ridicully | And to think I've never ever been stopped in the car...

A day starting with the police pulling you over because you ran a red light is certainly off to a bad start.

Now, I definitely saw that red light. I just chose to ignore it. As I generally do. And will continue to do even though I am aware that this is against the law. I accept that if I get caught, I'll have to pay for it. But I also refuse to feel any kind of guilt about it. I also won't stop complaining about it. Because after all, I like to complain.
In a way the policemen were nice, because after I realized that I didn't have my wallet with me - and no ID because of that, which is against the law too - they didn't make a fuss about it, just put me into their car and drove me home so I could get it.

And hey, they accepted my "I'll pay, but that won't stop me running the next red light again". And only told me not to do it if a police car was standing right next to me, because in that case they would have to stop me, just to be seen doing something about someone so blatantly breaking the law.

I still think they were petty. Because I'm pretty sure they could have let me go with just a warning. And a cyclist running a red light on a traffic light, that's only there so the cars coming of a minor street can cross the major road occasionally, at 6:45 in the morning isn't the most dangerous thing ever to happen on Berlin's streets.
But they did pick up the next one while getting me back to my bike, so apparently they think differently.

And I was late to the Journal Club because of this. While I'm still on probation and trying to make as good an impression as possible.
</whine>

Why don't I have a biking icon yet? This needs to change.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why do you choose to ignore red lights?

Because I treat them like I treat every law - I only follow them if they make sense to me. I accept that certain punishments are connected to breaking the law, no matter if it makes sense to me, but that doesn't change my behaviour. Ein Schuldbewusstsein geht mir in diesen Situationen völlig ab. Yes, I did something against the law, but I didn't do anything *wrong*, because the law is stupid.
(And forcing me to stop my bike in the heat to let imaginary cars pass certainly fits my definition of stupid.

I guess the only reason I'm not a sociopathic killer or some other psychopath is that my personal rules include some variant of "no killing, no stealing, no hurting others".

I don't get how a red light doesn't make sense to you. You've got a red light because other drivers have a green light. They go on driving. They are sure you are going to stop your car or whatever you are driving because you've got the red light.

(And forcing me to stop my bike in the heat to let imaginary cars pass certainly fits my definition of stupid.

Yeah, until the moment when you somehow miss a car and it hits you because the driver wasn't expecting you to drive at a red light. I mean, it's your decision if you want to endanger your own life, it's a whole different thing to endanger OTHER people's lifes because a law "doesn't make sense to you".

At least once in every Ampelphase both parties have a red light, because some time is needed to clear the crossing. If no other car is on the crossing yet, they can't get there without ignoring the red light themselves.
Something similiar goes for the streets this morning. These traffic lights are for small one way streets that cross a large road. To even get to the traffic light I was ignoring, they have to leave their street (which into which my position allows me to see for about 20 m) drive over the whole road (another 20m) before they'd even reach me. The street I have to cross is less than 10m wide. To simply *miss* a car would not only require complete absentmindedness, but additionally very exact timing to manage to get hit.

I don't chose these laws don't make sense just by encountering them once, but by observing them for some time and figuring out how these things work.
And, well, if a car hits me on my bike, it certainly is just my life on line and I'm quite willing to take that risk. I'm also willing to take that risk by forcing people to actually *obey* laws that make sense to me, namely giving the right of way to cyclists, by forcing them to either break or hit me.
And if any children see me? They'd better follow their parents advice not to blindly do what some idiot on the street did.

As I said I have no sense of guilt about these and I don't think anyone will convince me to develop one.
Do I think myself better than the law? Sure I do. Do I know that this is considered antisocial behaviour? I know that too. I just don't care.

Great, and of course I forgot about the most obvious part of the stupidity. The light for the pedestrians on the same crossing, switches earlier than the ones for cars and bikes. And it had already switched.
(Just to show that in some cases even reasonable people, who are not antisocial inclined like I am, might just think that if pedestrians can already cross the street, it probably will be safe for bikes as well.)

You ran a rfed light with your bike when the police was standing there?

Am I allowed to snicker a bit?

That being said, can I once again ask you a favour because my paid account expires this week?

Hey, I simply do not have a sense of self-perservation.
But yes, snickering is certainly allowed, I do it myself when I'm thinking back to it *g*

And sure, my CC is yours ;) Just tell me for how many month you'd like me to pay.

6 months, please? And as always, mail me your bank account data, money should be yours by Monday. :)

..... It took me a long time to realize that you meant, on a bike, not in a car. :)

Me, too. Until teh first time she mentioned it. Before that I was all 'You did what??? You do that on a regular basis??? Oh my God!' :)

LOL! Make that three of us.

It doesn't sound nearly as bad on a bicycle, huh? But when I thought it was a car! *twitches*

(Although I will admit there's one red light around here I run occassionally - and in my car, even - but only if there is NO ONE else around and it's taking forever to cycle).

And do you have any idea how long it took me to get the first mention of the bike this far down in the text?
Leading people on is hard work ;)

Well, the subject line is ambiguous... But I almsot never read subject lines ;)

same here!

And to think I've never ever been stopped in the car...

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