Bicyclists need to obey the laws. Problem is most laws are optional so they assume all are. If a bicyclist insists on plowing through a red light or stop sign because they claim they are only for cars, then they risk death or injury. Wanna be on the road, start obeying laws.

@Chrissie78, you stated a common fallacy, if cyclists would just follow traffic rules they wouldn't be getting killed. The facts don't bear it out. Of the three cyclist deaths that happened in Boston/metro West in September, all three appear to have been caused by inattentive (one case likely drunk) drivers, killing cyclists that appeared in each case to have been following the rules of the road. That's why the police's response -- take traffic actions vs. cyclists -- is maddening. Wear a helmet? It's a good idea, but it

Cyclists not following rules of the road irritate me as much as anybody else, and in parts of Cambridge and Boston, traffic of all types is a mess. But I personally off-hand can only recall one death (out of reading over plenty more than I care to in recent years) that happened when a cyclist ran a red light. On the other hand, motorists "door" cyclists traveling too close to parked cars, "pinch" cyclists by sideswiping them against the road edge curb, and "hook" cyclists by turning directly into their path of travel. The latter two have killed cyclists recently, and all three types of accidents are something bikes can do very little about -- they can only be prevented by educating motorists.

Speaking as a motorist, I can tell you that I DO obey the traffic laws, while bycicists ignore them, weave and sprint in front of me, go the wrong way, blow through lights and then act annoyed when a car - following the rules of the road, not of bike entitlement - are followed by the drivers. Such outrage! How DARE cars not think bikes are special? How DARE drivers not have to take extra care to svae the lives of idiot bycyclists who, if Darwinism had any say, woudl long have perished at their own skilld.

During my 30 minute daily commute from Moss Hill to the Back Bay I see a car pulled over by the police or a police officer specifically watching for motor vehicle violations about once a week.  I have never seen a bicyclist stopped by the police.   Considering that I see about one car a day violate a traffic regulation (usually failure to yield to a pedestrian or running a light past orange), the enforcement rate is high enough to deter drivers from believing that they are immune from prosecution.  On the other hand, I only see about one bicyclist a day actually obey traffic regulations.  Bicyclists have come to expect that they can violate the law with impunity while expecting everyone else to respect their rights.  It would be a refreshing change to see a bicyclist actually argue that the police should cite bicyclists who willfully violate the law.

@kdkASDLKD, @marjalo others -- feel free to vent about bicyclists who don't follow traffic laws.

My beef is in linking the cyclists who have been killed, to the recent police enforcement action against cyclists. The fact is that the cyclists who were killed all appeared to be following traffic laws -- it's the motorist who failed to yield; failed to give adequate space when passing; and apparently drove drunk.

The cyclists' takeaway: It doesn't matter if you follow traffic laws, you can be struck and killed by a car anytime. On the bright side, regardless of who was right or wrong, you'll take the blame as being the problem.

There's another problem which nobody seems to have considered: it's a common rule of the road, if not an actual law, that you never try to pass a car on the right if they are signalling a right turn.  In all probability, the majority of injuries and deaths involving a crash betwen a bicyclist and a car making a right turn were the fault of the biker for not paying attention to the flashing turn signals.  So the "evil" driver gets the blame.  Whenever I make a right turn, I always use the turn signal, and I look to see if some idiot on a bike is going to try to pass on the right.