A few of our state legislatures(California, Oregon, Montana and DC) are considering passing bills that would allow the Idaho stop to become legal for cyclists. This would mean that while cycling, you could yield at a stop sign and stop at red lights as though they were stop signs.
I road bike frequently in the dryer months, mostly for pleasure and exercise, but also as a form of transportation because it sure beats the heck out of driving and sometimes it’s quicker. This change would greatly benefit people like myself in many places, should they choose to exercise this right responsibly. I don’t believe it would be a catalyst for accidents, but on the contrary, that it would make roads safer since it would increase awareness and expedite the time a cyclist would spend in intersections, the most common place for bike-to-car crashes. Your thoughts?
They don’t need to pass a bill; bicyclists already ignore stop signs and cruise through red lights. But it would be nice if they would pass the bill, then more riders would not be doing wrong.
But it would be nice for someone like me who, when on my bike, for the most part acts like a motor vehicle on the road when it comes to stop signals.
One thing I try to keep in mind is this: if there were two people riding just like me and they came to an intersection, would they crash? You will never have a crash if you are the only one coasting through stop signs. But if there are two, well, that’s a different story.
I’ve done the STP (200 ride Seattle to Portland) four times since '94 and have ridden 1,000’s of miles of both street and multi-use trials. I don’t think any cyclist should ever just blow through any stop sign or red light at speed.
However, I also believe it’s plain silly to ticket a cyclist just because the didn’t come to a complete stop at a stop sign or had to go against a red light because the &^@&* light wouldn’t change for them.
I’m all for slowing and treating a stop sign as yield sign, and stopping then proceeding with caution at a red light.
It sounds like the legislation allows cyclists to treat Stop signs like Yield signs. That would mean not just blowing through. And they would still be required to stop at red lights.
Agree. In fact, I’ve never seen it happen though I’ve heard of people who have been ticketed for this. I imagine the purpose of this legislation would be to stop those relatively frivolous tickets (unless rider interfered with traffic or was otherwise unsafe). Otherwise, cyclists would probably continue to ride exactly as they do now. Mostly without an understanding of how traffic law applies to them.
For any legal matters of cycling on roads, the best “cure” for problems is education. But it’s not easy to do cheaply, so it usually gets little attention. I try to educate the cyclists around me on how to ride safely, which mostly means how to not get killed by inattentive motorists. I don’t stop at stop signs when there’s nobody there. And often, when there is somebody there, they forget the “pecking order” and wait for me to cross even when I’m waiting for them. So that’s when the common-sense rules of the road come into play; eye contact and hand signals.
There was a busy 4-way stop sign I had to pass through on my old commute to work. There was usually a fairly steady stream of cars in all directions, so it was necessary to pay careful attention to everybody. Usually my preferred method of going through was to try to be at the back corner of a car just as it started through the intersection. That would open a hole so I could roll through with it. But I’d often have to hang back from the crosswalk while waiting, or random cars would stop and wait for me, which held everybody up…
It’s hard to know what to do when you come to a red light and your not sure if it is going to change for you, especially early in the morning when there are no cars out. In such situations, I resort to the sidewalk.
Yeah, I get that all the time, so I normally turn into a traffic director. We have an abundance of 4-way stops in our area, so I’ve got experience. I’ve come to realize that most people want me to go before them, so I readily comply. But eye contact is critical. You don’t want to end up on somebody’s hood.
That’s what I like to do. But one time while going through a traffic light, a guy beeped at me and applied heavily the brakes because he must have thought that I was tailgating him. It was kind of humorous because I just went around him and sped down the road.
Are you guys saying that at a 4 way stop if a bike comes to the intersection before a car the car still goes first? Does that mean the bike never has the right of way and should dismount and become a pedestrian to cross an intersection with a 4 way stop? That does not seem right at all. I will have to look into it but I don’t think that is the case here. Whether on bike or uni I act like I am a car that happens to be able to fit in an imaginary lane beside the other cars. I have never had a car not wait for me when it was my turn to go.
The link is not working for me right now but I think I understood the red light rule differently than you guys. To me it looked like you would not be able to go through a red, just turn right (or left onto a one-way) after stopping like any other vehicle on the road, or do you guys not turn right on reds in the states? So stop = yield but red light still = red light.
According to the Idaho Stop Law, I think that the car would go first, but the bicyclist would not have to come to a complete stop before he proceeded through the intersection. He just would have to yield.
Same here, except for left turns.
Same here, but they sometimes wait for me when it is their turn. I don’t like that.
I think we were both saying cars had a tendency to not go when it was their turn, which ups the danger level when there are other cars waiting.
There is only one way to have the right of way, and that’s when it is given. Laws only speak to when you give the right of way. To assume you have it is dangerous.
In answer to your question, bikes at stop signs are (generally) supposed to behave the same as cars. But it ends about there. Cars do not necessarily behave the same toward bikes to begin with, so caution, eye contact and hand signals are the rule.
I have, but usually because they weren’t paying attention. Mostly they wait too much.
Thanks for clearing that up. I am surprised that people are waiting too much. I thought that amarican drivers were known to be impatient. I have had people wait when they should have gone too. I wave them through the intersection before going myself.
Im sure ive said this before on the forums somewhere, but I just sit there until they finally go. On my bike I usually pull out my phone or mp3 player and just mess with it and respond to messages until the guy with the right away finally realises that he goes first.
That’s because there usually aren’t enough bikes, or cars, around to even worry about. Right? Or do you live in a big Montanan metropolis like Butte, or something?
