TheWashCycle

Friday Afternoon Commute - Everybody runs, sometimes

Good Afternoon. Happy 29th birthday to Mrs. Washcycle.

• The Atlantic published results from an observation of red light and stop sign compliance in Portland. 
  • The report [PDF] is available here, and shows that of the 497 cars observed only 36 ran red lights, while 58 of the 99 bicycles observed blew right through. That's about 7 percent of cars compared to 58 percent of bicycles. Two of the three intersections the students chose to study have a cycle track, or a bicycle lane separated from traffic lanes. The researchers found that cyclists were more likely to run red lights at the intersections with the cycle track, with about 70 percent of riders running lights compared to less than 40 percent on the shared street intersection.
  • A separate study "showed bicyclists came to a complete stop only 7 percent of the time. It also showed that motorists stop completely only 22 percent of the time."
  • The headline calls out cyclists, but I think compliance is pretty low for both groups, so maybe the headline "Most people break the law" would be more accurate. Could be filed in the obvious section. If only 22% of drivers stop at stop signs, then they also have "selective vision when it comes to stop signs and traffic signals."
  • I wonder how they count "cars observed." Not every car that comes to an intersection and stops has a chance to run a red light. If you are driving and desperately want to run the light, but the two cars in front of you don't, you are largely screwed; but on a bike, you're almost never boxed in. Running is always an option. So what is the count for those who had an opportunity to run the light, I wonder.
  • The data on the difference between compliance on roads with cycletracks and those without is new and interesting.
  • "While it's not likely that cyclists will begin to comply fully with the laws of the road, this study does shed some more light on the potential dangers of the road." How it does this, the author never says. What has been shown is that cyclists don't comply with these laws as often as drivers, and drivers comply less than 100%. It doesn't show that the behavior of cyclists is dangerous. In fact there is no mention of crashes, injuries or fatalities, which is what you would need to make any conclusions about safety. In Idaho most of this behavior by cyclists would be legal, and all the evidence points to it being as safe as the status quo, if not safer.
  • "And though bike-person accidents aren't incredibly widespread, they do happen." - in my experience this is usually because or wrong-way cycling, sidewalk-cycling and jaywalking. 
  • "Even more concerning should be the increasing potential of car-bike accidents that can occur when stop lights are ignored." What increasing potential? Where are the facts?
  • "But there's also a danger that the more comfortable we get going green on a red, the more likely we are to relax our reflexes and de-elevate our senses to the four-wheeled threats that surround us." Again, Idaho stands in direct contradiction to this. 
  • The City Paper got in on it too, with Shani Hilton also calling it dangerous - but later saying that the feeling of anxiety erratic behavior causes can leed to hostility. But I'd point out that it most cyclists run stop signs and red lights, then it shouldn't be "unpredictable." It should be expected. 

 

• As part of a fare restructuring, Metro might "reduce the fee for bicycle lockers to $120 based on low demand for lockers." I guess raising the fare was a mistake then?
• More on the DDOT/Takoma/CaBi station denial story. "...it would also force maintenance crews off their normal routes to take care of the bikes."
• OK, maybe the bike lanes on Wisconsin are back on. "Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E voted to approve the first phase of a District Department of Transportation project that would restrict traffic on Wisconsin Avenue to allow for widened sidewalks and the addition of bike lanes."

Thursday Morning Commute - Plainclothes

Good Morning. Bad internet connection last night.

• Police in Northern Virginia have been ticketing cyclists on trails for running stop signs, and - if you can believe it - speeding. "I was quite surprised a few days ago to see an Arlington County policeman wearing a DayGlo vest aiming a hand-held radar speed detector at bicyclists (who don't have speedometers) coming toward him on the Custis Trail leading to Rosslyn. This on a trail where the speed limit isn't posted....Falls Church police recently stationed a plainclothes officer on the W&OD bike trail who apprehended bicyclists who didn't come to a complete stop at stop signs. Rolling through slowly after ensuring that there was no traffic approaching wasn't good enough."
  • The latter isn't just a $75 ticket, it seems you have to go to court and pay $61 in court costs too.
  • Enforcing a speed limit that isn't posted, for trail users who aren't required to have a speedometer, seems like dirty pool. Update: Looks like it wasn't APD but rather Toole Design. No tickets. 
  • Do cyclists get the same 11 mph margin of error for speeding tickets that drivers get. Maybe 26 mph does deserve a ticket - and a racing contract.
  • I have to agree with the letter writer about priorities. I'd put ticketing lightless night cycling as a higher priority than either of these offences.
  • Are they really enforcing a full stop policy at stop signs? Ridiculous.
• More on the proposed changes to federal bike/ped funding. " bike/ped-averse state governments will be able to opt out of CMAQ-AA altogether."
• DDOT discussed snow removal yesterday, but no one asked about trails. 

