Alexandria Police Ticket Bicyclists

[Peter Watkins]

On Wed, Oct 10, 2007 at 04:11:07PM -0400, Robert Brubaker wrote:
> Somehow the orginal question got lost.
> 
> Understand that a cyclist blatantly (add more adjectives if necessary to 
> make sure everyone agrees) blowing through a stop sign at high speed is 
> dangerous.
> 
> That said,  must bicylists come to a complete stop, typically would me 
> putting foot down, to be sure of not getting a ticket?

Some web searches turn up a good bit of discussion of Idaho's statutes on red 
lights and stop signs, which allow common-sense behavior by cyclists:
  http://www3.state.id.us/cgi-bin/newidst?sctid=490070020.K
Perhaps we should be talking to our state reps --and candidates!-- about 
following Idaho's lead.

Often it is safer to roll slowly through with feet on the pedals than to stop
and disengage one foot, or attempt to. I suspect we've all seen folks fall
over when they've failed to release from clipless pedals or straps, and we've
all seen folks struggle to re-engage their shoes or clips after stopping.
It *is* in the public interest for bicylists to operate their bikes predictably,
*and* yield right of way but I think it's a bad idea to expect the same "stop" 
behavior from bicylists *when there is no other party with right of way* as we
expect from operators of motorized vehicles that don't face the same challenges
stopping and starting.

-Peter