Bicycle vs. Pedestrian

[hfojvt]

132. when I am driving a car

I do not have to look over my shoulder when making a left turn to make sure a much faster and much more massive car isn't going to splatter me on the pavement.

So I cannot imagine riding a bike like I was driving a car.

Furthermore in my experience most car drivers do not obey all traffic rules, to wit
1. they typically speed
2. they often do not use their turn signals
3. they do not turn on their headlights when using wipers as required by law
4. they almost never stop in front of a stop sign but usually roll half a car length through it, leaving the cyclist with the right of way wondering if he is going to die or needs to slam on his brakes.

I ride my bike most places, wearing no helmet, and ignoring stop signs when no traffic is coming (in smaller cities this happens a lot, probably unlike Boston).

However much of an a$$hole I am, I too have all my parts in working order (well, except perhaps for my brain, the jury is split on that (10-2 IS a split, right?)) and I have not hurt anyone else.

Way back when I was going to the University in 1982 or so, somebody told me that Americans will jaywalk against red lights whereas Germans will obediently wait for the light to change. I cannot vouch for the accuracy of that, but now I think, whenever I jaywalk "I am an American!!"

Because to be an American means you realize that laws are made for people and not people for laws. Thus it is okay, a Kantian absolute in fact, to violate a law when doing so causes no harm to anyone else.

Let freedom ring.