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The city of Portland is considering adopting “Idaho Stop” legislature. The laws would allow bicyclists to treat stop lights as stop signs, and stop signs as yield signs. The legislature has worked remarkably well in the state of Idaho since 1982, hence the name. However not everyone in Portland is in favor of such laws. In fact, the whole thing has raised quite a bit of controversy, including some rather biased and decidedly unpleasant media coverage. Still, Portland’s bicycle advocacy groups remain hopeful. For more information, visit www.bikeportland.org.
Note that this proposal is for the entire state of Oregon, including but not limited to the iconic city bike friendly of Portland. Jonathan Maus of the BikePortland.org has been doing a great job of reporting on the progress of this controversial proposal as it happens. The public awareness brought about by his website is certain to give it a better chance this time around. Keep up the good pro-bike media!
I am glad to see that portland is looking to adopt this. One thing i did want to point out though is that (in my oppionion) this only works when people now about it. Communiting in boise most days i would say that they dont. Also I dont know if i completely agree with this. We are on the road and want to be treated like a vehicle we should act like one. The biggest part about that is being consistent with how the rest of traffic acts. For me i act more like a slow motorcyclist. I stop at all stop signs and lights. If a light does not sense me i proceed though the light at a safe time.
Now i am not saying that this is a bad law. I just dont think it works in Idaho very well. Heck we are still trying to teach people that we can be on the road and by people i mean our police force.