At the Atlantic Cities, Nate Berg takes note that in one (unscientific) study, 58 percent of cyclists ran red lights, compared to seven percent of cars. In addition, cyclists only come to a complete stop seven percent of the time (drivers make a full stop 22 percent of the time). It leads him to an argument against cyclists running red lights:

While it's not likely that cyclists will begin to comply fully with the laws of the road, this study does shed some more light on the potential dangers of the road. More pedestrians are put in danger when other users of the road ignore the rules. And though bike-person accidents aren't incredibly widespread, they do happen. Even more concerning should be the increasing potential of car-bike accidents that can occur when stop lights are ignored.

For those of us who ride bikes regularly, it's pretty obvious that we're not just blindly speeding through traffic lights with no regard to oncoming traffic. But there's also a danger that the more comfortable we get going green on a red, the more likely we are to relax our reflexes and de-elevate our senses to the four-wheeled threats that surround us.

There are instances where where a bit of rule-breaking can work as a safety and visibility measure: like poking into the intersection ahead of the cars one is riding alongside. As a driver, though, the unpredictability of cyclists can be anxiety inducing and dangerous—and likely contributes to the high levels of hostility some D.C. drivers have for cyclists—so perhaps there's something to be said for Berg's argument.

Photo by dlofink via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution Generic 2.0 License

Tweed Ride Gallery.  400 Block I Street, NW.  Nov. 13th.  © 2011 Matt Dunn

One more for the annals of  D.C.'s ongoing car culture versus bike culture conflict.

At 2 a.m. last Friday, cyclist Ian Barry tried to fight back. Standing at 6'1", he was bigger than the guy trying to put him down on the 1800 block of Adams Mill Road NW. But Barry was also looking at some disadvantages. First, he was wearing road racing shoes, which, Barry says, "is like running on ice." Second, he'd just been hit by a 2011 red Camaro, he says.

As he squared up with his opponent, in a nearby alley, he could see his buddy, Saul Leiken, taking a beating. He saw attackers let go a flurry of punches and kicks that would leave Leiken with a concussion.

Just moments before, as Barry, on a fixie, and Leiken, on a Surly Travelers Check, biked toward Leiken's home in Mt. Pleasant after visiting some friends, everything had been fine.Barry had decided to crash at Leiken's place. Leiken said it was okay, but also came up with the perfect way to top the night off: taquitos from a 7-Eleven on Columbia Road NW. Thinking about the small, stuffed corn tortilla rolls that churn endlessly on the store's rolling grills got the two excited. They were talking over the merits of the delicacy when the Camaro screeched in, going for a "curb cut" that led to an alley.

Both Barry and Leiken are avid cyclists who work at City Bikes and have been in car versus bike conflicts before. Many started the way this one did: with a car cutting across a bike lane for some reason. Though the city has been installing bike lanes to make things easier on both cyclist and drivers, it's well-known that the narrow lanes have become battle zones. ”The drivers always want to say that it's the bikers fault," says Leiken. Leiken thinks Adams Morgan cyclists have a particularly hard time because of narrow streets.

The sports car made a left turn, theoretically heading for an alley. ”It him head on," says Leiken, who was stunned as he watched his friend crash onto the car's windshield. Those inside the vehicle were shocked, too. From inside the shiny car, Leiken remembers hearing panicked voices: "Oh my God, oh my God, you hit someone!"

Maybe it's because he's used to toughing things out in the rugby matches he's addicted to, but in a moment, Barry was both on his feet, and pissed off.

At first, the driver and four passengers refused to get out of the car. Barry insisted they had to because he needed their information. "He was yelling, so they might have felt threatened," Leiken says. When the all-male group (dressed "club-casual," Barry says) finally emerged from the vehicle, they told him to "get out of their face," Barry remembers.

Then the guys jumped on Barry. Leiken called the cops on his cell phone, but when the guys from the Camaro noticed him trying to read the car's tag number, they were on him, too. The battle took a turn when a bystander came to their rescue. Pointing what the cyclists later discovered was a fake taser, the bystander chased the Camaro guys away.

The cops have been looking for the assailants, and have a lead, so there could be an arrest any day.

