NP: MGMT, Oracular Spectacular

Since I've been biking to work again, this post from Andrew Sullivan jumped out at me. I've been biking the streets of Chicago for about 14 years now, and up until two weeks ago, hadn't had a single accident.

(If you're wondering, I got doored by someone getting out of a cab, but I was slowly working my way to a red light, so it didn't damage me or the bike. The cab gave absolutely no indication that he was letting someone off -- it looked like he was just stopped at the light.)

Anyway, one thing I've noticed with regard to red lights and stop signs is that speed matters. I agree that cyclists blowing through either of these at high velocity can be an issue, because if you misjudge the situation, you have far less time to react. But if you're going at a reasonable speed, you can be reasonably sure of fully comprehending if there's a car or a pedestrian present with right of way.

Not 100% sure, but reasonably sure. I've had my moments where I get it wrong, but never to the point of collision. But that's really no different than cars or pedestrians, who aren't right all the time, either.

I think the subjective distinction is that, at some speeds, a bicycle is more like a pedestrian, while at others, it's more like a car, and it's up to the cyclist to recognize that different and adjust their behavior accordingly.