General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSan Francisco May Let Bicyclists Yield at Stop Signs
SAN FRANCISCO Hundreds of defiant bicyclists lined up single file here in July to protest, halting car traffic in a one-mile zigzag of streets known as the Wiggle that is popular among riders. Motorists honked and heckled during their stalled evening commute, as cyclists crept along to make their point: that they want the common practice of treating stop signs as yield signs rolling through them slowly and coming to a stop only if necessary to be legalized, for practical reasons.
Law enforcement officials had threatened to crack down on cyclists who failed to stop at signs, and the Wiggle stop-in protest was in response to their threat. Still, the police made good on their warning, issuing 204 citations over two days in August. Not to be silenced, 100 cyclists showed up at a community meeting to vent, and the crackdown was suspended.
Angry confrontations among bicyclists, motorists and pedestrians are common in many cities, but tensions in San Francisco have been heightened with the introduction of a bill that would permit bike riders to yield instead of stop at stop signs (but not at red lights, which bikers would still have to observe the same way motorists do). The proposed ordinance, backed by a majority on San Franciscos Board of Supervisors, is expected to come up for a vote in December. If it passes, Mayor Edwin M. Lee has vowed to veto it, telling The San Francisco Chronicle, Im not willing to trade away safety for convenience.
If the supervisors prevail over a veto, San Francisco will become the largest city in the United States to pass a stop-as-yield law. Idaho and a few Colorado counties are the only places in the United States that permit the rolling stop, commonly called the Idaho stop because of its legality there since 1982. Paris adopted a similar law this summer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/us/san-francisco-may-let-bicyclists-yield-at-stop-signs.html
It's been amazing over the last ten years to see SF transformed. Thousands of cyclists where there were hundreds commuting just a few years ago. A big part of the credit goes to https://www.sfbike.org/
Here is a map of the thousands injured and killed by CARS in SF. (2005 and 2011) Bikes are not the problem. During that same time 2 pedestrians have been killed by cyclists. One in the castro the other embarcadero.
http://ww2.kqed.org/news/2015/02/15/san-francisco-cyclist-pedestrian-accident-maps
Recursion
(56,582 posts)I have never (knock wood) been hit by a car. I have been plowed into three fucking times by cyclists who can't be bothered to obey the damn stop signs that the city thoughtfully put up to protect pedestrians.
"Share the road -- but we won't"
"Exercise is one of the reasons we tout cycling, but don't make me start up pedaling again; that's too hard!"
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Stop signs are not put up to protect pedestrians. They use crosswalks in SF for that.
msongs
(67,193 posts)ChazII
(6,198 posts)Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)So I'm not sure what your point is.
WillowTree
(5,325 posts)And such a law should include airtight wording that makes any car vs. bike accident a stop sign intersection automatically the cyclist's full responsibility, including for any damages to people, pets and/or property.
fishwax
(29,146 posts)"And such a law should include airtight wording that makes any car vs. bike accident a stop sign intersection automatically the cyclist's full responsibility, including for any damages to people, pets and/or property."
So a car can run a stop sign and hit a bike, but it would be the cyclist's fault according to the law?
petronius
(26,580 posts)makes me want to change my mind...
AZ Progressive
(3,411 posts)signs. Bike riders are generally treated pretty leniently.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)cyclists. The cyclists got even by following the law.
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-bicyclists-set-to-stage-2nd-stop-in-6436582.php
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)I find that most car drivers EXPECT me to break the law
but I do not - not when somebody else has the right of way (as in - they got to a 4 way stop sign before I did)
However I am NOT going to stop for an empty intersection, and think it is highly absurd to demand that I do. I am generally going pretty slow anyway - for safety reasons. But that doesn't mean I want to stop and restart for NO reason other than some authoritarian's intolerance.
The S.F. mayor is a jackass.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)Start at 1:48
Oh yeah, and this too:
no_hypocrisy
(45,759 posts)by bicyclists hit by vehicles as they sail through STOP signs. Defendants would include not only the drivers of the vehicles but in fact, the city of San Francisco for allowing bicyclists to go through STOP signs.
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Bicycles will not be allowed to sail through stop signs.
Usually the loser in a car-bicycle collision is not the car. All this does is require cyclists to slow down at a stop sign and not come to a complete stop.
It's unlikely the city would face any more liability than locations that have had this rule for years. It's nothing new in the states. Just the city.
no_hypocrisy
(45,759 posts)Thanks.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Then they routinely break the law by speeding in a vehicle that will smash a bicyclist or pedestrian to so much strawberry jam.
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,282 posts)The cops sure don't. They seem to always do a "rolling stop".