Monday Morning Commute - Next time you cheat on your spouse, ride your bike!

Nice weather this weekend. Will we see it that nice again before March?

• A new bike station in DC - on the west side of Thomas Circle at 14th St NW
• Another advantage of cycling over driving? Less tracking. 
• Bike Commuting classes to be offered in Spanish. 
• A new bike detector on Soapstone Drive in Fairfax County may have the first bike detector markings used in the county. I smell a future historical marker.
• A California appellate court said that the state's ban on using a handheld device while driving, applied even when one was stopped at a red light.
• "[Four-way stop signs] are there to regulate speed, not right-of-way."

Tuesday Morning Commute - Tweed

Good morning

• So much about the Tweed ride. From sounds of Erik Kugler of BicycleSpace [Is that guy ever in the store? I see him everywhere. There must be twins like in "The Prestige".] encouraging people to ring bells, to an interview or two with founder Eric Brewer, to participants discussing the fashion and getting back on the bike.  And there are all the photos. 
• More CaBi station expansions. At Lincoln Park, 21st and I NW, and C&O Canal and Wisconsin Ave. 
• "Alta has to find a corporate sponsor to bankroll $50 million dollars in start-up costs, in exchange for naming rights or ads on the bikes. Once the funding is secured, Alta expects to hire more than 200 people in New York to set up and maintain the system."
• Metrolink's bike car. Hard to miss it.
• As part of the super-committee negotiations "Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) have gone on morning bike rides together"
• I'm not sure we need a bicycle speed limit, but I'm sure it shouldn't be 8 mph.
• An impromptu fact-finding ride of London's 10 most dangerous intersections for cyclists became a Tour du Danger with hundreds along for the ride.
• Dr. Bikelock Bonus: "drivers have the expectation that bikes aren't allowe [sic] on the main roadway, yet there they are..." This would only be true if drivers actually paid attention to the signs on the road. Besides, you'll find all kinds of things in the road that aren't supposed to be there, that's why you need to be attentive and driving at a safe speed. 

Tuesday Morning Commute - 15 minutes

Still on vacation, so this is all the link dumping I can do in 15 minutes. And go...

• What are Arlington's toughest hills? DC's etc... map them. Fun!
• Capital Bikeshare, now tracking calories burned, CO2 not created.
• "biking questions the dominant mobility paradigm of automobility, and people with cars don't like very much any perception of their giving up what they see as their "rights" (not "privileges") to the road."
• Green Zebra Striped bike lanes. Yes please. 
• Is that street legal?
• Citations agains cyclists in DC are down."Bikers were cited 334 times in the last fiscal year, data from the city's Department of Motor Vehicles show, and 171 times so far this budget year. That's a drop of about 27.8 citations per month to 17.1." The #2 most cited offence "Riding a bike so as to create a driving hazard." What is that even?
• Floirda Avenue might get bike lanes from "Sherman Avenue to 9th Street and will connect the bike lanes on V Street, W Street, and Sherman Avenue."
• Mass Avenue in front of Union Station almost surely will get bike lanes when Columbus Plaza is rebuilt starting in September. Plus, there is a tiny bit of the Met Branch Trail (which is brown in this rendering) in the project too. 

 

An invitation to sit on Hughes Road and watch cyclists run stop signs. Don't say you weren't invited.

The letter to the editor fight at the Gazette continues. In addition to last week's action, there's another letter I missed. This one from Michael Klein of Poolesville. Mr. Klein is a remarkable man, who is apparantly able to know, by observation, where people come from and their relative level of humility.

come out to Poolesville and witness the arrogance and lack of law-abiding bicyclists. I have seen some of the most outrageous behavior from these bicyclists and they reside in Washington, D.C., and bike in Poolesville.

