1) stoplights and stop signs:\u00a0 Bikers have to stop at all stop\u00a0lights, just like cars.\u00a0 The only exceptions are\u00a0that if\u00a0the car has to stop unusually short of the\u00a0cross street\u00a0for safety reasons (e.g.,\u00a0if a car has\u00a0to stop\u00a0behind the train track running parallel and a little before the cross street, rather than in the two-car gap between the cross street and the tracks), I think it\u2019s fine for the bike to ride all the way up to the cross street; and if there is really no traffic on the cross street, I think its fine for the bike to cross in the same way as a pedestrian might choose to cross.\u00a0 At stop signs, bikers have to follow the same right-of-way rules as a car, stop, and yield to any car there before them \u2014 but if there are no cars visible at or reasonably near the stop sign, I treat the intersection as more of a yield than a stop.<\/p>\n
2)\u00a0 sharing the road:\u00a0 yes, bikes technically have the entire width of the road, at least in some situations, but it\u2019s just rude and unnecessarily provocative for a cyclist to ride in the center, slowing traffic behind him and forcing drivers to wait for significant break in traffic in the left lane rather than the small break needed to veer moderately into the left lane.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
3) cars making right turns:\u00a0 both bikes and cars have a responsibility here.\u00a0 A car making a right turn needs to watch for any bikes travelling alongside him (whether on the road, on a designated bike path, or on the sidewalk), and yield if a bike is about to cross.\u00a0 A\u00a0cyclist has to be similarly mindful and not stubbornly insist on \u201crights\u201d at the expense of his life or health.<\/p>\n