Why do any of us obey the law? 1) Fear of punishment — the lowest rung of moral reasoning, on which the state heavily relies.  Few people pay taxes purely from civic fervour to do their part. 2) Belief that the law is sound. 3) Conviction that any law, in and of itself, is sacrosanct. Thus we obey the law purely because it is the law, end of discussion.

I'd venture that the British (or at least the English) are constitutionally inclined to revere the law for its own sake. The culture is rectitudinous. But me, I have an anti-authoritarian streak a mile wide, and I can't think of a single law I've obeyed in my life just because it's the law. I know too much about politics to regard the state with awe.  Oh, I'm as fearful as the next person, and if there's a cop car purring alongside, I'll sit dullwittedly at that deserted intersection for minutes waiting for a green light. But the vast majority of the laws I adhere to faithfully are those I feel are rational and right.

Randy Cohen's op-ed was titled "If Kant were a New York cyclist". Immanuel Kant's "categorical imperative" loosely equates to the golden rule — the test of ethical behaviour being, "What if everybody did that?"  

Yet resultant aphorisms like "honesty is the best policy" can prove problematic.  Does that mean when your aunt wants to know if you like her new dress you have to tell her it's ugly? On the contrary, categorical imperatives can be refined into more specific guidelines. Hence, "If honesty merely serves your vanity about how honest you are and is hurtful besides, keep your trap shut" is a viable rule of thumb.

Accordingly, the categorical imperative "Cyclists should stop at red lights" sure beats "Ignoring all traffic laws, cyclists should endanger and inconvenience all and sundry in order to get to whatever incredibly important place they're headed as fast as possible." But let's refine that first version.  "Cyclists who are violating no one else's right of way should be able to slip through red lights without everyone having kittens" is a viable rule of thumb.

That's why my more specific imperative actually is the law in Scandinavia, France and even Germany, where cyclists are often allowed to treat red lights as mere stop signs. This prevents one of the great recent hazards of London traffic: the build-up of cyclist swarms that glut at lights. In other words, if everybody cycled like Randy and me, we'd all be fine. If you object with knee-jerk vehemence, "But that's not the law here!" you're reasoning that the-law-is-the-law-is-the-law, and you're probably British.