He adds

Sit on Hughes Road and watch groups of 10 to 20 cyclists blasting through stop signs at Hughes Road and Westerly Avenue, and giving the middle fingers to drivers that try to alert them when driving up behind them because they are too far out in the road and not using the tax-paid bike lanes. They need to pay road taxes, have an ID tag on their bike, so that we can contact the police and report them when they break the road rules. They need to be held accountable for their negligent actions.

I don't doubt that they run stop signs or give the middle finger to drivers who sit behind them and honk their horns at them. The middle finger is probably not very productive, but it's hard to distinguish a "hello, I am here behind you, FYI" horn from a "Get the f*** out of my douchkitty" horn. If you don't want the finger, don't honk your horn. I don't condone the finger, but last I checked, no one ever contracted psoriasis from it either.

Basically your boilerplate anti-cyclist screed with scofflaw cyclist complaints, misinformation about where cyclists are allowed, false free-rider claims and calls for license plates. It includes the "cyclists are a menace" line, which is standard in such writing. Of course, there likely has not been a single person in Poolesville injured, let along killed, by a cyclists in 50 years. Probably a different story for motor vehicles. Nonetheless, Klein is fed up.

Beatrice Fitch decides to help Klein out by making something up that is entirely untrue.

In almost every other country in the world, cyclists are obliged to register their bicycles, to pay for the registration and to affix a small license plate (ID tag) so that — in case of accidents or infractions — the owner of the bicycle can be held to account.

In London, I believe bike couriers have to have plates. I can't think of anywhere else. So, she's very close to right...IF a subset of cyclists in one city is close to the entire world.

it also brings in revenue to cover the costs of maintaining roads and bicycle paths. What's not to like?

I don't know, how about that it discourages cycling while bringing in very little revenue? And that Mongomery County, Maryland, the United States and the UN all have voiced support for encouraging (aka the opposite of discouraging) biking? Not to mention how difficult it would be to institute. What about out of state cyclists? How big would the plate be? Where would one affix it? Has the London program been effective? But that's just off the top of my head.

Frequent washcycle commenter (though not lately) Nancy Taylor responds with less vitriol, but more facts (7 of them to be correct - though they either cut 5 or she made a counting error).

First, there is no such thing as "road tax." Local county roads such as Hughes are constructed and maintained with money from Montgomery County's general fund, and the majority of money in the general fund comes from property and local income taxes. Second, there are no bike lanes on Hughes. Third, cyclists are not required to get out of the way of impatient motorists at the toot of a horn (and motorists who honk angrily at cyclists shouldn't be surprised to get an angry response in return). Fourth, no matter where the cyclists live, they are entitled to use public roads. (Mr. Klein, even though you reside in Poolesville, you are allowed to drive in Washington, D.C.). Sixth, most every cyclist Klein is complaining about also owns a car and is a licensed driver who pays gasoline taxes, registration fees and the like. In Maryland, even a portion of sales tax is now going toward state road construction and maintenance, because gax taxes and other vehicle fees don't cover all state road expenses. Seventh, though some cyclists may roll through stop signs (as I see motorists do every day), I have not heard of any incidents where drivers were endangered.

Finally, the cyclists on Hughes undoubtedly were on their way to or from businesses in Poolesville, where they spend money.

Oh no she didn't...

Mike Cavey, meanwhile, talks about the law

The cyclist, as a courtesy, is supposed to move over to the right as much as safely possible, but the cyclist can utilize just as much of the right lane if needed as a driver. Look that up in your Maryland Driver’s Handbook. Also, were you aware that a driver in Maryland, by law, has to give at least 3 feet of space, at least an arm’s length, when passing a cyclists?

And Denise Cohen of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance piles on some more

In several other respects, however, the writer seems to be manufacturing facts. For example, he claims that the cyclists he sees running stop signs "reside in Washington, D.C." If, as the writer points out, cyclists don't have "ID tags," how is he able to identify them as D.C. residents?

Klein also refers to additional myths like "tax-paid bike lanes" on Hughes Road and Westerly Avenue (there are none) and road taxes (there is no such thing). County road improvements are paid out of a general fund comprising, in part, property taxes.

Which leads me to my next point. The writer is annoyed that non-county cyclists use county roads for cycling. "How dare they," he implies. "I pay Maryland taxes, and they don't. Therefore they have no right to use county roads." He doesn't complain about non-county motorists using county roads. If it makes the writer feel better, I own a house Montgomery County that serves as my main residence. I can assemble a list (numbering in the hundreds) of people who cycle in Poolesville and who are Montgomery County residents.

