# stop for stop signs and stoplights folks.



## wchane (Aug 8, 2006)

ask me how i know =/

not one, but multiple motos and cruisers await you at foothill expwy and san antonio. i saw yellow and thought i could make it, at the top of my sprint i was just passing the limit line and the stupid thing turned red. yes call me an *******. 

so stop for lights, questionable ones too. use that few extra bucks for a new pair of knickers or a helmet. 

*sigh*


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## snapdragen (Jan 28, 2004)

So is the fine for a cyclist the same as a car driver?


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## wchane (Aug 8, 2006)

no idea. i'll let you know.


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## z ken (Dec 30, 2006)

well i ran the " yellow " light one time and end up paying $ 185 ( San Jose ) yeah it sure tasted real sour riding the rest of way home. i know car driver is fine between $ 280 to $ 350. depending where you live or ride, the fine will be vary. i even got fine one time for speeding. i was going about 35 MPH in a school zone ( 10 mph ) so that's my bad. could've run over some crossing children.


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## tron (Jul 18, 2004)

I was riding on Canada on a mid-week afternoon and I heard a police siren behind me I looked back and it looked like he was pulling a bike over. The guy must have just ran the stop sign at the intersection of woodside and canada.


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## robwh9 (Sep 2, 2004)

tron said:


> I was riding on Canada on a mid-week afternoon and I heard a police siren behind me I looked back and it looked like he was pulling a bike over. The guy must have just ran the stop sign at the intersection of woodside and canada.


The intersection of woodside and canada is infamous for ticketing cyclists. I've seen it many times. I don't think Woodsiders like cyclists. They tried to limit charity rides through town, once.


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## ToneB (Sep 6, 2005)

Sunday (07/01) I went rolling thru FHXP and San Antonio between 1 and 2pm, saw a police cruiser up at the next intersection with lights flashing. Knew they were probably ticketing cyclists. Sure enough a cruiser and a motorcycle cop had 3 cyclists pulled over. It was 3 cyclists I had been riding with from San Gregorio and we split at Tunitas/Skyline. I typically obey all traffic laws but sometimes I blow that light. It is a lesson to learn, I blew the light too but saw there was no turning traffic and the cops would not be able to tell I ran the red as they were all locked on the cyclists (who looked none too happy). 

I suspected this was coming. For a few days ago in the Mercury News was an article stating that a judge threw out the use of all radar stops for not having done the proper "speed survey" in Los Altos. So now what is left for the cops to do in Los Altos? I used to see the patrol cars parked along FHXP and liked it that they slowed down the speeding. But now it seems like they need to target other violators that do not involve radar guns. 

So cyclists be warned....


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## CoLiKe20 (Jan 30, 2006)

Even without getting tickets we should obey traffic laws. Some drivers have bad enough notions of cyclists and we don't have to give them any extra ammo.


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## snapdragen (Jan 28, 2004)

Too true CoLiKe20.

Regarding Woodside, when I was an assistant instructor with my club's academy, we'd tell all our students to be careful in Woodside, to stop and put a foot on the pavement at every stop sign or risk getting a ticket.


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

Both of the intersections mentioned in this thread (San Antonio & Foothill and Canada & Woodside) are very dangerous. Cars often turn left from San Antonio and merge drift through the right lane to turn right on El Monte to get to 280. Often, some of them swing a little wide and into the bike lane well before they get to El Monte. Sure, they should stay in their lane, but if you get smeared here, the judge is going to rule that a bike running a red light is a much worse infraction than a car merging through the bike lane a little early.

At Canada & Woodside, there is heavy traffic on Woodside Road (Hwy 84) all day long. If you run the stop sign, you are probably cutting off someone else's right-of-way. You may get lucky and they will yield to you (instead of hitting you), but then they will hate all cyclists for life. There is no upside to running the stop sign here.


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## mytorelli (Dec 19, 2004)

I've run stop signs and stop lights in front of cops... I have yet to get a ticket. I normally don't run stop lights, but that one time it was a T-intersection, and I was in a rush.

I normally roll through stop signs only if its clear at about 5mph. I find that if I stop and abide by the law it just confuses things, cars don't know who's turn it is... one car would wave me on and then another car would go... and so on...


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## velocipede (Feb 10, 2005)

I had a cop try to wave me through a red light in Napa. I just sat there and looked at him like he was an idiot. He blipped his siren and hit his lights and ran the red himself... still can't figure that one out.


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## z ken (Dec 30, 2006)

may be some cops are " toying " with some of our cyclists and once we cross red lights., it's your words against his/her, that mean $ 185 for crossing the red lights. better wait til green. couple minutes of waiting is much better than 30 minutes at court traffic not to mention that $ 185. bummer!!


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## mohair_chair (Oct 3, 2002)

Last time I was there, there was no limit line in the bike lane, and it always looked to me as if the bike lane had a free pass. Same thing at the light on Foothill southbound just before it passes under 280. Most T-intersections have limit lines painted all the way over to the curb, so when they don't paint them across the bike lane, I consider that significant and would contest any ticket in court. No limit line, no stop.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

I would say these words of unwisdom.

- You can get a ticket running any stop sign, red light, right turn on red light, speeding. (cupertino, woodside are notables)

- the ticket is steep, $100-$200 but it will not affect your driving record and insurance (here in CA)

- use good judgement and do not piss off cars (as others have said). We will all pay for this in the long run.


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## deanyuan (Sep 16, 2005)

*I always thought*

that if the light was a three way stop, the stop doesnt apply to the bicycle lane, such as is the case with Foothill and San Antonio headed southbound, or even Foothill past Homestead at the 280 intersection (before you go under 280). I may be wrong, I just thought it didnt apply to the bike lanes.


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## Francis Cebedo (Aug 1, 2001)

deanyuan said:


> that if the light was a three way stop, the stop doesnt apply to the bicycle lane, such as is the case with Foothill and San Antonio headed southbound, or even Foothill past Homestead at the 280 intersection (before you go under 280). I may be wrong, I just thought it didnt apply to the bike lanes.


I think the key factor is if there is a white solid line crossing the bike lane, then you have to stop. On Foothill at San Antonio, there is a white line so a stop is required. On Foothill past Homestead, there is no white line so you don't have to stop.

fc


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## johnny99 (Apr 2, 2004)

francois said:


> I think the key factor is if there is a white solid line crossing the bike lane, then you have to stop. On Foothill at San Antonio, there is a white line so a stop is required. On Foothill past Homestead, there is no white line so you don't have to stop.
> 
> fc


I always stop at the Homestead stop light. Maybe the "no line" argument might work with a generous cop, but probably not a judge if it comes to that.


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## MayGirl (May 12, 2006)

I always stop. Sure, it's annoying if you are in the middle of an interval or if your mates don't stop as well, but it's the law and if you don't, you are breaking it and giving fuel to the fire of those who are quick to ***** and moan about cyclists. I don't blame Woodside residents for getting pissed at the cyclists who don't obey such simple laws -- I lived off Canada at Jefferson for a while and cannot count how many times cyclists running that stop sign put themselves and others (pedestrians, horse riders, fellow cyclists and drivers -- all obeying the law) in danger because they just expected others to assume they were going to blow through the sign.


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