The thing is, how many people die from it isn't the point. I think what pisses me off about it when I'm a driver is that it takes the piss of the rules of the road. The same ones that would probably have the same cyclist screaming for a car not obeying them!
Yep. What ultimately makes me not jump red lights is not that I think it's dangerous, or even that I think it makes drivers treat cyclists worse (I think it gives them an excuse to shout, but I think if we all obeyed lights they'd drive the same and shout something different).
It's not even "respect for the law", since there are plenty of laws I break every day (can't remember the last time I went out of the right filter lane, over to the left gutter, up the inside of left turning traffic to use the ASL "lane", then cut back across three lanes to get to the right filter position again!)
It's more that you can't complain about people breaking a law that you break yourself. I expect motorists not to jump reds, so I don't jump them on my bike. It's a bit like, when going down a residential street with cars parked on both sides, I expect oncoming cars to stop in a gap if the obstruction is on their side. So, when the obstruction is on my side I don't squeeze through, even though I could.