Public roads are a shared resource. Motorists and cyclists would do well to learn how they are maintained and how to use them legally.

So, is that to be the last of it or will it drag on like The Facts of Life did when they had the season with just Blair and she owned the school? I hope not.

Tuesday Morning Ride - Still on vacation

Getting this done in a hurry.

• At right is a photo of an inverted U bike rack that was merely bolted to the ground, making it easy for theives. Speaking of which, a bike thief was arrested in Takoma Park - From a press release"On July 18, 2011, at  approximately 3:40 a.m., Takoma Park Police were on patrol in the 200 block of Hodges Lane, Takoma Park, Maryland, when an officer observed four young males on bicycles. One of the subjects was riding one bicycle while pushing a second one. An attempt to stop was made of the group, and all but one fled into the District of Columbia. The remaining subject attempted to drop the second bike and flee without success. Investigation revealed the bicycle that the subject was riding was stolen, as was the second bicycle he was pushing.
  A back pack also in the subject’s possession, which contained a pair of bolt cutters. A request was made of the subject to show the officer where the bicycles were taken from and the officer and subject went to that residence. It was confirmed that the bicycles had been stolen and the bicycles were returned to the owner. The Metropolitan Police Department was notified and given a look-out of the outstanding subjects as Takoma Park Police continued to canvass the area. The subject in custody was able to provide identification of the fleeing subjects he had been with; they were all juveniles and residents of the District of Columbia."
• Spokes Magazine has an article on CaBi on the National Mall "Although a Bikeshare station would be convenient, it would destroy the nature of what makes the National Mall an American institution in the first place, [NPS Spokesman Bill Line] said. 'The National Park Service is an organization that strongly encourages (the) use of mass transit, but Capital Bikeshare wants to place a structure on the National Mall, which (the park service) does not allow under current regulations,' Line said." Articles starts on page 23.
• "The head of the conservative gay Republican group GOProud was attacked on a secluded street behind Union Station while riding home from work on his bicycle on July 15"
• 143,511 CaBi rides for June, up from 133934 for May.
• More from a witness to the pedicab tasing

Clark says Guillon began to reach for his glasses in his shirt's breast pocket, when the officer un-holstered his Taser, pressed it against Guillon's ribcage, and fired.

"The pedicab driver dropped to the ground, was writhing and screaming in pain and agony," Clark says. "And the police officer shot him with the Taser one more time."

• Cyclist is ticketed for a rolling stop at 14th and U. Massive comment war ensues.

Tuesday Morning Commute - Bodhi he is not

Today, Neptune will complete it's first orbit since it was discovered in 1846. Happy sort of birthday Neptune.

• WABA puts the fight for Safe Routes to School funding into local terms "Since 2006 the Washington Area Bicyclist Association has educated over 26,000 children in the District of Columbia in safe bicycling and pedestrian habits." That's funded by Safe Routes to Schools. You can contact your representative at the link above.
• WABA's also pursuing a grant from the Pew Trust/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Impact Project. This grant will fund an assessment on WABA’s push to add an on-road bike facility on Alabama Avenue SE, from Martin Luther King Avenue to the Suitland Parkway. They made it past the first round into a group of 40 finalists. 10 projects will get funding. This happens to be the same street where a cyclist was badly injured over the weekend.
• I'm not sure the NH contraflow lane is as bad as these three make it out to be, but then I don't use it regularly. It does need work, that will hopefully come when the intersection gets a full redesign.
• Not much for Dr. Bikelock this week, just a discussion of earbud use, which commenters correctly identify as illegal in Virginia for both cyclists and drivers (one ear is ok). 
• This seems to pop up several times a year. Someday it won't be news anymore I suppose. Anyway someone robbed a bank and made their get away on a bicycle. This time in Alexandria. Don't worry, he wore a helmet, and he appears to have gotten away.
• This was mentioned briefly yesterday in the comments, but a couple of lead cyclists in the Tour de France were hit by a French TV vehicle in Sunday resulting in a pretty nasty crash.
• Revolution Cycles is organizing a bike ride to the Nationals Game on July 31st. The $40 fee includes everything, including a bike rental.
• Arlington police are handing out warning slips to cyclists caught running red lights along the recently repaved Custis Trail.

Dr. Bikelock - Idaho stop, pads and the Humpback Bridge

The first in what might be a continuing series where I attempt to answer bike related questions that Dr. Gridlock gets in his chats.

