Imagine living in a place where you're not breaking the law by rolling through an intersection without coming to a complete halt at a stop sign.
Residents in Idaho don't have to imagine it. They live in a state where lawmakers decriminalized stop sign-running 27 years ago. Now legislators in Montana will consider passing a similar law, and bike advocates in Oregon are pushing for a similar bill.
Bill Schneider at New West magazine reports that Robin Hamilton (D-Missoula) has proposed such a law. Schneider lays out the language here:
“A person operating a bicycle approaching a stop sign shall slow down and, if required for safety, stop before entering the intersection. After slowing to a reasonable speed or stopping, the person shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching another highway close enough to constitute an immediate hazard. After slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way, a person operating a bicycle may proceed through he intersection without stopping.”
Basically that legalizes what most of us do everyday — roll through stop signs when no one is in the intersection. But in places like Mercer Island, Washington, above, that will earn you a traffic ticket.
Idaho laws
The bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for Idaho, Mark McNeese, says there's been no increase in bicycle-related accidents since the measure became law in 1982 and Idaho doesn't have a higher rate of bicycle accidents.
Here's the Idaho law regarding bicycles and stop signs:
(1) A person operating abicycle or human-powered vehicle approaching a stop sign shall slow down and, if required for safety, stop before entering the intersection. After slowing to a reasonable speed or stopping, the person shall yield the right-of-way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another highway so closely as to constitute an immediate hazard during the time the person is moving across or within the intersection or junction of highways, except that a person after slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way if required, may cautiously make a turn or proceed through the intersectionwithout stopping.
But it doesn't stop there. A few years ago it amended the statute to allow bicyclists to ride through a red light, after stopping:
(2) A person operating a bicycle or human-powered vehicle approaching a steady red traffic control light shall stop before entering the intersection and shall yield to all other traffic. Once the person has yielded, he may proceed through the steady red light with caution. Provided however, that a person after slowing to a reasonable speed and yielding the right-of-way if required, may cautiously make a right-hand turn. A left-hand turn onto a one-way highway may be made on a red light after stopping and yielding to other traffic.
Oregon
Bob Mionske, and legal editor at VeloNews and practicing attorney in Portland, reported in “Legally Speaking” on Thursday that Bicycle Transportation Alliance was going to push for an Idaho-style stop-sign as yield law for Oregon. More about their efforts at the BTA blog.
Mionske points out that the proposal might face an uphill battle, as it doesn't even have unanimous support among bicyclists.
Missoula
Schneider writes that California and Virginia are studying similar stop-sign laws.
The reasoning for changing the law is that it makes sidestreets more attractive to bicyclists than the high-traffic main thoroughfares. Those sidestreets commonly have more stop signs, requiring bicyclists to clip out and stop every block. If bicyclists can make good time on the sidestreets, maybe they'll stay off the busy streets.
If it passes, it will be good news for more than Montana bicyclists. Missoula is the home of Adventure Cycling Association, and hundreds of cyclo-tourists make their way through their every year on the cross-country trips.
Imagine if those travelers don't have to stop and start their loaded rigs at every intersection.
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