What if we instituted the Idaho stop for all road users?
Robert Hurst writes:
The Reality of bicycling in cities like Denver is that riders of all stripes from all walks of life and various sides of the tracks tend to take blatant liberties with the law, rolling stop signs and stoplights in the central area. They do it because it is easy to do, it speeds their travels and the police have much bigger fish to fry. Don’t get me wrong now. I’m not saying this lawbreaking is a good thing, but it is reality, an inevitable and organic development of the traffic grid. A somewhat similar phenomenon occurs with pedestrians, known of course as jaywalking. The current illegality of this type of freelance city movement deters only the most scrupulous — careful — riders and walkers.
His conclusion is that Denver should recognize the realities of human behavior in traffic and enact the Idaho stop.
I’m going to agree to this extent: Let’s make the Idaho stop the norm for all road users. This follows Hurst’s logic. Automobile drivers in large numbers (from what I see everyday) treat stop signs like yield signs. So let’s just change the definition of the stop sign from a command to a suggestion for everyone.
This, obvously, isn’t going to happen. And I’m serious only to the extent that I want to illustrate that we need to begin re-thinking traffic control.
Comments 4
As in like maybe getting RID of the stop signs, and most of the other traffic control devices in “Shared Spaces” implementations?
(As in the linked URL)
Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 11:51 am ¶Mionske is on this, too.
http://bicycling.com/blogs/roadrights/2009/09/01/making-better-laws/
Serge’s comment there is spot-on.
The real battle should be to end the practice of gratuitous stop sign placement and re-institute the use of APPROPRIATE TCDs. Yield signs should replace the majority of stop signs in this country.
The majority of road users treat stop signs as yield signs because that is exactly what they should be.
Rather than risking eroding bicyclist equality with special treatment, we should attack the core problem.
If we care about clean air and fuel efficiency, the stop sign problem has a greater social cost for being inflicted on motorized vehicles. And using stop signs as traffic calming devices is an adventure in missing the point.
Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 1:17 pm ¶One word: roundabouts!
Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 3:50 pm ¶Stop signs are very rare in The Netherlands. For a very good reason.
Meanwhile, here in Toronto, the local police quite openly say that they are OK with Idaho Stops and will only go after cyclists that go through intersections unsafely. See:
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/690848
Posted 05 Sep 2009 at 7:21 pm ¶