't run the sign in your car, IMO you shouldn't on your bike either. I know it is a pain, but I think that is part of the drill.