Agree with all the above except the red light camera thing. Running red lights has a non-zero risk of killing someone and while I can construct a scenario where my bad parking kills someone, its pretty unlikely.
http://www.motorists.org/red-light-cameras/yellow-lights
This in turn has actually increased accidents. http://www.motorists.org/red-light-cameras/studies
(i'm citing this mainly for the links, they are clearly a biased site).
They also found that accidents were increased.
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Feb/01/san-diego-red-lig...
Most of the folks getting red light tickets are getting them from rolling forwards at 1mph while they look for oncoming traffic, though.
TL;DR - One particular city stopped issuing violations when the camera caught someone turning right on red with a 'rolling stop' because those don't really affect accident rate, revenue drops by 90%, the maker of the cameras sues the city. In other words, abject evidence that the makers and marketers of these cameras only care about revenue.
Maybe cyclists should just be allowed to proceed through a red light since they are unlikely to hurt anyone besides themselves... But the rule does kinda make sense. If there are lights that rely on car sensors then obviously fixing that would be the right thing to do regardless of the law.
I have a similar problem on my motorcycle. There are many lights which are not triggered by my being there. But the camera's always know. I wish they used the same loop / detector!
"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a driver of a motorcycle or moped or a bicycle rider approaches an intersection that is controlled by a traffic light, the driver or rider may proceed through the intersection on a steady red light only if the driver or rider (i) comes to a full and complete stop at the intersection for two complete cycles of the traffic light or for two minutes, whichever is shorter, (ii) exercises due care as provided by law, (iii) otherwise treats the traffic control device as a stop sign, (iv) determines that it is safe to proceed, and (v) yields the right of way to the driver of any vehicle approaching on such other highway from either direction. "
Not only does it create the incentive to shorten the red light, it's practically the only way to make them profitable for cities in many places.
In Northern VA they increased the yellow light time on intersections with red light cameras specifically because they only want to catch "genuine" red light runners.
This will go far more towards curtailing people running red lights than the existing "pay $100 and go consequence-free" system.
If red light cameras were there for safety, they would ding your driving record, not just be monetary fines.
In lots of countries, they do.