idiotekniQues

Cyclists don?t follow the rules of the road? Maybe it?s time to change those rules - LA Times

"Like many bicycle commuters across America, Kurt Holzer looks at a stop sign and sees a suggestion rather than a command. If the intersection is clear and it’s safe to do so, he rolls right through, sometimes barely slowing down. This makes his commute just a little easier — because coming to a complete stop at intersection after intersection is a momentum killer.

In most places — including Los Angeles — Holzer’s behavior would earn him a ticket (assuming he was caught). But he lives in Boise, a city whose roads are governed by a statute known as the “Idaho stop” law. It dates back to 1982, when an Idaho magistrate judge grew weary of trivial traffic violations clogging his courtroom, and ordered a change to traffic laws that allowed cyclists to treat stop signs as yields.

A personal-injury lawyer specializing in traffic cases, Holzer recently blogged about the law, writing that in his 20 years on the job he has “never seen a car versus bike collision or a bike versus pedestrian collision that was attributable to road users following the stop-as-yield statute.”

There’s a lesson here for Los Angeles, where it seems as though motorists greet every proposal to accommodate bikes with shouts that cyclists don’t deserve anything because they don’t follow the rules of the road.

It’s true that Los Angeles is finally taking its first serious steps toward making the city more bike-friendly. But the focus is on building bike-dedicated infrastructure, which can be slow and expensive to build.

The Idaho stop law shows there are other ways for municipalities to encourage cycling while their infrastructure catches up. Cities around the world are demonstrating that simply changing the rules in favor of cyclists can make roads more welcoming.

Paris, for example, recently took the Idaho stop law even further, allowing cyclists to treat some red lights as yields. The law not only gives cyclists a leg up on cars, but sanctions behavior cyclists already employ to efficiently navigate the city.

In the Canadian province of Quebec, certain jurisdictions may loosen requirements for cyclists to always stay to the right, allowing them to ride in the middle on some roads. Officials are also debating whether to allow cyclists to split the right-hand lane to pass cars stopped in traffic, a practice that already happens every day.

Making streets more welcoming for people on bikes isn’t just a matter of easing restrictions on cyclists. After decades of car dominance, some cities are effectively cracking down on motorists, adopting rules to create a better balance of power between motor vehicles and bicycles.

Quebec recently increased fines for motorists who open their doors into passing cyclists. Laws requiring motorists to keep a minimum distance from cyclists while passing are now commonplace, including in California, and are starting to be enforced more consistently.


Some European countries, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, have restructured their liability laws to hold motorists responsible in most collisions with cyclists. The law places responsibility for safety on the more dangerous road user.

Such laws may seem politically unfeasible in a jurisdiction such as L.A. — and across California — where an abstract notion of equity between cyclists and motorists, rather than public safety, seems to guide the debate over road usage. Indeed, San Francisco’s mayor last year vetoed the adoption of the Idaho stop law because he said it “does not promote balanced public safety for all the diverse users of our streets.”

Yet streets are already governed by different rules for different users, such as laws that require slower speed limits for big trucks, or that mandate school buses to stop at uncontrolled railway crossings. Rather than demonize cyclists for their inability to conform to rules designed for cars, laws should recognize that riding a bike is different than driving.

Legislative changes to accommodate cycling often legalize practices that already exist. Beyond that, they enshrine into the rules of the road the growing understanding of the benefits that cycling brings to our city streets."

making

I go through every intersection as safely as possibly. There is a very busy intersection on my commute. Often there is absolutely no cars either way because of lights the next block over, but when those lights a block in either direction change, there are cars everywhere. If I am sitting at a red and there is no cars as far as I can see I go. If I wait for green there will be cars everywhere. I do stop at stop signs and wait my turn if cars are there, but if not I slow and go. No tickets yet.

idiotekniQues

Repost

SquidPuppet

And that Judges name? Carl BIANCHI.

MuddyBikeRider

Here you'll get a ticket if you don't stop at the stop sign. I was in a big "bike safety" charity event ride last year and I would say about 95% of the people blew through stop signs, red lights, and even crossed the yellow line. People where almost getting smashed at every turn.

I think you should always stop just so the habit forms. I feel that one day your mind might be somewhere else, and wham, hit by a car.

bulldog1935

same basic discussion has gone into 7 pages on Advocacy & Safety - https://www.bikeforums.net/advocacy-s...p-stories.html

Reiterate a couple of my points from that thread
I always expect the worst and am always prepared to stop.

rmfnla

I got a very expensive ticket in Santa Monica for cruising a stop sigh at maybe 5 MPH.

Came pretty close to Contempt charges for my "discussion" with the judge in court...

TimothyH

Doubtful at best.

A magistrate judge cannot order a law to be changed.


-Tim-

Kedosto

I have been riding like that my entire life. I'll be damned if I'm going to stand at an empty intersection waiting for a green light when there are no other cars around. I have ridden the same way on my motorcycle too. Often, the motorcycle doesn't trigger the signal and I find myself waiting as the lights cycle for everyone but me. In that case I wait until it's safe and I go.

Bicycle Rules-
Stop lights = Stop sign. Full stop then proceed when safe.
Stop sign = Yield sign. Slow, stop/yield to right of way as necessary, proceed with caution.
Yield signs = Slow, proceed with caution.
ALWAYS YIELD TO PEDS

Number one rule: Don't ride like a jacktard.


-Kedosto

Mihail C.

Good topic!

I subscribe and follow the rules above, from intuition, and self-preservation. DMV should adopt these or similar.
Agree, it's super annoying to wait by the stop lights in an intersection, by yourself, and not be picked up by the light sensors. Sometimes, when approaching the lights, I zigzag in a car lane about 50 feet in advance, hoping to trigger them. I feel that's a 50-50 rate of success.

However, a friend of mine got a ticket, few years ago, for running a stop sign: $480. He got it reduced to a half for showing up in court, in the end.

Meanwhile, this poor man lost his life for not slowing down/stopping to a stop sign.
Police: Bicyclist ran stop sign in fatal Palo Alto accident | News | Palo Alto Online |