Busting the myth of the "scofflaw cyclist" Danish Road Directorate studies reveal that while 66% of motorists routinely break road traffic laws only 5% of cyclists do so. Law breaking by cyclists is higher where there is no cycle-specific infrastructure.

Some interesting stuff here, including links to more studies showing similar results in different countries.

The summary is that the reason motorists break more laws is that speeding is so common.

I don’t think this is because motorists are all evil and cyclists are all saints. Probably, the reason motorists break speed limits is that it can be relatively difficult to keep cars below the speed limit. It’s all too easy to absentmindedly speed up. It’s also, perhaps becuase of this, widely seen as socially acceptable to break the speed limit (speaking anecdotally).

One interesting thing here, which may not surprise regular readers of Fuck Cars, is that better cycling infrastructure leads to less lawbreaking by cyclists. As is often the case, it’s the design of roads and cities that changes behaviour, not abstract appeals to road users to be sensible!

  • @HawkeEnglish
    2•1 year ago

    I’m really not sure how you’d go about breaking the Idaho stop law. Stopping when you didn’t really need to?

    Regardless the point is that cyclists do not need to follow the same rules of the road as cars do.

    • pjhenry1216
      2•1 year ago

      Regardless, that’s not the same as saying they’re not as strict which is what I was replying to.

      Idaho stop is broken the same way a car not following a yield sign is broken. It’s still really easy and one of the most common complaint about cyclists to begin with.