“Thing everyone has known for decades is now officially documented, yet will continue to be ignored.”
this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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That last sentence is especially important. The vast majority of the times when cyclists break traffic laws is WHEN THEY'RE FORCED TO.
When there's no bike infrastructure that allows bikers to travel safely and adequately then they're left with no other choice
Want bikers to follow traffic laws more? Literally just make a reasonable way for them to do it
New study is cool, but old studies in the US have found this to be true as well.
Do you know which studies?
No but they were in NYC, because I remember reading about this on StreetsBlog NYC like ten years ago. Sorry, would have linked them if I had them on hand.
People like to think that bicyclists are breaking laws all the time because they assume that bicycles must be treated as either cars or pedestrians. They are, in fact, a secret third thing with its own set of laws. Motorists don't know those laws because they have no reason to look them up. It's easier to just assume that the bicycle on the road/on the sidewalk/not stopping for the stop sign must be breaking the law because it would be illegal for a car to do it.
Cyclists go through red lights when it makes sense. Who wants to wait for dumb traffic signals when the road is empty and the infrastructure been built to protect pedestrians from cars (and cars from cars).
If a cyclist goes through a red light, the cyclist is dead*. If a car goes through a red light, the cyclist dead.
*yes, technically it could be worse for others too
Precisely:
This was backed up by traffic officer PC Mark Hodson of West Midlands police who said that the “effects of behavior that people are moaning about is negligible. If you look at the statistics, if you look at the actual threat of harm, cyclists aren’t posing a risk to anybody.”
Fuck the premise that bikes should follow the same laws as cars.
Keep yourself safe and alive. Fuck the law.
An easy is not texting for doom scrolling while driving.
To get at what really matters, you have to multiply the infractions times the danger each one poses to others.
Interesting. Now check how many motorists are killed by cyclists and vice versa.
When they do break a law it almost never results in someone else's death.