A Plea for the Idaho Stop
Early this evening, while riding on quiet side streets, I encountered two drivers who completely ignored stop signs. They didn't even slow down.
Please, drivers, at least slow down and look left and right before blowing through a stop sign!
Don't even get me started on how many drivers I saw make right turns on red (not) after stopping...
Views: 782
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Scott Chillson on
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I'm cool with bikes doing that stuff b/c if we crash doing something illegal we're the only ones who get hurt, but cars are different.
Sometimes I wonder if when drivers see bikes breaking(bending) laws it encourages them. I have a video of me running a red light (nobody around) and a driver running it moments later.
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Permalink Reply by Skip Montanaro 0mi on
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Scott Chillson said:Sometimes I wonder if when drivers see bikes breaking(bending) laws it encourages them. I have a video of me running a red light (nobody around) and a driver running it moments later.
Perhaps, but my experience tells me they aren't following cyclists' leads. Cagers are capable of figuring out how to run red lights/stop signs without any external hints. :-)
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Permalink Reply by S on
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Scott Chillson said:I'm cool with bikes doing that stuff b/c if we crash doing something illegal we're the only ones who get hurt, but cars are different.
That's not true. Aside from the peds that can get hurt or injured and there's always the instance where others end up hurt trying to avoid the cyclist. E.g. a while ago, a car trying to avoid a cyclist that ran a red in hyde park nearly hit another car and a woman and the stroller she was pushing.
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Permalink Reply by Rich S on
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I get that most drivers won't come to a complete stop at 4 way stop signs unless they need to yield right of way. I notice that drivers are better when turning onto a main street but then they would get t-boned so there is self preservation there.
What I can't stand is that those same drivers Jeff mentioned probably bitch and moan when they see bikers run a stop sign or read some flame piece is on the internet. I got into it last year with my job's IT director when he straight up told me bikers break more laws than drivers. I asked if he counted speeding and pointed out that someone going 56 in a 55 is breaking the law for as long as they're going that fast. But a biker runs a stop sign and the "crime" is over in 3 seconds. Foot placed directly in mouth although he was quite adamant that he never speeds.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Bedno on
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+11
something about being in those hurtling metal boxes makes people crazy
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Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on
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-5
We already have a de facto Idaho Stop Law in Chicago.
The entire state of Idaho has a population of 1.6 million and an area of 82,000 square miles.
The state of Illinois has a population of 13 million and an area of 55,000 square miles.
Chicago has a population of 2.7 million and a population density of almost 12,000/square mile.
Trying to pass statewide legislation to change the Illinois Traffic Statutes to codify a "right" which for the most part, we already enjoy, strikes me as a tremendous waste of time and energy.
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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on
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In the course of about an hour yesterday, I witnessed two drivers blowing through solid red lights at busy intersections. Also in the last few months, my husband and I have both seen drivers ignoring a red light after they came to a full stop. During the day. No one was around, so "no harm" but still. Last time I saw that behavior regularly was in Taiwan, circa 1988, by cab drivers, in the middle of the night.
Maybe the years and years of minimal/no enforcement of traffic violations in Chicago has led us here. During only one week in Southern California last week, I saw two drivers getting moving violation citations, which is the same number I've seen in Chicago in the last, oh, 7-10 years.
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Permalink Reply by Not too hip on
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I actually got a ticket for a right on red without stopping. The video proof was conclusive (in a car).
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Permalink Reply by Eli on
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It's clear that the percentage of drivers who understand that a stop sign requires that you stop at the intersection, and that having previously come to a stop behind another car which was already stopped at the stop sign does not count, is in the low single digits.
I can't count the number of times I've stopped at a four-way stop, waited for the one waiting car to proceed, then taken my turn only to be nearly killed by a second car following the first without waiting its turn.
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Permalink Reply by dan brown on
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nice reply rich !
Rich S said:I get that most drivers won't come to a complete stop at 4 way stop signs unless they need to yield right of way. I notice that drivers are better when turning onto a main street but then they would get t-boned so there is self preservation there.
What I can't stand is that those same drivers Jeff mentioned probably bitch and moan when they see bikers run a stop sign or read some flame piece is on the internet. I got into it last year with my job's IT director when he straight up told me bikers break more laws than drivers. I asked if he counted speeding and pointed out that someone going 56 in a 55 is breaking the law for as long as they're going that fast. But a biker runs a stop sign and the "crime" is over in 3 seconds. Foot placed directly in mouth although he was quite adamant that he never speeds.
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The solution is to stop misusing 4-way stops as traffic calming devices.
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