Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce3055
I think it's more important to consider if a bicycle (or cart) is creating an unsafe condition by rolling through a stop sign. If they are safe, rolling through the stop sign is probably appreciated by most. Can you imagine the back ups that would occur if everyone stopped even though they could safely roll through the gate crossing.
Cart drivers would back up as they waited for clear openings
Bike riders could create enormous back ups as they got off their bikes to walk thru intersections as not all are fast enough to safely cross from a completes stop otherwise.
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Honestly, the only time I "roll through" a stop sign on my bike is if I'm riding uphill. The only alternative is to stop, get off my bike, and block traffic while I walk it across the street. Where I live, there's a stop sign that's at the bottom of an incline, and is a right turn onto another incline. So I can get momentum on the way to the stop sign and make it up that other road without having to walk it the entire way to the stop sign after that. There's plenty of clearance for me to check to my left and make sure no one is coming.
It's technically illegal, and if a police officer were to pull me over on my bicycle to give me a ticket I'd accept it (and probably fight it, but I'd still not give the officer any bunk - he's just doing his job).
I am 100% in favor of the roll-through bicycle laws they have in other states. But here in Florida, we don't have those laws. So if you're going to do that, you need to accept that you're breaking the law - even though what you're doing is safer for EVERYONE involved.