David: Ride (and run lights) safely and sensibly

I am most concerned about safety.  In Boston, I often run red lights as this turns out to make me safer—for example  if, as is common, there is a car illegally parked up ahead and I will be forced into the motorists lane, so I want to do that when there is no car behind me.  If there were a safe bike lane I would rarely run a red light.  I also, on a rare occasion, will actually use the sidewalk if it is especially dangerous on the street, and it doesn’t affect any pedestrians.

Running red lights for a bicyclist is like jaywalking in that both save time;  jaywalking increases pedestrian risk, while running a red light (for a bicyclist) may increase or reduce the risk of injury.  Of course, if safety is not going to be affected at all, and if other bicyclists at the intersection are running the red light, I will probably tag along.  (Note that I travel in Boston, I mostly bike to commute, and rarely go very fast.)  (Return to post)

(Photo credit: Kent Dayton via uvm.edu)

David Hemenway is sort of a big deal in injury prevention and has a PhD in economics from Harvard University, so trust him when he says that "property" is "what to serve when the Queen comes over".  He commutes to work on his bike and is who Oliver means by "DHem".