My state updated their rules just three years ago. As a cyclist I have noticed a lot of drivers are unaware of this. It’s possible there is recent legislation you are unaware of.
Here in Georgia bicycles are legally classified as vehicles (OCGA 40-6-291) and are required to obey all traffic signs and signals. They also require bicycles stopped at intersections to signal which way they are going, but they never seem to do that here.
To be fair, I assumed it was that way everywhere. Was Idaho the first state to legalize that? (Asking because I’m seeing it referenced as an ‘Idaho stop’ when searching. That aside, thank you for encouraging me to double check, normally I keep an eye out on changing traffic laws (like the GA slow poke law), but I’m sure I need to reread the book again sometime.
The above post states this occurred at a stop sign and not at a light. They used the words “in my neighborhood” implying that this is also a residential area where there would be less traffic.
Stop signs are no different. Traffic or no traffic, you heed the sign. Only losers blow past the stop sign without stopping. I also use my turn signal when no one is around. It’s just what a good and safe driver does. Because muscle memory and good habits save lives in the end. At least they prevent accidents.
I think the main difference is, in places like the Netherlands especially in low-traffic neighborhoods, they would build yield signage rather than stop signs. America has a lot more of the latter, primarily because of the abundance of speed-demon cars.
Makes sense. 👍 I live in a bike city. We don’t really have stop or yield signs for bike roads. Those roads kind of just merge smoothly with each other. They try to avoid intersections at all. But people manage just the same. People do what makes sense. It’s less dangerous because the cars are on completely separate roads.
I think you missed the point about cyclists having different traffic laws. In fact the reason why the have it is for safety. A bike can’t speed up quickly like a motor vehicle can so it’s safer to maintain speed when possible.
Source? Moving is dangerous, not moving at a stop sign the only danger is from behind, so logically what you’re saying doesn’t even make sense. And i doubt there’s any study to support that.
They changed the law probably mainly so they wouldn’t have to waste time ticketing, it’s very rarely ever about safety.
Also, my old civic can’t accelerate fast, most bikes accelerate faster, so… that can’t be the reasoning. Lots of cars accelerate slowly and e-bikes accelerate faster than fast cars.
You can’t move quickly at first and if a speeding car comes by you can’t get out of the way. When I was 15 I experienced a driver blowing through the stop sign and hitting my back tire. It was super scary. If I hadn’t stopped first I still would have been going fast and wouldn’t of gotten hit by the car. That’s why if I see that no one is coming I just go through.
In the EU we have sensible rules where predictability trumps bullshit like that. Predictability is an extremely important factor for safety. Speeding up isn’t an important factor lol, I’ve never heard such a silly rationale for allowing a certain vehicle to break the rules. What the actual fuck. 'Murica though, right? 😂
This is in Minnesota which is literally a mini Canada and the law was signed in by Tim Walz in 2023. Also bicycles are literally pedestrians and not vehicles.
In Washington, cyclists treating stop signs as yield signs was added to the state code in 2020, despite the fact that bicycles are broadly defined as vehicles.
Yeah the “bicycles are vehicles” thing I’ve always found weird cause like, 5 year olds ride bikes, and it’s very weird to call them a driver or a vehicular operator cause they are literally 5 years old. This is why bikes should be grouped separately from cars, since they are very different things.
Apologies, I don’t know who Tim Walz is or why it’s relevant. Also don’t know what it means for the sake of argumentation that a state is a “mini Canada”. 🤷♂️ No clue what the significance is there. 😅
Also bicycles are literally pedestrians and not vehicles.
🤨 That’s weird. According to whom? Not Wikipedia anyway.
A vehicle is a machine designed for self-propulsion, usually to transport people, cargo, or both. The term “vehicle” typically refers to ground transport vehicles such as human-powered land vehicles (e.g. bicycles, tricycles, velomobiles) and animal-powered transports (e.g. horse-drawn carriages/wagons, ox carts, dog sleds). It commonly includes both motor vehicles (e.g. motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters) and railed vehicles (trains, trams and monorails).
Walz is the guy who ran with Harris against the diarrhea doo doo fecal man. I don’t expect anyone outside the US to know who he is.
My point is that bicycles should never be grouped with cars because of how different they are. Bicycles should probably have their own rules but if they were to be grouped with anything, it’s definitely pedestrians and not vehicles.
There’s a guy in my town who gets around on a motorized wheelchair which technically means he’s operating a motor vehicle but it would be pretty insane to expect him to follow the same rules as a car driver, so it makes much more sense, for simplicity’s sake, to classify him as a pedestrian even though he technically isn’t.
