Riding with Stops & Stop as Yield

[@kitchencarvings4621]

In April 2022 we got the safety stop passed in Colorado. Now we can treat stop signs as yield signs and stop lights as stop signs. It is glorius but every time I roll through a stop sign or go on red I just know that people are watching and shaking their heads and saying "look at those scofflaw bicyclers the self-entitled jerks, bicyclists off the roads!"

[@ablackney]

As an engineer I look at the chance of death. It is actually insanely hard to kill someone with a bike. With a sedan the chance of death is 50/50 at 32mph! For a 300lbs person + bike the 50/50 death speed is 43mph! Also as you mentioned most cars "stopping" only brings them down to the speed a cyclist is going. Lastly ask a police officer and they will tell you its about the intent of the law not necessarily the letter lf the law. So if we want to have tickets for cyclist not stopping lets make it he ticket proportional to the energy of the vehicle. Bikes get a $5 ticket, sedans get a $100 ticket, trucks and SUVs get a $500 ticket. That seems only reasonable to me 😅. This one bugs me so much so im sorry if I ranted 😂.

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

I think the intent or "spirit" of the law is a healthy interpretation! I hope I did the topic justice here, but something tells me it won't stop the trolls.

[@andyinsdca]

Good stuff, glad you made this video, I dig where you're coming from now. On my motorcycle there are a couple of spots where I have to go through a red light because my bike doesn't trip the sensors (usually after waiting 2 full cycles of the light).

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

Thanks, @andyinsdca! I've definitely had to lower my steel frame over a sensor before. Even on a motorcycle, you see how much design caters to car drivers over all else. We DO have SB 672, which requires hardware that detects bicycles and motorcycles, but it really only applies when an old intersection is getting new stuff: leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180SB672

[@paulflory3532]

@@RidingBikesinSanDiego Had this discussion with my state's DOT. They told me much the same: intersections are being updated with infrared sensors and/or video cams that WILL detect bicycles and motorcycles, where the old induction loops in the pavement usually will not. But how does one know which intersections have this technology??? Sit through several complete cycles of the light, unless a motor vehicle comes to trigger it???? The DOT told me to stop and scan all over the overhead cabling and poles for cameras. Really??? Simply hanging a metal tag with a bicycle symbol on it from the bottom of the signal unit suspended above the center of the intersection would show that intersection is bicycle-enabled.. They weren't interested.

[@ShowMeThatOne]

Your stops and slows are perfectly acceptable to me. I do think it prudent for cyclists in general to at least show some common sense when in the presence of the motoring public. Don't blow thru a stop sign/red light in front of everybody. It gives cyclists of all stripes a bad name. As shown in this video, being courteous (in most cases) gets you respect. Your "situational awareness" comment is spot on. Know your audience, in this case drivers.

[@alex.broman]

I believe this is Americas-only approach to put those stop signs on every single corner - only to treat them as 'yield' later on. Which for me, as an ex-Ukrainian, sounds as absolutely unreasonable waste of time, effort and resources. Instead of stop signs we have what's called in common parlance "the rule of right hand" - the one on the right goes first, the one on the left yields. That's that simple. No overuse of stop signs, but instead they are strategically placed exclusively where needed.

[@sofasurfer3793]

I hate it when drivers inappropriately yield the right of way. It's not polite! It's not nice! It's a direct threat to my life! "Honest office, I dont know why that bike ran the stop sign. I feel so bad they're dead."

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

The conflict between "Follow the rules" and "Go ahead, it's fine" shows us that this isn't about getting around safely, but about people in cars trying to control people on bikes.

[@ChrisCollins-Oakland]

100%, it's my biggest frustration.

[@TommyJonesProductions]

I hate it because I've usually already timed my pace to go behind them and then they throw off the whole thing by stopping.

[@sandiegofun1]

My goal is to get rid of almost all stop signs. They are stupid for the most part and should be yield signs or even uncontrolled in low traffic neighborhoods. There are basically no stop signs in the Netherlands.

[@TommyJonesProductions]

Most stop signs could be replaced by yield signs. We need to stop letting stupid people have driver's licenses and provide them alternatives to driving.

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

@TommyJonesProductions I'm a pretty big fan of Stop-as-Yield legislation, like 12 other states have, but our gov vetoed it. I've found that no matter how "progressive" some politicians claims to be, most of them look at the world primarily through a car windshield.

[@SpieleundSprit]

I have no problem with you treating stop signs as yields and going through them as long as you make sure it is safe to. I do the same. North America is overly reliant on stop signs when yield signs would suffice perfectly and are more common in the rest of the world, especially Europe. That is way better for traffic flow even though Europe is the country that cares about safety more than America and has better safety. I don't stop unless I have to yield the right of way to a pedestrian, somebody on a priority road, or whoever got there first.

[@anotherelvis]

Ideally each of the intersections should have a traffic light, or alternatively they should have yield lines favoring the wider of the two roads. The intersection with stop signs in both directions at 1:17 looks treacherous.

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

Are you really suggesting that each intersection with a stop sign should have a traffic light instead? I don't think I'd agree with that.

[@anotherelvis]

@@RidingBikesinSanDiego That is how it works in Denmark, or alternatively smaller road gets yield lines, so it is always clear who has to yield. We don't like arbitration in traffic over here. We like strict rules :-) But perhaps the point is that one cannot copy traffic infrastructure from one country to another without accounting for the difference in culture.

[@RidingBikesinSanDiego]

@anotherelvis I agree with what you're saying about culture. American driving culture is what automobile and oil companies have been dictating for 100 years, and it's been too ignorant to learn from better examples, and too arrogant to care about who has been hurt and killed along the way.

[@ChrisCollins-Oakland]

@@RidingBikesinSanDiego The Berkeley retrofit bicycle boulevard idea is smart. Only every third crossing on Meade should have the intersection. The other two are blocked off and residents are diverted a few blocks away to bigger more protected intersection. It makes for good bicycle boulevard flow. Cars can flow on Texas or University.

[@kevinconrad6156]

When drivers don't follow the rules they are thinking for me and I don't like it.

[@missmolliepink]

It's important in a civil society to actually obey the laws of the land. (There's your appeal to authority: Avoidance of anarchy as every citizen decides what is "reasonable" for themselves. Yikes!) It is also important to actively engage in the political process so that nonsensical laws can be appropriately updated. Next time around, we need to pressure the governor to do the sensible thing and update California's stop sign laws. (Go on walk signal was good, but we can do better!) We also need to update design principles as it is bad design to blanket all streets with stop signs and double yellow lines. I ride my bike a lot like you: Treat most stops as yield. It's safer for me and kinder to motorists as I can stay more closely aligned with the normal flow of traffic. I stop my 2500 pound car fully at every single stop. Been doing that for over 45 years of driving. No plans to stop stopping now. Once upon a time, in a different century, other motorists tolerated my full stops. Now, I continue with them despite the sound and fury from others partly because I am encased in a protective metal shell. It makes my movement in the car predictable and controlled and is safer for anyone outside of a car. Can you imagine the harassment and risk from violence if I actually stopped at every sign as a cyclist?? Actually, I can tell you about the harassment and threats of violence from doing that. I tried stopping fully when I recently (2.5 years ago) started commuting by bike again after 30 years off a bicycle. Rolling a bike through stops angers many motorists. Stopping fully at all of them REALLY enrages them. Do not recommend. LOL.