Comments on: Bicycle Rolling Stop Animation – Idaho Stop Law

By: True confessions of a bicycle scofflaw | Grist

True confessions of a bicycle scofflaw | Grist — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 14:06:43 +0000

[...] to a complete stop with my foot on the ground. If none of these things is happening, I go on ahead. This video describes it [...]

By: The Beauty of a Bike « Unserville

The Beauty of a Bike « Unserville — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:52:42 +0000

[...] to be as efficient with their energy output as possible. It is also important to understand that a bicycle is at it’s most efficient when it is already in motion, so coming to a complete stop is something that people and bicycles as a team pretty much want to [...]

By: Bike Crash kills Cyling Safety Advocate and Leader Bruce Rosar | Fairfax & Loudoun Personal Injury Lawyer

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 03:18:59 +0000

[...] Much time has been spent discussing safety laws, especially Idaho’s "rolling Stop" Bike law. Idaho has exceptional bike safety [...]

By: On Changing a Driver’s Perspective | Bikeridr

On Changing a Driver’s Perspective | Bikeridr — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 01:25:21 +0000

[...] Look at softening laws made for cars, not for cyclists One of the pivotal differences between cars and bicycles is that cars require next to no effort to operate. Gas = go, brake = stop. On a bicycle, it’s not so easy… Maintaining momentum is paramount to getting from A to B efficiently. Now imagine for a moment that you could treat stop signs as yield signs, and stop lights as stop signs. I know many cyclists do this already, but imagine if it was legal!! Sound too good to be true? Well, this dream is a reality, not in Amsterdam or some other cycling mecca, but in Idaho. I think this step alone would go a long way to further the cyclists cause – cyclists finally being given different and specific laws, because they are different. (via UrbanVelo) [...]

By: DaleC

DaleC — Thu, 13 May 2010 04:35:56 +0000

I support the Idaho Stop and am an avid cyclist. That said, I also think we do ourselves no good with exaggeration. Case in point, unless my car weighs 250,000 lbs, it does not have 1000 times the mass of my bike and I.

Sorry to nit pick, but I am used to people taking minor points like that and using them against me in debate.

By: Doompatrol

Doompatrol — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:11:20 +0000

“one one crash” = not one crash

sry

By: Doompatrol

Doompatrol — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:09:20 +0000

Interesting comments, for the most part.

I agree with the vehicularists–most stop signs should instead be treated as yield signs for all vehicles. Let’s face the fact–unless forced to stop by other traffic or the presence of police, virtually nobody regardless of mode of locomotion actually comes to a full stop at stop signs.

And let’s dispel the myth that stopping creates safety. A car driver who stops dead, then mashes the gas while texting is a much greater hazard than one who carefully rolls through a stop sign at 10mph after confirming there is no other traffic or pedestrians around.

But I cringe whenever I read somebody worshipping the European way of doing things and lamenting that we don’t do it that way here. Get a clue, peeps: safety isn’t in the system, it’s in the users.

I spent seven years riding and racing for 50,000 miles in Japan without a single crash. They have half the population of the US packed into a land mass the size of California, with significantly narrower roads than we have in the US…but one one crash for me.

Since I returned to the States in 1999, I quit racing and became a bike commuter (i.e. substantially decreased by exposure on the road), and have been hit four times:
rear-ended by a car because I actually stopped at a stop sign (driver didn’t expect me to stop); nailed two times at 4-way stops after stopping (drivers didn’t see me in clear, daylight conditions); and nailed by a driver who stopped at a T intersection stop sign, then mashed the gas when I was in front of him (he also didn’t see me).

None of the drivers were cited, even when clear violations of the law happened.

By: Dwight

Dwight — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:30:55 +0000

John,
Were any of the bicycle-automobile collisions in Boise due to the bicycle riders failing to stop at a stop sign?
I ride in North Idaho and have appreciated this law. I ride a recumbent, so rapid acceleration is out of the question. When I roll through an intersection, it takes me about 3 seconds to clear the intersection. When I stop it takes me 7 – 10 seconds to clear the intersection, more than twice as long.
It seems to me that many cars are accelerating toward me as I’m in the intersection and I want to be in that zone as little time as possible.
I’m also diligent about being visible. I wear high-vis green clothing, flashing lights and reflectors on my helmet. It’s amazing how many cyclists ride around wearing black.

By: ¿Son necesarios tantos semáforos y stops? » Ciudad Ciclista

¿Son necesarios tantos semáforos y stops? » Ciudad Ciclista — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:59:03 +0000

[...] Urban Velo [...]

By: @ John

@ John — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:51:12 +0000

Lights aren’t weight triggered.. what you see on the road is an inductance loop buried. It detects a lot of metal over the spot on the road.. most cyclists can solve the red light problem by taping a strong magnet on the bottom of their frame.