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Common language critical as more towns adopt ‘safety stop’ rules It’s simple physics: Cyclists in motion are more stable than those who are starting and stopping. It’s easier to balance and easier to keep control of the bicycle. It’s easier to look and listen for other vehicles when moving slowly than concentrating on unclipping to put a foot down at a stop sign and red light. What’s more, starting from a full stop takes more time and energy and often moves focus to clipping in correctly, up-shifting and gaining speed to avoid falling. That can put the person on the bike seemingly
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“in the way” of motor vehicle traffic. In most places in Colorado, people on bicycles must come to a complete stop at stop signs and red lights. Often bicyclists ignore these laws, which can cause everything from irritation to conflict between riders and drivers. What if, instead, people on bicycles could slow down when approaching a stop sign, look both ways, and proceed without stopping if the coast is clear? What if, instead of stopping at a red light, bicyclists could stop, then proceed when there is no cross traffic? These what-ifs are the basis of “safety stop” laws, which allow people on bicycles to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. Safety stops allow bicyclists to clear the intersection faster, improve safety and traffic flow on crowded streets and keep traffic moving on streets. Interestingly, many safety stop proposals are brought by law enforcement agencies seeking to match the law to current behavior and make the roads safer.
Safety stops make the roads safer for everyone Most people prefer to ride on streets and roads with less traffic. But many of those streets are peppered with stop signs designed to calm car traffic, which can deter people from using their bikes as transportation, push them to busier streets for better traffic flow and cause them to treat a stop sign as yield even though they’re breaking the law. Safety stops are safer for bicyclists and motorists alike. Since the first safety stop law was adopted in 1982 in Idaho, there have been no major issues in communities where the law exists. In fact, bicyclist injuries declined 14.5 percent and there was no change in the number of bicyclists’ deaths the year after the Idaho law went into effect. That’s according to a 2010 study out of University of California Berkeley. Continued on page 5
Building a bicycle-friendly Colorado | bicyclecolorado.org