The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill
From CALBike.org
LET’S MAKE THE BICYCLE SAFETY STOP LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA!
People who ride bikes should be able to treat stop signs as yields.
It’s safe. It’s smart. It’s common sense.
Bike Stop-as-Yield
Every day, thousands of bike riders across California slow as they approach stop signs. They look both ways. If there is traffic, they stop; if not, they roll safely through the intersection.
Right now, this is illegal under California law. The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill (AB 1713, Boerner Horvath) will make his commonsense bike rider behavior legal. A similar bill passed the California Assembly and Senate in 2021, only to be vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. We are hopeful that a revised version, which legalizes the Bicycle Safety Stop for bike riders aged 18 and up, will get the support to become law in 2022.
Data from Delaware shows that collisions involving bikes at intersections went down by 23% after the state adopted the bicycle safety stop.
You might know the stop-as-yield as the Idaho stop because Idaho was the first state to legalize it, way back in 1982. It’s time for California to make the Bicycle Safety Stop legal, too.
Image courtesy of CalBike.org
