Should Cyclists Be Able To Run Red Lights and Stop Signs?

I don't stop at stop signs on my bike.  I ride up to them, slow down, look both ways to make sure nobody's coming, then I hit the gas.  Sometimes there are cars coming and I time it from a few hundred feet out so that I can blast the intersection before or after or between them.  Sometimes I slow down and track stand when there's a line, and wait my turn - but I'll be damned if I put my foot down.  At night when I can see the cars by thier headlights, I don't slow down at all.  I ride full speed at the intersection on the left side of the road, then I cut sharply right going in so that if there IS a car coming, I can swerve right onto the street I'm crossing.  Then I lean hard left and S-curve my way through the intersection, laughing at the night and trying not to lean so far that I clip my pedal on the street on my foxed gear.

I know I'm an asshole.  I'm not helping "the cause" by pissing off drivers and endangering myself.  But I just don;t see why I should stop.  Nobody stops on a bike.  I have perfect 360-degree visibility.  I'm incredibly maneuverable.  I don't move as fast as cars.  And, most importantly, if I fuck up, I can't kill anyone but myself.  Honestly, it seems like cyclists should have some special legal distinction from cars that allows them to run stop signs as long as they slow down and look both ways first.

As it turns out, just such a law does exist - in Idaho.  Title 49-720, section 1, of the Idaho code states that a cyclist approaching a stop sign must slow down and yield the right of way to any traffic.  But, in the event that a road is clear, the cyclist "may cautiously make a turn or proceed through the intersection without stopping."  And it goes further in section 2 to add that a cyclist, after stopping at a red light and yielding the right of way to any traffic, "may proceed through the steady red light with caution."

So cyclists can run stop signs - as long as they're careful.  And they can even run red lights as long as the coast is clear.  Fantastic!  It seemed like a no-brainer.  But, I was to later find out, maybe there's a reason for all these lame-ass laws in every other state.

Wld u cntnue rdg?