Stopping in the name of brotherly love

Whether I am walking, driving, or bicycling in Philadelphia it never ceases to amaze me how a minority of cyclists think that red lights and stop signs don't apply to them. Or worse yet how they believe that they will be the only one who will get hurt in the event a car hits them. Well its time that all of you learned that you are WRONG!

What these cyclists don't understand that when you run a red light and cross directly in front of a car you may force that driver to slam on their brakes, which may cause the drivers behind them to rear end that car. This point was made abundantly clear in Portland, Oregon on December 6, 2011 when a bicyclist ran a red light in front of a city public bus (Trimet), causing the driver to slam on the brakes and throwing passengers around the bus. You can see the video of what happened to the passengers by watching this video.

Unfortunately this was not the end of it, while one would have assumed that the passengers might have suffered some bumps and bruises, maybe a broken bone. For one passenger, William Coston this did not end well. When this article was published Mr. Coston had spent two weeks in intensive care, first in a trauma unit and then in a cardiac care unit. It was not known if he had insurance and Trimet's insurance did not cover his medical care since there was no negligence on their part. Given that the cost of intensive care starts at $100,000 a day, not including any surgery and tests may need to be done done. Mr. Coston may be facing a lifetime of debt because of the arrogance of cyclist.

Ladies and Gentlemen the next time you decide to run a red light, day or night, you may be putting other people at risk and you won't know until it happens. When you are riding your bicycle for pleasure or transportation you are not in the Tour de France. There is no yellow jersey if you get to your destination a little faster than the last time. Save that for your next Cat 6 race.