Why do cyclists ignore stop signs?

The first and worst excuse is habit. We’ve gotten into this scofflaw habit, and it’s hard to change our ways. But change we must.

The second reason that cyclists ignore stop signs is the physics of riding — every stop/start takes more work. One of the famous resources on this topic is “Why Bicyclists Hate Stop Signs” by Joel Fajans and Melanie Curry of UC-Berkeley. They write: “For a car driver, a stop sign is a minor inconvenience… [but stop signs] make cyclists work much harder to maintain a reasonable [average] speed…”

Fajans and Curry compared two typical streets: a low-traffic residential street, and a high-traffic commercial street. The average low-traffic street has a stop sign every 500 feet, while the much busier street has lights that would stop a cyclist, on average, every 3,000 feet.

Fajans and Curry found that a cyclist could travel 30 percent faster on the busier street with the same level of exertion. Which means that cyclists, being of that near-universal class that wants to both have and eat its cake, will often choose the safer low-traffic street, and blow through the stop signs. And those who ride the high traffic street often blow through the traffic lights. Which is what you see every day in this town.

The third reason cyclists ignore stop signs is that they can, sometimes, do it safely. Cyclists are sitting a foot or so higher than drivers. As cyclists approach an intersection, they often have a better view of cross traffic than drivers.

Cyclists are also, generally, moving more slowly than drivers, and can adjust their speed through the intersection without crashing into cross traffic.

This is similar to our experience as pedestrians. Because our speed as walkers is relatively slow, we can easily see those approaching an sidewalk intersection. Almost unconsciously, we adjust our speed and position when sidewalks intersect, walking through without colliding with other pedestrians.

Walkers don’t stop because they don’t have to. Cyclists do the same thing, and you see it every day in this town.

Which is precisely what has given cyclists a well-deserved reputation as scofflaws. Cyclists are energy-conserving, eco-respecting, money-saving, fitness-enhancing… yes, yes, yes. But as long as cyclists are scofflaws on the street, they’ll get and deserve no respect.