On July 1st, Senate Bill 73, the Idaho Stop bill, which was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Lujan-Grisham, takes effect. This is a statewide law! This allows bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, this slow down and proceed if it is safe to do so, i.e., if no cross traffic is in close approach. Likewise, bicyclists can treat red lights as stop signs, thus not having to wait through a full red light cycle or languish at a traffic-actuated light that fails to sense a bicyclist; you can proceed if the way is clear. The NM Political Reporter covered this a while ago, but just in case some missed it, here is a reminder.
The operative phrase here is "you can proceed through a stop sign after slowing, observing and yielding if necessary, or proceed through a red light after stopping and checking for traffic and go if it is safe to do so". This doesn't create a carte blanche situation where a cyclist can proceed without yielding right of way to traffic that does not have a stop sign, or traffic with the green light. So don't compete for the Darwin Award.
Also, be aware that various signalized intersections have multiple right of way phases for straight through and turning traffic. So even if traffic stops in one direction, turning traffic may get a green arrow while traffic not conflicted with the green arrow can proceed. So don't jump the gun and end up as a hood ornament. Know how the traffic light cycles work before you enter the intersection. That may mean studying signalized intersections on your usual routes.
There are various articles out there on this law as it applied in other states (and the laws vary from state to state), so I won't belabor the point here. There are no data showing this increases crashes. In fact, some data shows a correlation with fewer crashes.
Be aware of the law, and if someone asks, be prepared to explain the new law. I suspect a lot of people will say "huh?"
And as always, let's be careful out there.
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