Idaho stop coming to Oregon
 

We hope...

https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting...33vdof8TJCzUpk

Idaho stop hell. This is well know all over the world and in most parts of the universe as the Pittsburgh stop.


On its fase, the law makes a lot of sense. But it is really far too ambiguous.

The Idaho Stop, as explained by an Idaho bicycle mounted patrol officer.

Saves some debating over what the Idaho Stop is and isn't.

I usually roll through stops as I can and when safe to do so. I get yelled at by people (usually pick up trucks?). These are folks going the same or opposite direction as me , not cross traffic folks. I don't understand why it is a problems long as you yield to those that have right of way. I sense a growing animosity towards cyclists around here in Southern California since the "share the road" laws came into affect a couple of years ago. I try to stay as far to the right as safe when riding , but still get the occasional horn honking finger waving from those that don't/won't understand the cycling laws. Part of the problem is law enforcement, twice in the last year I have been cut off and brushed by police cars while in bike paths. Joe

"sidewalks roll up at night" and traffic drops off a lot, here.. (I actually live in Oregon)

Motorists in Georgia have adopted the Idaho Stop as default behavior - rolling through stop signs, blowing through right on red light without even slowing down, etc.

Police don't enforce and I've been yelled at by other motorists when I come to a complete stop for right on red in my car.

I have no problem rolling a stop sign or treating a red light like a stop sign on my bicycle when it makes sense. My conscience is clean.

Sometimes it is safer than waiting because one can clear the intersection and be down the road before the motor vehicles all enter the intersection.


-Tim-

Legislating reality.

Every time a motorist complains to me about bicycles not coming to a full stop at stop signs I offer to meet them at a 4-way stop intersection of their choosing. I offer to give them a dollar for every car that makes a full stop if they'll give me a dollar for every car that doesn't. Nobody has ever wanted to take me up on that offer.

I guess those must be parts of the universe that are beyond the reach of Google.

No more ambiguous than a yield sign- do you have trouble with those?

Never heard of a Pittsburgh stop... Google tells me it is a UofPit merch store. Maybe I live in a different universe than you?

Are you aware that a law allowing bikes to treat stop signs as yield signs, and treat red lights as stop signs, has been on the books in Idaho for years?

Lol, I thought this was going to be a rant against tourism .... "Stay in Idaho, stay out of Oregon!"

Exactly this. An intersection is a choke-point, the last place you want to add a bike to the equation .... everyone is impatient to go, all the lanes are full of traffic, and you add a bike to that mix? Bad recipe. let them catch me a quarter-mile down the road when traffic is dispersed.

Bingo, same here. Can't say I approve of group rides who blow through at 20MPH, but the folks that tap their brakes, pick their heads up, look to see it is clear, and go make all the sense in the world.

When I stop to think (seldom) it seems that the faster I get through the intersection, the less I am holding anyone else up. People driving BMWs and old Lexuses don't seem to share this logic.

I live in California and treat some stop signs as yield signs. I stop at all lights. There is a light were I make a left turn that recently stopped detecting me. I still make a stop but go ahead when it is clear. I have never been ticketed on a bicycle.

I actually got pulled over once for doing just that after waiting for the damn light to change , I went ahead and turned when it was clear. I did not get a ticket but a lecture . It was recommended that I get off my bike and use a crosswalk to cross the road! I told the officer to take a cycling class at Ventura College where I took cycling in the seventies, before recommending bad behavior to cyclists. He was not happy with me , but no ticket. Joe

Ame here. My maneuver was perfectly safe. I was basically in the shoulder. Some detective felt the need to pull me over.

My little brother was summoned to court for 23 unpaid tickets he received while riding to work. He was a minor at the time. So dad me and his boss went with him. The judge called my brother up. The judge took a double take of the info scratched his head and said were the hell is the deputy. The judge asked my brother how and why he ran the same light 23 times at the same time every evening. My brother replied I stop at that light on the way to work but it never turns green and I need to get to work. The judge dismissed the tickets.

Was it a red light camera?


-Tim-

In 1978?

You must not live near the beach in CA. Two unrelated instances but I’ve been pulled over and warned once and also received a ticket for rolling a stop sign—even after slowing down.

I may be crazy but I am not stupid. When I treat a stop sign like a yield sign there is absolutely no traffic, this includes patrol cars.

Your story didn't mention the year and so the question was legit. There really isn't a need for an attitude.

Anyway, it was a good story. I enjoyed it.


-Tim-

No offense but not wanting to add your bike to the equation is probably not a good thing overall. If you are riding on the road you are most definitely part of the equation and should act accordingly imo.
But I agree that rolling through most stops and certain red lights is quite often the best move.

Sometimes in our eagerness to find fault, we overlook common sense.

Obviously so long as I am on my bike on the road I am part of traffic. I am part of traffic even if I am on my street, a dead end, and there are no moving cars within a mile. But that's not the same as me being on my bike at the major intersection three miles from my house where a road with two turn lanes crosses a two-lane road with two turn lanes at a light. if I am at that intersection, a busy intersection, and as is often the case, there are several cars in each lane waiting to go and a steady stream of cars crossing in two lanes and using the right turn-lane and waiting on the left, in each direction ......

Perhaps you can understand the total equation of vehicles on the road, which actually includes every connected road, path, or trail on the entire two continents, and the more localized equation of the total number of cars which are impacted by my immediate presence and are immediately able to impact me.

Clearer, I hope.

I am still working on the attitude thing and I am over 60.