Q: Can you explain the new safety stop law for bikes? Also, what are bike riders supposed to do if they’re at a traffic signal and the sensor in the pavement doesn’t ever notice that the bike is there?
A: Based on email I’ve received and conversations I’ve had, it seems there’s some confusion about a relatively new law. A year and a half ago, Washington’s law permitting cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs took effect. It’s commonly called the Idaho stop (Idaho was the first state to pass the law, in 1982), the Delaware yield (the second state, in 2017), or the safety stop. If you’re a cyclist and you think this law gives you permission to blow through stop signs, that’s ridiculous, it doesn’t. If you’re a driver and you’re mad that the law let’s cyclists blow through stop signs, relax, it doesn’t.
Continue reading “Yielding at Stop Signs and Getting Stuck at Intersections”