And I agree, people are taking tremendous risks for meaningless gains.

I am regularly in the same situation as described: I wait at a red, another cyclist runs it and I end up stuck behind them half a block later. Do we need to start saying something to these people? What can we say that will be effective?

PS. your search box at the top seems to be broken.

the bike czar is right, people who ride on sidewalks are afraid of car traffic. more bike lanes would help that situation.

Also I agree with Ron Newman, cyclists should be able to run red lights if it is safe to do so at the time (no oncoming traffic, running the red does not disturb flow of traffic, etc..) I run through stops and reds everyday, but not recklessly or in a disturbing manner. it’s common sense and thankfully area cops still have some as well. i’ve never had a problem.

All in all, you’re spot-on. It’s a useless article, but then again 90 percent of Globe (and other mainstream news) articles are exactly that: useless ephemera, of no value to society, instantly forgettable, a vehicle for department store advertisements, and that’s that.

you may be overestimaing the impact of it all. I dont expect this article to have any long lasting effects anywhere.

I gotta think that the stupidest line in the article is this: “On Wednesday, over the course of 40 minutes, 20 cyclists ran the light at Charles and Beacon streets” That intersection is part of my commute. Charles is a one way street, and so is Beacon. The running of that red light which they are referring to is a right-hand turn (there is a no turn on right sign, posted i believe.) its not even dangerous to take that right, when there are no pedestrians crossing Beacon and in the absence of oncoming vehicular traffic. there is a very good reason that 20 oout of 21 took that right on red! in my estimation it is even safer to do so — again this is part of my daily commute — because I can get out in front of traffic coming from charles and cross the 4 lanes on beacon to take that left onto Arlington, instead of trying to make that 4-lane cross on a green, amongst cars gunning for Storrow drive. the author is not being fair here.

“This article was a simple attempt to get some ad revenue for the Globe, shallow sensational journalism lacking context or good research. But the fact still remains: Cyclists break the law, a lot.”

So on the one hand you’re accusing the Globe of shoddy journalism and poor research and essentially making up a story to generate filthy lucre while on the other hand admitting their point is absolutely correct.

So which is it?

And your article suffers from sensationalism as well, accusing the car culture of causing everything except herpes, which is probably only because drive-ins are pretty much gone.

As someone who both bikes and drives, I do agree that there’s a social contract that should be at work out there and 90% of the problems with traffic- and by that I mean cars/trucks/buses, bicyclists, scooters, and pedestrians- are caused by self-centered idiocy and the complete and utter lack of a willingness to play nicely with others.

It’s maddening. People take stupid risks for the smallest of gains- drivers cutting other drivers off so they can be one car length closer at the red light up ahead, lazy-ass pedestrians not willing to walk 100′ to the next intersection and instead jay-walk midblock in front of cars while off in the never-never land of their ipod or cellphone, and bicyclists thinking “hey, I’m a bike” and bombing through red lines 30 seconds after the light’s been red.

As someone who’s taken defensive driving courses for my work, I can tell you that you’re trained to survey and anticipate problems and chart an evasive course before it happens.

The problem with bicyclists is that far too often, they move much too fast and make sudden maneuvers and leave very little reaction time and that with far too many bicyclists, there’s a pervasive attitude evident in their riding that they don’t know or don’t care about certain laws of physics that apply to cars. I’m maneuvering a 3,000 pound vehicle that cannot stop on a dime or swerve suddenly. Moreover, by attempting to do so, I then run the risk of getting hit by other drivers.

To give an example, 2 weeks ago I was driving down Boylston and a bike messenger came off Dartmouth and headed the wrong way up Boylston in my lane heading right for me. I had to swing to my right and almost got clipped by the cab that was in that lane, and compounding insult to injury, the biker gave me the finger when he was the one in the wrong.

It’s stuff like that- which happens far too often- that gives bicyclists their reputation and make people hate them. And this is precisely what the Globe article showed. This isn’t just occasional bad behaviour by a few bad apples, but a widespread pattern.

And again, you don’t dispute this, but instead trot out the argument “everyone else does it”. Which is true, but it doesn’t excuse the behavior. But I do give you credit for trying to come up with a solution.

I also have to say that I agree with Ron about the red light thing and even want to take it further. So long as a bike slows down and looks and can proceed safely, they should be able to go through red lights. However, if they go through a red light and almost cause an accident, they should be cited.

Then again, this would require police to actually enforce traffic laws. They don’t do it for cars and if 1/10th the effort of going after parking meter scofflaws was exerted by the Boston Police department in going after moving violations, jaywalkers, and recalcitrant bikers, the situation in downtown Boston might be a little less chaotic and unsafe. And I want a pony and $10,000,000 too, but that’s not going to happen either.