e-biking in Kansas City

Stopped at the light on eastbound 59th Street trying to cross Ward Parkway. It’s a long light. There is no southbound traffic coming on Ward Parkway for at least two blocks. After 20 seconds, I run the red light. And I repeat this crossing the northbound lanes of Ward Parkway a few seconds later.

As an e-biker who wants to set a good example, I feel guilty about this.

I yield to pedestrians. I take my place in a line of cars stopped at a red light rather than jumping the line by squeezing to the front using the curb. I hand signal all my turns. I obey speed limits to the letter.

But I also commit the “California Roll”–slowing nearly to a stop at a stop sign while confirming the coast is clear and then bursting on through the intersection. (The California Roll is illegal for cyclists in California but permitted in Idaho. It’s also illegal in Kansas and Missouri, of course.)

In most states, bikes are considered vehicles and are subject to the same laws. Which I consider stupid.

An SUV traveling at 40 mph has 352 kilojoules of kinetic energy. An e-bike traveling at 20 mph has less than four kilojoules of energy. Four kilojoules being dissipated into the side of a car results in a dent. Three-hundred, fifty-two kilojoules being dissipated into a cyclists results in a long grease slick on the road. These vehicles are not the same.

I can justify my California Roll. At my speed and with a clear vision of the cross-street, I can easily evaluate whether I need to stop while I slow to a roll. If it’s clear, I maintain some momentum that helps me clear the intersection much faster. This is why many bike advocacy groups, all of whom are concerned about safety, support legalizing the California Roll.

Running a stale red light comes from decades of conditioning. Sometimes the light will turn green for a cyclist. Sometimes it won’t. Sometimes a car will come along to trip the sensor and change the light. Sometimes that is a long wait. Sometimes the only option is to get off the bike and waddle over to the “beg button” to get a light.

Since we have about 80 years of traffic engineering that is 99% concerned about traffic flow and 0.001% about cyclists, I say f*** it and eventually run the light.

Buit if I’m in the company of other vehicles, I wait.

I do think I deserve credit for almost never riding five to nine mph over the speed limit, like all you drivers do all the time.

More about past efforts to legalize the California Roll.