Q. "Dr. Gridlock, several times in the last few months you've written that "drivers run stop signs too, but at least they slow down" as though that is a sign of greater virtue. But isn't different behavior by different modes just a result of the technology, not the virtue of the operators? Drivers slow down because they're going faster to start with, they can't see or hear as well as cyclists, and they aren't as maneuverable. In short, they slow down because they have to to avoid a crash. The prevalence of other illegal behavior seems to negate any claim to higher virtue. Would you not agree that cyclists, drivers and pedestrians do what they feel they can get away with without getting caught or being in a crash. So no group is more virtuous than other, right?"

Dr. Gridlock: My point exactly: Travelers generally comply with traffic law when they think there's a reasonable chance they'll get caught for a violation. Drivers complain about cyclists. Cyclists complain about drivers. But I don't see any class of travelers having the moral high ground on complying with the law.

As in: The law doesn't say "slow down" for a stop sign. It' says "stop."

Dr. Bikelock: I have nothing to add to this one. Good answer.

Q. Dr. G- Do you think the Capitol Bikeshare, in some way, may put negative strain on the transpo system? I've noticed that many (I'd say most, but it would not be statistical) do not wear helmets and pads. They seem to be even more cavalier than most people on bikes as far as obeying the traffic laws. In other words, it introduces novice people on bikes that are unfamiliar with the rules-of-the-road (or where they are going) as it relates to bikes and traffic. I feel the same is true about people driving Zipcars. They tend to be unfamiliar with the car they are driving (e.g., where the windshield wipers are in a down pour) and are often unfamiliar with the driving rules or where they're going. I try to avoid being near a Zipcar for fear of sudden, unexpected movements.

Dr. Gridlock - I think Capital Bikeshare -- or something like it -- is here to stay and believe that's a good thing. I was pleased to see how much of the traffic on the 15th Street cycle track is made up of these rented bikes.

I do wish they'd all wear helmets, though.

I'm not sure -- not denying it, just not sure -- that Bikeshare riders or Zipcar drivers are any less skilled than the average street user. (I don't have a high opinion of the average street user's skills.)

If a Bikeshare rider or a Zipcar driver does something dumb, it stands out and you tend to remember it. You may be seeing just as many dumb things done by other cyclists or drivers in rental cars not as clearly marked as the Zipcars are.

Dr. Bikelock: If anything my experience has been that Capital Bikeshare cyclists are safer than other cyclists because they're moving slower, always have lights on and are sitting upright. There haven't been many crashes reported, which is the most telling sign. I think that getting people who are making short trips to skip driving or transit is good for the overused transpo network. Cyclists often use bike lanes, trails and ride in the pulses between traffic, so they help maximize our road network and reduce congestion. And they don't take up parking spaces. I'd like to know what Zipcar says about their crashes per mile compared to the average American driver.

And...Pads? Really? It's not a roller derby.

Q As a cyclist and a runner, I can already see the improvements to the trail that uses the [Humpback] bridge. By widening it and eliminating two very steep climbs and drops, it will be safer for all. Still trying to see what it will do for traffic though.

Dr. Gridlock: In a way, it's the same thing. Driving over the bridge won't be quite the circus ride it used to be. One of the problems with the old design was that cars would be speeding along and, because of the hump, they wouldn't see the red tail lights ahead of them till it was too late.

Dr. Bikelock: The trail is much better and is already shaving crucial seconds off of area bike commutes. It's also much safer than the old trail. When the underpasses open it will make the DC crossing safer by making it grade separated and will make a VA crossing possible. Traffic will improve as millions of drivers abandon their cars for bike commuting.

Q. OK, as a driver, I admit to being occasionally prone to the "I totally paused" stop-sign behavior. (TM: the movie "Clueless) However, what I don't see from drivers is regular and deliberate running of red lights in heavy traffic, which I not only see from cyclists on a daily basis, but I hear the behavior defended on forums like this one. "Stopping makes me lose momentum!" they say. Hey, you know what else makes you lose momentum? Getting hit by a bus. Or mowing down a pedestrian.

Dr. Gridlock: Exactly: Drivers think there's a chance they'll get a ticket for running a red light. They think that's much less likely if they slide through a stop sign, though it's also illegal.

Of course, when it comes to making a right on red, many drivers will simply slow down for that turn. Maybe they're afraid of losing momentum?

