Bulletin E-Edition:
Should bicyclists be allowed to roll past stop signs?
Yes, say Portland-based activists
By Scott Hammers / The Bulletin
Published: January 29. 2009 4:00AM PST| order photo
Daniel Brewster tows a trailer behind his bike to deliver kitchen scraps from Bend homes to a local farm for composting.
Pete Erickson / The Bulletin
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Bike courier Daniel Brewster can be seen pedaling the streets of Bend most days, towing a trailer weighted down with up to 600 pounds of newspapers, diapers, compost or legal documents. Every time he approaches a stop sign, he faces a choice — come to a full stop and strain against the pedals to get moving again, or look both ways and roll on through, risking a ticket but conserving his momentum.
Brewster usually chooses the latter. “To actually come to a complete stop, put your foot down and to get going again, it’s so inefficient. Especially for me when I’m carrying cargo; 200 pounds is on the light side some days,” he said. “To come to a complete stop, it’s challenging, and I’d be lying if I said I came to a complete stop all the time. I definitely roll through stop signs. But it’s safe. I can see what’s going on.”
The Portland-based Bicycle Transportation Alliance is looking to make Brewster’s choice a little easier. The nonprofit cycling advocacy organization has been busy in Salem, working for the passage of a new law that would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as though they were yield signs.
When approaching an intersection with a stop sign, cyclists would be required to slow down and check that it’s safe to continue, but would not have to come to a complete stop.
The proposal is known as the “Idaho Stop Law,” in reference to a similar law adopted in Idaho in 1982. While the Idaho law also allows cyclists to stop and proceed at red lights, the Oregon proposal would only apply to stop signs. When a similar proposal was introduced in the state Legislature in 2003, it was overwhelmingly approved by the House, but didn’t make it through the Senate before the end of the session, according to BTA lobbyist Karl Rohde.
Some opposition
During hearings before the Senate Committee on Transportation and Economic Development in 2003, opponents Chief Wayne McFarland of the McMinnville Police Department and Rick Waring, the Bike and Pedestrian Safety Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Transportation, said the proposed law would make it difficult for drivers to determine a cyclist’s intentions while approaching an intersection. Waring also told the committee it would send mixed messages to young children, and potentially damage public perception of cyclists.
Sgt. Clint Burleigh said the Bend Police Department will enforce any traffic laws the Legislature approves, but expressed concerns that such a change could lead to an increase in accidents.
“Sometimes vehicles don’t see bicyclists — it wouldn’t be the bicyclist’s fault, but if a vehicle’s coming up and the cyclist misjudges the speed of the car, it could possibly have an impact on injured drivers and bicyclists, which I wouldn’t want to see.”
Ray Thomas, a Portland attorney who deals in bicycling law and serves on the BTA’s legislative committee, said that in 27 years, Idaho has seen no measurable increase in bike-versus-vehicle accidents. Thomas said traffic laws that treat cars and bicycles the same ignore the differences between them, and encourage cyclists to break the law.
“What I think is terrible is to have disrespect for the law because it doesn’t make any sense,” Thomas said. “It’s the law that’s wrong, and it’s not that it’s morally wrong, it’s that the law of the stop sign needs to exist for motor vehicles, but it doesn’t need to exist for bicycles.”
Bend resident and BTA member Eric Chu said stopping at every stop sign and accelerating back up to speed consumes a large amount of energy for cyclists, and makes commuting or running errands by bike more difficult than necessary, especially for beginning cyclists. If cyclists were drivers, it would be like a law requiring them to turn off the ignition at every intersection.
Optimism for passage
Rohde said he feels like there’s reasonably strong support for the proposal among legislators this year, and thinks there’s a good chance it could be passed into law during the current session.
He said some legislators were skeptical on first hearing of the proposal, but have come around when presented with information on how the law has worked in Idaho.
Rohde said that while some reckless riders run stop signs without regard for oncoming traffic, “99 percent” are looking out for their own safety and still violate current law by slowly rolling through intersections. The change would align normal cycling practice and the law, he said.
“Bicyclists actually exercise a high degree of self-preservation,” said Rohde. “Because they sit higher than people sitting in automobiles and generally can hear their surroundings, and they have no blind spots, they have a little bit greater awareness and can assess the situation of a stop sign as to its safety a little bit better.”
Local perspectives
Some locals in the cycling world are not completely convinced the new proposal would be an improvement over current law.
Jim Stone, a member of the Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the owner of a bicycle rental shop in Sunriver, said he thinks the proposed law could be easily misunderstood by cyclists. As “the little guy” riding among larger, faster vehicles, bicyclists need to ride defensively at all times, Stone said.
“The guy may not be quite as cautious coming up to that intersection, and might end up getting in an accident because he felt he had the right to not stop at the intersection,” he said.
Cheryl Howard, chairwoman of the Deschutes County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, said she understands the cyclist’s perspective, but she’s concerned the proposed law could exacerbate tensions between cyclists and motorists. A small handful of cyclists who run stop signs and ride recklessly give all others a bad reputation, Howard said, and she’s not sure drivers are ready to accept a law that creates different rules for bikes and cars.
“We’re still trying to get our general population to acknowledge that roadways are not designed for cars alone. They’re meant to encompass multiple modes of transportation and that includes pedestrians, and transit, and cyclists, and strollers, and a lot of different things. I’m just a little concerned that this wouldn’t lend itself wonderfully to advancing this ‘bikes belong’ mentality we’re working on.”
Jeff Monson, the executive director of Commute Options, said he supports the BTA’s proposal, but with some reservations.
“I think generally it makes sense for bicyclists to be allowed to do that, but you don’t want to leave the impression that bicyclists don’t have to follow the laws,” Monson said.
Brewster said he’s hopeful the law will be passed, and will be accompanied by an aggressive educational campaign to let drivers and cyclists know what is and is not allowed.
“What I think is important about this law for motorists is that this doesn’t give bikes the right of way, not at all,” he said. “You can’t just roll through a stop sign if there’s a car coming, that’s probably where people might see this as a bad thing, they’re going think that bikes are going to be able to do whatever they want. That’s definitely not how it reads, and that’s not the intention of the law.”
Scott Hammers can be reached at 541-383-0387 or shammers@bendbulletin.com.
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