As a cyclist it is safer to yield because bikes can’t speed up quickly from a stop. If we maintain speed it’s easier to get out of the way if we need to.
If you don’t stop you would be putting yourself in danger in the intersection, stopping allows you to see the dangers and account for them.
If you’re a stopped, the only danger is from behind you at the stop sign. You’re avoiding the danger ahead in the intersection and can now time it appropriately to get through.
How is not stopping at intersections safer? A car can’t also make a maneuver while stopped…. The same logic you’re using is the same for cars, so bikes shouldn’t be singled out and allowed for that reason.
I would love a source for this “being safer”. You keep saying this, and are the only one, provide data to back it up, because it’s bullshit.
Driving and sharing the road is about being predictable, ignoring traffic signs is the most unpredictably thing you can do. Your suggesting is an extremely dangerous way to share the road.
A bicycle at a full stop is slower in restoring their speed. This means they are taking longer to clear the intersection than if they’d just yielded. Being in an intersection is always fundamentally more dangerous than not being in an intersection.
And if there are cars also stopped at the intersection, they’re now waiting longer than if the cyclist had gone through. So a cyclist is holding up traffic and putting themselves at greater risk of someone blowing the stop sign (either from not paying attention or from weird road rage authority trips like OP) for no reason.
I do agree that the most important thing in driving is being predictable. However, 11 states have yield-at-stop laws on the books. In those states, yielding is the predictable behavior for a bicyclist and it is dangerous for a driver to assume a cyclist will come to a full stop. Everyone operating a vehicle of any kind on a public road needs to be alert, cautious, and aware of local laws.
Most people are only going like 10 to 15 mph on a bike. That’s plenty of time to see the entire intersection as you approach. When I was 15 my back tire got hit by speeding car that ignored the sign. It was really scary and if I hadn’t stopped before crossing I would have been going faster and not gotten hit. That’s why when I look ahead, which I have plenty of time to do, I just go through, plus it’s entirely legal too.
Depends on the intersection, my city has tons of blind intersections due to walled communities everywhere. You can see ahead of you but can’t see the cross streets
I agree with that. Not directed at you, but I assumed people would realize that going through the stop sign is only really done at intersections that have good visibility (and low traffic, obviously if a lot of cars are around you’d probably have to stop) and I think I may have assumed wrong.
Let’s be honest here, you have blind spots as a cyclist as well. Yeah, you can have the equipment to see 360 without twisting to look behind you, but most don’t have that.
Having a blind spot because it takes a moment to turn your head is way different from having a blind spot because there is a headrest and multiple metal pillars in the way at minimum. Also on a bike you can probably actually hear surrounding traffic, which helps a lot with spatial awareness.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
As a cyclist it is safer to yield because bikes can’t speed up quickly from a stop. If we maintain speed it’s easier to get out of the way if we need to.
If you don’t stop you would be putting yourself in danger in the intersection, stopping allows you to see the dangers and account for them.
If you’re a stopped, the only danger is from behind you at the stop sign. You’re avoiding the danger ahead in the intersection and can now time it appropriately to get through.
How is not stopping at intersections safer? A car can’t also make a maneuver while stopped…. The same logic you’re using is the same for cars, so bikes shouldn’t be singled out and allowed for that reason.
I would love a source for this “being safer”. You keep saying this, and are the only one, provide data to back it up, because it’s bullshit.
Driving and sharing the road is about being predictable, ignoring traffic signs is the most unpredictably thing you can do. Your suggesting is an extremely dangerous way to share the road.
A bicycle at a full stop is slower in restoring their speed. This means they are taking longer to clear the intersection than if they’d just yielded. Being in an intersection is always fundamentally more dangerous than not being in an intersection.
And if there are cars also stopped at the intersection, they’re now waiting longer than if the cyclist had gone through. So a cyclist is holding up traffic and putting themselves at greater risk of someone blowing the stop sign (either from not paying attention or from weird road rage authority trips like OP) for no reason.
I do agree that the most important thing in driving is being predictable. However, 11 states have yield-at-stop laws on the books. In those states, yielding is the predictable behavior for a bicyclist and it is dangerous for a driver to assume a cyclist will come to a full stop. Everyone operating a vehicle of any kind on a public road needs to be alert, cautious, and aware of local laws.
Most people are only going like 10 to 15 mph on a bike. That’s plenty of time to see the entire intersection as you approach. When I was 15 my back tire got hit by speeding car that ignored the sign. It was really scary and if I hadn’t stopped before crossing I would have been going faster and not gotten hit. That’s why when I look ahead, which I have plenty of time to do, I just go through, plus it’s entirely legal too.
Depends on the intersection, my city has tons of blind intersections due to walled communities everywhere. You can see ahead of you but can’t see the cross streets
I agree with that. Not directed at you, but I assumed people would realize that going through the stop sign is only really done at intersections that have good visibility (and low traffic, obviously if a lot of cars are around you’d probably have to stop) and I think I may have assumed wrong.
I have never bought this argument. I don’t believe it’s safer to blow through a stop sign. It’s just inconvenient to have to stop.
Cyclists also have a much, much better overview of the situation than a car driver in their isolated cabin with all the blind spots.
Let’s be honest here, you have blind spots as a cyclist as well. Yeah, you can have the equipment to see 360 without twisting to look behind you, but most don’t have that.
Having a blind spot because it takes a moment to turn your head is way different from having a blind spot because there is a headrest and multiple metal pillars in the way at minimum. Also on a bike you can probably actually hear surrounding traffic, which helps a lot with spatial awareness.