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This kind of discussion occurs every time there's a news story of some biker getting hit by a car in /r/philadelphia. There are several real reasons for why bik

This kind of discussion occurs every time there's a news story of some biker getting hit by a car in /r/philadelphia. There are several real reasons for why bikers don't (have to) stop at red lights: 1.) Bikes are not registered. You can't "get my plate number". I can ride away without receiving any kind of retribution. Not as common in a car now that we have things like vehicle registration and licensing. 2.) Bikes, on average, move much slower than cars. Therefore, the damage that they could potentially cause to innocent bystanders is much less pronounced than if they were driving a car. Obviously this isn't a hard and fast rule, but in general bikers cause more damage to themselves than to others. Personally, I stop at red lights unless it's pretty clear there's no one coming. I almost always wait a few seconds either very slow or stopped at a red light before proceeding if I can't see around the corner coming up. I'm not going that fast so stopping at a moments notice isn't going to throw me over the handlebars.

protomyth 11y ago
"Bikes, on average, move much slower than cars. Therefore, the damage that they could potentially cause to innocent bystanders is much less pronounced than if they were driving a car." Bicycles can kill pedestrians and don't make a whole lot of noise or provide the large visual indication they are coming like a car. Look up the disease code E826.0 [edit: I guess they are changing codes this year - I swear coding is a scam] for some stats.
- kisstheblade 11y ago
  "Bicycles can kill pedestrians..." I tried to look up the injury code and didn't really get any statistics on people killed by bicyclists. Do you have any further information? Bicyclists running red lights never kill anybody (other than maybe the cyclist). Bicyclists going too fast and too close to pedestrians (red lights or not) can injure pedestrians, but that has nothing to do with "obeying the law", rather it just tells that those people don't consider other people (and we can be lucky they were on a bike and not in car, right?). I mean really, a cyclist running a red light in an empty crossing (after stopping and seeing that the crossing is clear) is some kind of danger to anybody? Suddenly getting to fast enough speeds after take off to kill someone??
  - protomyth 11y ago
    > Bicyclists running red lights never kill anybody (other than maybe the cyclist). http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/bicyclist-sentenced-to-probation-in-fatal-sf-embarcadero-crash/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/bicyclist-senten... and I think this link made HN http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bicycle-crash-kills-another-pedestrian-central-park http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bicycle-crash-kills-... That's the first search result - there are others an old 2011 study https://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/Hunter-Bike-Accident-Study https://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/Hunter-Bike-Accident-Stu... which has the pull quote: "This present study, based on every hospital in New York State, hasfound that in New York State alone, there were approximately 1000 pedestrians struck by cyclists each year necessitating medical treatment at a hospital. Even this figure grossly underestimates the frequency with which pedestrians are injured in collisions with cyclists."

protomyth 11y ago

"Bikes, on average, move much slower than cars. Therefore, the damage that they could potentially cause to innocent bystanders is much less pronounced than if they were driving a car." Bicycles can kill pedestrians and don't make a whole lot of noise or provide the large visual indication they are coming like a car. Look up the disease code E826.0 [edit: I guess they are changing codes this year - I swear coding is a scam] for some stats.

kisstheblade 11y ago
"Bicycles can kill pedestrians..." I tried to look up the injury code and didn't really get any statistics on people killed by bicyclists. Do you have any further information? Bicyclists running red lights never kill anybody (other than maybe the cyclist). Bicyclists going too fast and too close to pedestrians (red lights or not) can injure pedestrians, but that has nothing to do with "obeying the law", rather it just tells that those people don't consider other people (and we can be lucky they were on a bike and not in car, right?). I mean really, a cyclist running a red light in an empty crossing (after stopping and seeing that the crossing is clear) is some kind of danger to anybody? Suddenly getting to fast enough speeds after take off to kill someone??
- protomyth 11y ago
  > Bicyclists running red lights never kill anybody (other than maybe the cyclist). http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/bicyclist-sentenced-to-probation-in-fatal-sf-embarcadero-crash/ http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/03/12/bicyclist-senten... and I think this link made HN http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bicycle-crash-kills-another-pedestrian-central-park http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/bicycle-crash-kills-... That's the first search result - there are others an old 2011 study https://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/Hunter-Bike-Accident-Study https://www.scribd.com/doc/65531772/Hunter-Bike-Accident-Stu... which has the pull quote: "This present study, based on every hospital in New York State, hasfound that in New York State alone, there were approximately 1000 pedestrians struck by cyclists each year necessitating medical treatment at a hospital. Even this figure grossly underestimates the frequency with which pedestrians are injured in collisions with cyclists."