It means, middle of the red light cycle, i.e. many seconds in, somebody just decides to go.

I have seen that only a few times the last decade from a motorist, anywhere. I have seen that thousands of times from cyclists, in the same period.

Actually, sit at these intersections and tell me what you see: Cesar Chavez and Guad, Cesar Chaves and LaVaca, S 1st and Barton Springs, S 1st and Riverside, Bouldin and Barton Springs. People do full on run-the-red all the time.

I don’t deny your experiences as a cyclist, but having cycled since 2000, I’ve seen a lot of new issues arise that may not have been as prevalent as when you were suiting up and rolling out. Number one: Texting, Facebooking, or any other use of a phone that takes someone’s attention away from watching the road. That makes a car more deadly than it already is.

Also, asking whether cyclists would speed is moot. Cars going too fast, particularly in residential neighbors, isn’t just dangerous to cyclists, it’s dangerous to other drivers, kids playing, pets, or anyone else that happens to get in the way.

The point of the article wasn’t to start an “us vs them” argument. It was to discuss what we as society, and particularly the city, can do to maintain safety for everyone and also prepare for an increase in traffic and peds downtown.

You can see how I feel about the rogue cyclists and drivers in this post:http://republicofaustin.com/14-tips-to-help-cyclists-and-drivers-coexist/

I call BS on this – at least, in the way “running red lights” is meant when referring to lawbreaking cyclists.

If it helps, a distinction I once made is between “running the red” and “running the orange”. Running the orange, totally made-up, is when a light changes from yellow to red, and the person keeps going – through a “fresh red”, if you will. This is done in roughly equal proportions by cyclists and motorists.

“running the red” can then be reserved for more egregious violations – where a light is red and has been red and the person in question just decides it doesn’t apply to them. This hardly ever happens with motorists, and happens very frequently with cyclists.

I live near Speedway and 38th – have for about 10 years. I have not seen one single car run the red (not the orange) in the 10 years I have lived there. I see a cyclist run the red across 38th almost every day.

None of this matters all that much in the specifics of this case because, as you note, none of the recent cyclists killed were disobeying the law. But it serves cyclists very poorly to be in denial about how the majority of cyclists behave on the road – and that is “badly”. No, don’t bring up people rolling stops (both cars and bikes do this in equal proportions). No, don’t bring up speeding (bikes would if they could, I have no doubt). Red lights and stop signs? Drivers treat them with seriousness; cyclists treat them as suggestions.

(I biked about half the time to work for about ten years here in Austin; and served on the UTC from 2000-2005 as the bridge between cyclists and drivers).

Oh, and thanks for sharing the link. Nothing butters my bread more than people who park in bicycle lanes, btw. People who think they are some how above that.

Protected from what? Parking? Seemingly not.

http://oldguy2wheels.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/a-little-bad-comes-with-good-things/

George T.