spokewrench
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
As a juvenile I stopped at stop signs. When i got into e-bikes, I noticed how slow and cumbersome it is. This was particularly true for my first two e-bikes. They were single speed, and for safety, their controllers provided little torque from a stop. It was not only inconvenient but dangerous because getting underway slowly left me vulnerable if a speeding motor vehicle came along. I began treating stop signs as yield signs. As in stopping, my rule is to look twice each way. Visual obstructions at some intersections require me to come very close to a stop to have time for two looks each way.
Now I find that this has been legal in Idaho since 1982. There, a traffic offense was a crime, and all those scofflaw bicyclists were clogging the courts. The bill also called for bicyclists to take a safety course. That provision was dropped because making the law more reasonable made riders more responsible. Injuries dropped 14%.
It wasn't until 2017, 35 years later, that another state, Delaware, tried it. State police found that in the 30 months after the law was passed, bicycle injuries at stop signs were 24% lower than in the 30 months before. Since 2019, 10 more states and DC have made Idaho stops legal.
In 2022, the acting administrator of NHTSA said rolling stops were safer because a bicyclist in motion was easier for a motorist to spot. In 2023, they published a fact sheet saying rolling stops by bicyclists would improve safety and traffic flow.
Enforcement around here is strict. The town maintenance crew are always pulling me over and accusing me. I have to explain that if they'd been paying attention, they would have seen the stop sign turn green for half a second as I passed. The black device clamped to my handlebar is a light, but I tell them it's a transmitter for first responders like me. I tell them it emits a pulse that turns a stop sign into a go sign. They've never issued me a citation.
A Chicago study said stopping a bicyclist for rolling through a stop sign is discriminatory because everybody does it. Last summer, I was the victim of similar discrimination at the municipal pool. As I climbed out, a lifeguard was standing over the ladder.
"Sir, I must ask you to leave."
"Why?"
"For peeing in the pool."
"Well, everybody pees in the pool..."
"Not off the high diving board!"
Now I find that this has been legal in Idaho since 1982. There, a traffic offense was a crime, and all those scofflaw bicyclists were clogging the courts. The bill also called for bicyclists to take a safety course. That provision was dropped because making the law more reasonable made riders more responsible. Injuries dropped 14%.
It wasn't until 2017, 35 years later, that another state, Delaware, tried it. State police found that in the 30 months after the law was passed, bicycle injuries at stop signs were 24% lower than in the 30 months before. Since 2019, 10 more states and DC have made Idaho stops legal.
In 2022, the acting administrator of NHTSA said rolling stops were safer because a bicyclist in motion was easier for a motorist to spot. In 2023, they published a fact sheet saying rolling stops by bicyclists would improve safety and traffic flow.
Enforcement around here is strict. The town maintenance crew are always pulling me over and accusing me. I have to explain that if they'd been paying attention, they would have seen the stop sign turn green for half a second as I passed. The black device clamped to my handlebar is a light, but I tell them it's a transmitter for first responders like me. I tell them it emits a pulse that turns a stop sign into a go sign. They've never issued me a citation.
A Chicago study said stopping a bicyclist for rolling through a stop sign is discriminatory because everybody does it. Last summer, I was the victim of similar discrimination at the municipal pool. As I climbed out, a lifeguard was standing over the ladder.
"Sir, I must ask you to leave."
"Why?"
"For peeing in the pool."
"Well, everybody pees in the pool..."
"Not off the high diving board!"
