Quote:
Originally Posted by MonctonRad
Except that most never do.
Stop signs for cyclists seem to be merely a suggestion. As long as the coast is clear, in my experience, most cyclists will continue straight through the intersection to conserve momentum.
Less than 10% of cyclists use proper hand signals to indicate their intentions ( which would be nice since the cyclists around here are like rabbits in traffic - you never know which direction they will meander to next). As a consequence, I tend to give cyclists a very wide berth, to the point of my car occupying at least half of the adjacent lane. In heavy traffic, it's hard to do this therefore a cyclist in the roadway forces me to slow down and follow him until it is safe to pass. This in turn exponentially increases traffic congestion, leading to frustrated and angry drivers late for work.
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The thing is that it doesn't make sense for traffic laws to treat cyclists and drivers identically. The vehicles are different, yet both can co-exist on roads. Bikes can't keep up with high-speed traffic, so they shouldn't be permitted on highways, for example. But the amount of physical effort required to stop and start at every stop sign is excessive, which is why most cyclists don't stop at stop signs but rather treat them as yield signs, a way more logical approach which some jurisdictions
have enshrined as law.
People should signal their intentions, though.
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