So Far This Year

So far this year, I have actually seen two bicyclists either stop at a stop sign or stay stopped at a red traffic light under circumstances where their being stopped was not forced by traffic.

Only twice, that is, in 10.5 months of driving through town and paying attention. Since I also try to drive in my car the same route I personally take when I ride my bike to and from work, the intersections I watch are the some ones I also bike through. So I know from first-hand experience that it is not painful or difficult to obey traffic signals.

Not my business, some would say. Well, it was about 11 years ago when I had to hold Matthew Young's hand as he went into a coma (and then died the next day) after watching him run a red traffic light on his bicycle and get smashed to death. Matthew, had he not been hit, and had we had a chance to converse, would have probably also told me that it was none of my businss that he had run that traffic light.

He would have been wrong.