Call

Blog

Law
02

Blog

Living with Stop as Yield for Cyclists

Bike Law attorney Kurt Holzer makes a compelling case for the "Idaho Stop."

I’ve been representing cyclists in Idaho bike accidents for nearly 25 years. Many people are aware of our state statute that is referred to by many as the Idaho Stop Law.  My experience, both on my bike and at my desk, has shown it’s a good law that has worked well.

In fact, the law has actually reduced the number of bike-car accidents in Idaho.

Under our law a cyclist can, when it’s safe to do so, treat a stop sign as a yield sign or a stop light as a stop sign. Here’s a Bike Law blog post on the Idaho Stop and a Wikipedia page about it. There’s also a video explanation of the Idaho Stop.

Although the Idaho Stop generates controversy, other jurisdictions study it regularly with an eye to adopting it. Given our success, it is really no surprise that other areas of the country want something similar.

  • Some mountain towns in Colorado have adopted the rule.
  • Most recently, the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco adopted the rule. However, the ordinance was vetoed by the mayor.
  • A number of other state legislatures have considered but not adopted the Idaho Stop. The law has passed out of at least one chamber of the legislative bodies in some states, indicating support for it.

Debunking arguments against the Idaho Stop

The arguments against the rule tend to boil down to either it’s “not safe” or it’s “not fair.”  Neither argument is particularly persuasive, in my opinion.

In my years representing cyclists, I have never seen a car v. bike collision or a bike v. pedestrian collision that was attributable to road users following the stop as yield statute.

That’s right, not once in the hundreds of bicycle collision cases I have investigated has the law created an incident.

Even politicians have learned of the benefits of the law. Adam Park, director of communication for Boise Mayor David Bieter, said the Idaho Stop has become something of an attraction for cyclists touring the area.

“Bicyclists come here and they immediately are just overjoyed with the knowledge that something they’ve done illegally in other places is legal here,” Park said in an article in the Toronto Star. “It allows them to flow more freely and still safely.”

A closer look at the Idaho Stop

Idaho’s law has been in place since 1982. Here’s what is appropriate cyclist behavior under the law:

When a cyclist approaches a stop sign, he or she should:

  1. Slow down and stop if required for safety;
  2. Yield the right-of-way to any motor vehicle in the intersection or any approaching vehicles that will create a hazard if the cyclist crosses the intersection; and
  3. Continue after appropriately slowing and yielding without stopping.

Allowing cyclists to do this is really about conservation of energy and recognizing the differences between bikes and cars.

When a bicyclist approaches a red light, he or she should:

  1. Stop;
  2. Yield to all other traffic; and
  3. Proceed through the red light with the appropriate caution.

Why does it make sense?

Having cyclists clear the intersection at a stop light avoids many unsafe interactions between cars and bicyclists. Obviously the cyclist has to use caution.

Among other things, the Stop as Yield law acknowledges the realities of cyclists traveling on roads with controls designed to handle motor vehicles. Regular traffic control mechanisms often fail to work with bicycles, since they are not large enough to trigger the road sensors. In addition, cyclists can easily yield the right-of-way without coming to a complete stop.

This law, in part, has allowed Idaho to lead the way in reducing bicycle accident rates. For example, in the year following the adoption of the law, bicycle accidents declined by 14.5 percent. And Idaho has regularly been among the lowest in the rate of bike/car fatalities as a percent of population among the states.

Other benefits of the Idaho Stop Law

Need more reasons to love this law? Here are several:

  • Cyclists get in front of traffic and increase their visibility to motorists, which in turn allows motorists to operate their vehicles more prudently;
  • Having cyclists “clear” an intersection before the light turns green reduces the potential for collisions in the intersection;
  • The Idaho Stop reduces the costs to government by eliminating the need to pay for extra sensing equipment to detect bicycles at intersections;
  • Because bikes are through intersections more quickly, the overall flow of traffic improves;
  • Making bicycling easier and safer encourages people to choose this eco-friendly method of transportation;
  • The Stop acknowledges the practical role of momentum in cycling.

Is the law ‘unfair’?

Just as ordinary “right turn on red” laws rely on the judgment of drivers, the Idaho Stop as Yield law relies on the judgment of cyclists. Judgment is something we all have to exercise all the time in using any form of transport.