Leiken seems scarred by the whole ordeal: "I have yet to ride my bike at night again," he says. "I'm a little afraid of doing so."

Photo of Saul Leiken by Charlie McCormick

Insult to Injury: Riding a bike around D.C. often feels like taking your life into your hands. And with good reason; drivers are constantly standing by, ready to run you over at any minute! That's bad enough, but one cyclist who got hit by a taxi last month was also given a traffic ticket for his troubles. Maybe he should have just taken Metro, where at least they don't charge you with violating the law when they run you down. -3

One Million Travelers: People in the region have so much to be thankful for next Thursday that many of them will be departing, en masse. That's the prediction from the American Automobile Association, which says—rather specifically—that 1,036,600 Washingtonians will travel 50 miles or more to celebrate Thanksgiving. 95 percent of travelers will drive. Remember, don't eat tryptophan-laden turkey and then get behind the wheel! +2

José Andrés, National Treasure (of España): Last summer, after the late, lamented Paul the Octopus correctly predicted Spain's World Cup victory over the Netherlands, octopus was pulled from the menu at Jaleo and all of José Andrés' restaurants. That display of culinary/sporting patriotism may have something to do with why the Spanish government is honoring the D.C.-based chef with its Order of Arts and Letters. With other restaurants focusing on Mexican, Middle Eastern, and Latin American cuisine, Andrés could be collecting prizes for years to come. +1

Help Metro Fight Congress: With the national debt soaring, apparently every little dollar helps. So Congress recently cut back on the cash employees could hold back from their paychecks, pre-tax, to pay for Metro rides, from $230 a month to $120. Now Metro is trying to fight back, urging riders to contact their elected representatives to ask them to help save transit benefits. We'll do just that; surely, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton would vote to restore the funding. Wait, what? Oh. Never mind. +1

Yesterday's Needle rating: 43 Today's score: +1 Friday bonus: +2 Today's Needle rating: 46

Tweed Ride, Nov. 14th. © 2010 Matt Dunn

Police reportedly found Baker N. Everton yelling on a Petworth sidewalk on January 12, 2007. He was slurring his words and could "hardly stand," according to court papers. Then he went to his bike:

"The officers asked appellant to quiet down and move on, and told him not to ride his bicycle because he was so intoxicated. Appellant, however, proceeded to ride his bicycle. Officer Mahl repeated his warning not to ride the bicycle, but appellant rode away. As he crossed Otis Place, appellant almost hit a small child who was in the crosswalk. Appellant then lost control of the bicycle and fell on the ground."

Everton was allegedly trashed enough to nearly hit a kid, which earned him a DUI citation. However, his lawyer argued that since a bike isn't a car, he didn't deserve the DUI.

The Court of Appeals disagreed, basing its opinion on 1925's Traffic Act. The Act defines a vehicle as anything that can be moved over a highway, so Everton was out of luck.

Also in trouble: drunk farmers in town for a good time. The Traffic Act includes "draft animals" and "beasts of burden" as vehicles, too.

UPDATE 11:54 Three eyewitnesses tell me the cyclist was struck by a news van. I'm waiting for confirmation from the station they told me the van belonged to. One guy said the cyclist wasn't wearing a helmet and ran a red light. He said there was a lot of blood.

Nope, it just might have been cruising through the Third Street Tunnel on his bike.

Now, LL is aware that said tunnel was the site of much misery on Tuesday, as a holding pen for holders of inaugural tickets denied access to the Capitol grounds (cf. "Purple Tunnel of Doom"). He means not to make light of their suffering.

It's just that it's not every day that you get to ride your bike through an underground interstate highway artery and take advantage of a fabulous shortcut across the Mall. LL was prepared to bike as far east as 4th Street NE to get around to the south side of the Hill, where he was supposed to gain access to the ceremony, but he decided to give the tunnel a shot when he passed the Massachusetts Avenue ramp. It cut a good 10 or 15 minutes off his commute.

