Since Idaho passed its “Idaho stop” law in 1982, people on bikes have been treating stop signs as yields without any negative effects on traffic safety. As more states continue to pass similar laws, studies showing the benefits of the bike stop-as-yield, or Bicycle Safety Stop, accumulate. The latest is a pair of studies demonstrating that drivers and bike riders can easily and safely navigate intersections where the people on bikes treat stop signs as yield signs and that perception of the safety stop is positive or neutral, even among the car driving population.
Simulated Stop-as-Yield
The first study, headed by researchers from Oregon State University, placed participants in a simulator that had bike riders and car drivers navigating intersections where people on bikes were allowed to treat stop signs as yields. The study found no unsafe behavior from the bike riders and no difficulties in sharing the road from those operating motor vehicles. The study concluded that stop-as-yield laws would work better if states included information about them in driver handbooks — something even Idaho does not do. The authors recommend more education and outreach so road users in all modes understand stop-as-yield for bike riders.
Of course, many people in cars also roll through stop signs when there are no other vehicles present; this is a common and logical behavior for all road users, though it carries different risks for people operating two-ton machines. For bike riders, stop-as-yield is essential for efficient riding because it conserves the momentum lost when starting after coming to a complete stop. The first study also found that bike rider speed through intersections was higher, on average, when using the rolling stop, which can augment safety. This confirms other studies, such as one showing that conflicts between bike riders and car drivers at intersections went down 23 percent after the introduction of a stop-as-yield law in Delaware.
Bike Riders Roll for Safety
The second study is a literature review by researchers from Gonzaga University in Washington State, the University of Idaho, and Oregon State University — all states with stop-as-yield laws. The research looked at surveys of public opinions as well as expert input on intersection safety.
One data point that jumps out is an Idaho survey of road users in all modes about why they broke traffic rules. Among bike riders, 95.9 percent reported breaking a traffic law, but 97.9 percent of pedestrians and 99.97 percent of drivers said they did. The most common reason for flouting the law among drivers (85 percent) and pedestrians (71 percent) was saving time. However, people on bikes most commonly skirted traffic regulations for their own safety (71 percent). This data highlights the inaccuracy of perceptions among an unfriendly segment of the driving public that bike riders are lawbreaking road anarchists.
Again, this study finds a need for better public education so people driving and biking can share the road safely.
What Happened to the California Bicycle Safety Stop?
CalBike has been heavily involved in campaigning for laws to legalize bicycle stop-as-yield over the past several years, and we haven’t given up on this important advancement in bicycle safety. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that we’ll find a champion for this bill in the legislature this year. The current panic about e-bike safety (spurred by the proliferation of electric motorcycles illegally sold as e-bikes) makes the bicycle safety stop much less likely to garner attention and support. And we may need to wait for a new governor, since Gavin Newsom has vetoed a Bicycle Safety Stop Bill in the past and seems unlikely to approve one in the future.
CalBike has heard from advocates in Nevada who are working on a bill to legalize stop-as-yield this year, and we wish them luck. The more states that adopt this sensible regulation, the greater the evidence becomes that it improves street safety rather than impairing it. We hope California will join its neighbors in enacting this legislation in the near future.