A segment of the population feels the law is “unfair” because it grants “special rights” to cyclists. Of course, there are many rules that apply to specific forms of transportation: weight limits and different speed limits for trucks, rules allowing farm vehicles, and laws that require flagging, to name a few. There is the issue that some children may not understand how to safely apply the rules. But dealing with children and cycling safety is a complete realm of analysis unto itself.

Idaho has recently added questions about cyclists on roadways to its drivers’ license testing, which will help expand the knowledge of the statute. While this can’t eliminate all the misunderstanding about the law, greater education of the role of cyclists and motorists is of course a benefit.

Cyclists, likewise, need to follow the law. But that is true for every road user. Cars that don’t stop for pedestrians or blow through red lights and stops signs are things we all see with regularity. Cyclists, motorists and pedestrians are wrong to disobey the law, and the reality is that people do things wrong at times, no matter which mode of transportation they use.

Comments

Ann Groninger Jan 04, 2024

Many of our cycling clients find themselves having to interact with the criminal justice system. Typically, it’s because the driver who hits them (or their family member) is charged with a crime or traffic offense. Occasionally bicyclists themselves are charged with traffic offenses! Every state’s criminal laws are different, but there is a lot of […]

Read More
Bike Crash Road Defect Georgia
Peter Wilborn Jun 14, 2023

We recently shared the story of a trial victory from the State of Texas where a bicyclist was injured due to a defect in a road maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation. Texas Road Defect   We now can tell the story of another huge win in a road defect case, this time from […]

Read More
Road defect dangerous to cyclists
Charlie Thomas Mar 14, 2023

Recently, attorneys with the Bike Law network took a case to a trial against a titan of a defendant: the Texas Department of Transportation. TxDOT was represented by the Attorney General’s Office, one of Texas’ largest legal teams. We had a great client, but it was a tough case to prove. So tough, in fact, […]

Read More
bike path charlotte
Ann Groninger Jan 13, 2023

  2023 got off to a rough start for Charlotte, North Carolina, particularly in the context of road safety. Within about a week, we lost a young woman who was riding her bicycle, a pedestrian killed in the same area of town, and four people were killed in a car wreck on I-85 in the […]

Read More
North Carolina Bike Crash
Ann Groninger Dec 06, 2022

Unless you’re a very recent follower of ours, you’ve heard us talk before about “contributory negligence.” To recap: “pure contributory negligence” is the law in North Carolina and only 3 other states (Alabama, Virginia, Maryland). In pure contributory negligence states, if a person is injured by someone else’s fault and the injured person contributes even […]

Read More
Is It Illegal to Ride Your Bike on the Sidewalk bikelaw
Peter Wilborn Aug 01, 2022

The laws dictating whether you can ride your bike on the sidewalk differ depending where you live. Different states have different laws on this matter, and local ordinances also vary. Let’s take a look at the legal framework behind various state laws related to cycling on sidewalks. The laws of sidewalk-riding can be very complicated […]

Read More
Ebike crash
Bruce Hagen Apr 26, 2022

DRIVER ON METH KILLS 17 YEAR OLD BICYCLIST, BARROW COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY REFUSES TO CHARGE DRIVER WITH FELONY.   On August 23, 2020, at approximately 8:40pm, 17-year old Obianuju Osuegbu was on her way home from her summer job working at a grocery store. She had earned enough money that summer to buy herself a […]

Read More
Stop as Yield
Brian Weiss Apr 25, 2022

Finally, “Stop As Yield” (the much sought after common sense traffic law for bicyclists) is coming to Colorado in 2022, likely July 1st.   Stop as Yield, aka the “Safety Stop” After the Governor Polis signs the law and the Safety Stop becomes effective, anyone who rides a bicycle or scooter on public roads will […]

Read More
Contributory Negligence
Ann Groninger Apr 25, 2022

It took losing at trial and a long appellate process, but it ended in a blow to contributory negligence in North Carolina. We just won an appeal on a bicycle crash case that happened in 2016 and came to us in 2018. The case went to trial during the spring of 2021. Our client was […]

Read More
Load More