My state updated their rules just three years ago. As a cyclist I have noticed a lot of drivers are unaware of this. It’s possible there is recent legislation you are unaware of.
Here in Georgia bicycles are legally classified as vehicles (OCGA 40-6-291) and are required to obey all traffic signs and signals. They also require bicycles stopped at intersections to signal which way they are going, but they never seem to do that here.
To be fair, I assumed it was that way everywhere. Was Idaho the first state to legalize that? (Asking because I’m seeing it referenced as an ‘Idaho stop’ when searching. That aside, thank you for encouraging me to double check, normally I keep an eye out on changing traffic laws (like the GA slow poke law), but I’m sure I need to reread the book again sometime.
Here in the EU, bikes have a lot of places where they get special treatment, but blowing through red lights isn’t one of them.
The above post states this occurred at a stop sign and not at a light. They used the words “in my neighborhood” implying that this is also a residential area where there would be less traffic.
Stop signs are no different. Traffic or no traffic, you heed the sign. Only losers blow past the stop sign without stopping. I also use my turn signal when no one is around. It’s just what a good and safe driver does. Because muscle memory and good habits save lives in the end. At least they prevent accidents.
I think the main difference is, in places like the Netherlands especially in low-traffic neighborhoods, they would build yield signage rather than stop signs. America has a lot more of the latter, primarily because of the abundance of speed-demon cars.
Makes sense. 👍 I live in a bike city. We don’t really have stop or yield signs for bike roads. Those roads kind of just merge smoothly with each other. They try to avoid intersections at all. But people manage just the same. People do what makes sense. It’s less dangerous because the cars are on completely separate roads.
I think you missed the point about cyclists having different traffic laws. In fact the reason why the have it is for safety. A bike can’t speed up quickly like a motor vehicle can so it’s safer to maintain speed when possible.
Source? Moving is dangerous, not moving at a stop sign the only danger is from behind, so logically what you’re saying doesn’t even make sense. And i doubt there’s any study to support that.
They changed the law probably mainly so they wouldn’t have to waste time ticketing, it’s very rarely ever about safety.
Also, my old civic can’t accelerate fast, most bikes accelerate faster, so… that can’t be the reasoning. Lots of cars accelerate slowly and e-bikes accelerate faster than fast cars.
You can’t move quickly at first and if a speeding car comes by you can’t get out of the way. When I was 15 I experienced a driver blowing through the stop sign and hitting my back tire. It was super scary. If I hadn’t stopped first I still would have been going fast and wouldn’t of gotten hit by the car. That’s why if I see that no one is coming I just go through.
This isn’t a source, it’s an anecdote.
I didn’t miss it.
In the EU we have sensible rules where predictability trumps bullshit like that. Predictability is an extremely important factor for safety. Speeding up isn’t an important factor lol, I’ve never heard such a silly rationale for allowing a certain vehicle to break the rules. What the actual fuck. 'Murica though, right? 😂
This is in Minnesota which is literally a mini Canada and the law was signed in by Tim Walz in 2023. Also bicycles are literally pedestrians and not vehicles.
In Washington, cyclists treating stop signs as yield signs was added to the state code in 2020, despite the fact that bicycles are broadly defined as vehicles.
Yeah the “bicycles are vehicles” thing I’ve always found weird cause like, 5 year olds ride bikes, and it’s very weird to call them a driver or a vehicular operator cause they are literally 5 years old. This is why bikes should be grouped separately from cars, since they are very different things.
Apologies, I don’t know who Tim Walz is or why it’s relevant. Also don’t know what it means for the sake of argumentation that a state is a “mini Canada”. 🤷♂️ No clue what the significance is there. 😅
🤨 That’s weird. According to whom? Not Wikipedia anyway.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle
Bikes traveling on a road should adhere to the rules of that road, just like any other vehicle traveling on that road.
Walz is the guy who ran with Harris against the diarrhea doo doo fecal man. I don’t expect anyone outside the US to know who he is.
My point is that bicycles should never be grouped with cars because of how different they are. Bicycles should probably have their own rules but if they were to be grouped with anything, it’s definitely pedestrians and not vehicles.
There’s a guy in my town who gets around on a motorized wheelchair which technically means he’s operating a motor vehicle but it would be pretty insane to expect him to follow the same rules as a car driver, so it makes much more sense, for simplicity’s sake, to classify him as a pedestrian even though he technically isn’t.