At the time LL came through, around 8:15 a.m., the lines up to the purple/blue entrances were still rather orderly, and he was able to zip right through. If only he had a video camera to remember the moment...but blogger Nikolas Schiller did! Experience the thrill:

Read Scott Martin says he never left his bike—a silver Specialized Rockhopper he bought used– untended or unlocked until, one afternoon, he did. Stopping off at a friend's Capitol Hill office building for a quick chat, Martin left his bike outside, behind a wrought iron gate and leaned into the storefront's doorway. The bike was in full view of the office's bay window, so he figured it was safe.

Loquacious in a Harvard-math-professor kind of way, the sandy-haired 43-year-old was unlikely to keep his tète-à-tète brief.

After talking over a "business matter" for about 30 minutes, Martin left the office, planning to hop on his mountain bike and pedal four blocks to his house on A Street NE. Not a chance. The bike had vanished.

Despite feeling "dumb" for neglecting to use his U-lock (it was attached to the bike, so the thief got that too) the marketing consultant called 911. "A squad car was there in 10 minutes," Martin says. "The thing that stood out was the officer was very familiar with the problem."

The other thing that stood out for Martin was that the cop didn't blame or criticize him. "I kept waiting for her to roll her eyes and say 'You stupid turkey,’...she didn't." In fact, she did the opposite, assuring him it wasn't his fault.

Though District cyclists might think a dude like Martin, naive enough to leave his bike unprotected while he runs an errand, got what he deserved, Sgt. Christopher Micciche of the D.C. Police Department’s Crime Reduction Team doesn't see it that way: "If you leave your car unlocked while you pump your gas, you probably do not want someone coming along and stealing your laptop out the passenger side door. And if you run into 7-11, it would be nice if you didn't have to worry about someone coming along and riding off on your bike."

That's one of the reasons he and the CRT plant bait bikes on D.C. streets. Micciche explains in an e-mail that the unlocked, decoy bikes are leaned "in a plausible location, such as in front of an occupied home, or on the porch, or outside of a business establishment-where one might likely find that an individual left their bike to transact their business momentarily."

When a bike hustler tries to wheel away the bait, the officers swarm.

The stings have produced 13 arrests so far, and have yielded some odd moments: Micciche remembers how two bike thieves were warned by officers to not take the bike, but then moments later "did so anyway" and how another "waited until his Metro bus arrived, then hustled over and grabbed the bike, placing it into the bus bike rack and boarding the bus."

He also remembers how most of the perps saw nothing wrong with what they did.  Almost every person who stole a bike “could not understand the concept of not taking property that didn't belong to them," Micciche says.

Some consider it their occupation.

An admitted bike thief, who would not allow his name to be printed, is likely the guy who stole Read’s bike for two reasons: He operates exclusively in Capitol Hill and Georgetown and his favorite  boost is an unlocked bike. "If a bike is unlocked," he says, "how's that stealing? It can't be stealing–you just found a bike."

The thief, a middle-aged guy built like an ex-athlete, stakes out a dimly-lit spot on a curb. This is where people can find him if they’re in the market for a stolen bike. Some he’s sold over the three or four years he’s been at this retail for thousands, but the thief has never let a hot cycle go for more than $75, he says.

He's never been yelled at or chased, much less arrested by the police. Really, he says, he’s providing a service: When he takes someone's wheels, it encourages people he robs to register their bikes next time.

Recently, my brother started commuting by bike to and from his job in Chicago. I love my brother, but his commitment to half-assedness is breathtaking—rather than buy a helmet, he made do with his 10-year-old son's skateboarding helmet, which he perched on top of his head Chilly Willy–style, and instead of lights he had...nothing but optimism bias. It made choosing his birthday present pretty easy.

All this is by way of saying however you feel about bike helmets, it's considerably harder to argue that bike lights are not a good idea, especially as the days grow shorter. And today at 4:30, if you trot your lightless bike over, you can get lights for free at the plaza in front of the SunTrust on 18th Street and Columbia Road NW and at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church at 16th Street and Park Road NW. The giveaways are organized by WABA, which will also hold another such event a week from today at Cora Kelly Elementary School in Alexandria.

(Hat tip: TheWashCycle)

(Oh heck, DCist had this way before me, too. I am crap at service journalism. Get some lights anyway.)

Photo by adamscarroll