When you first hear the proposal to let motorcycles but not cars sometimes ignore red lights, it seems like a really bad idea. But there's a reasonable rationale being offered:
A lawmaker who’s a motorcycle enthusiast wants to give motorcyclists the right to go through red lights after stopping at Indiana intersections in some situations.
Rep. Tim Brown, R-Crawfordsville, said he’s co-sponsoring the bill because many stoplights are magnetically triggered and motorcycles sometimes don’t trigger them, leaving motorcyclists held captive.
“And you sit there, and you sit there and you sit there. And if you obey the law you’ll never be able to move until ... a car comes up behind you,” said Brown, who’s a physician and a motorcycle rider.
[. . .]
Under the bill, motorcyclists could proceed through a red light if they come to a complete stop for two minutes and make sure it is safe to proceed, essentially treating the red light as if it were a stop sign.
I've noticed some lights aren't always triggered by a car either, if it's the only one there -- this seems to happen to me most often when I'm turing left onto Bluffton Road from Baer Field Thruway. About every other time, I have to sit there and wait for another car to come up behind me and trigger the left-turn arrow. So, how about letting car drivers also make use of the two-minute rule? I think we're at least as capable as motorcycle riders of following stop-sign protocal.