Dr. Bikelock: True. Cyclists run red lights more often than drivers and one justification for this is to keep moving. In addition to doing this for convenience, there may be a safety benefit. Bikes, unlike cars, become less stable - and less maneuverable - at slow speeds, so keeping momentum is more important. And many cyclists feel safer if they are in front of, instead of beside, auto traffic. In Idaho, where this kind of behavior is legal, the change in law hasn't made cycling any less safe. So while crashing into something would ruin one's momentum, it is an unlikely outcome. And as noted above, while drivers don't run red lights like cyclists do - primarily because they can't - they do seem perfectly inclined to break the law in a whole host of ways that are both illegal and dangerous. 

Q. [The law does say slow down] in Idaho. Cyclists in Idaho can treat stop signs as yield signs. Can we make that the law here? (DC/MD/VA) It makes a lot of sense.

Dr. Gridlock: I know many cyclists would prefer to ignore those bothersome stop signs, but I'm not sure what works for Idaho would work in DC.

Dr. Bikelock: Dr. Gridlock is partly right, but not for the reasons he thinks. There is no technical reason why the Idaho stop couldn't work here just as well as in Idaho, and saying "I'm not sure what works for Idaho would work in DC" is a cop out. 

But, DC/MD and VA are all contributory negligence states, and there is concern that any cyclist hit in an intersection would immediately be found guilty. I suppose there are scenarios we could devise where one could cross when it was safe but then have some other party break the law in a way that caused the crash. So the sense is we need to fix contributory negligence first. Dr. Bikelock also does not care for Dr. Gridlock's tone about "bothersome stop signs." It's more than that.

Q.But the legality isn't really why drivers complain. The problem is, bicyclists are the only operators of slow vehicles who blow through stops. Operators of other slow vehicles, such as construction equipment or buses, stop at the stops. What bothers drivers is when bicyclists ignore stops and then are slow afterwards. If bicyclists understood this it would help everyone use the road together.

Dr. Gridlock: I can see why that would bother many drivers. What bothers this driver is that cyclists blow through stops signs and create a hazard for themselves and others.

I think what the cyclists would say is that it's more of a hazard for them to come to a full stop, and then try to regain speed. On a city street, the difference in speed between them and motorists is most apparent when the cyclists and the motorists are accelerating from a stop.

Dr.  Bikelock: I think you're wrong about the primary reason drivers complain - it's mostly about breaking the law and the fact that it's a law they don't think they break. It's not about inconvenience. This isn't even an inconvenience. If a cyclist keeps catching you at stop signs and then passing you because they didn't have to wait for the cars in front of them and they rolled through at 7mph and you rolled through at 3mph, then the two of you are basically traveling the same speed. So what they're keeping you from doing is driving fast and then waiting a lot instead of driving slow and waiting a little.

While cyclists occasionally create hazards by blowing through stop signs, it is extremely rare.

BicycleSpace owner wants more red light and speed cameras

BicycleSpace owner Erik Kugler has started an online petition asking Mayor Gray to do more to enforce traffic laws, specifically red light and speeding. I'd also add to the list driving and biking while talking on a phone. Since distracted driving is a factor in 80% of all crashes.

Of course, some will say that any increase in enforcement should include cyclists, and I agree. But enforcement should really be scientific. Let's go after activity that can be easily enforced and is clearly dangerous. Rolling through a stop sign at a T-intersection may not be it. Riding at night with no lights - definitely ticket. [One great thing about CaBi is that even when it moves people from their bike to a shared bike, at least we know they have ligths and reflective sidewall tires]. Speeding and distracted driving? Yes. Red light running is a natural because cameras make enforcement so easy.

While drivers can point to numerous examples of cyclists zipping between cars, threading through cars stopped at traffic lights to slip intersections at a red light, Kugler says he's not advocating lawlessness on anyone's part.

The only part of this that's illegal is running the red-light.

He makes the argument that many cyclists and advocates make: When a cyclist makes a bad decision, it will rarely seriously hurt another person. While collisions with cars frequently end with much more serious consequences.

That's mostly true, but in those cases where it is not, there should be enforcement. I wouldn't have a problem at all with a ticket written to a cyclist riding dangerously on the sidewalk (or anywhere really). The point is to enforce dangerous activity, not illegal. And enforcement has to be balanced. It shouldn't really be a crackdown on any one group, just the most dangerous actions.