San Francisco cyclists brought traffic to a halt last week by stopping at every red light and crossing in response to a police crackdown on red light jumping.
Hundreds of cyclists rode across the Wiggle - a zigzag on-road bike route which avoids the city's hills - in single file during evening rush hour in response to a police directive to punish cyclists for riding through stop signs.
Riders approached every stop line as cars must do, coming to a complete halt and only moving forward when they have the right of way, rather than making a 'rolling stop' as many cyclists currently do. Their point was bikes shouldn't be treated the same as cars as they don't present the same dangers.
"The thing you say you want — every cyclist to stop at every stop sign — you really don't want that," Morgan Fitzgibbons, one of the protest's organisers, told SF Weekly. "You're going to destroy traffic in every neighborhood that has a heavy dose of cyclists."
Campaigners say police should be focusing on law-breaking drivers, who present far greater risk to safety than cyclists. During the protests drivers were reported honking their horns in frustration and confusion about the delays and over why cyclists weren't riding through the junctions as normal.
San Francisco Police Department's (SFPD) Captain John Sanford called for the crackdown in June after witnessing cyclists overtaking him in the Park District. "I'm in an unmarked black police car, and they're just zipping past," he said.
"bicyclists are required to follow the rules of the road," Sanford said. "There's a thing called a stop sign that bicycles are supposed to stop at."
The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), criticised Sanford's focus on bikes given the SFPD signed up to Vision Zero, supposedly targeting the five most common causes of traffic injuries, all of which are violations by motor vehicle drivers.
In a recent blog the SFBC said: "The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is shocked to see SFPD shifting resources away from enforcing against the deadliest traffic behaviors. SFPD has a long way to go towards fulfilling their own promises to make our roads safer for everyone who bikes, walks and drives."
Protesters are calling for the city and California to adopt the Idaho Stop law, introduced in Idaho in 1982, which allows cyclists to treat stop signs as give way signs, and red lights as stop signs, allowing them to proceed if the junction is clear. This allows them to clear the junction faster, increasing rider safety and clearing the way for motor traffic.
City policymaker, John Avalos, who endorsed the Idaho Stop following the protest, said: "The law makes absolute sense.
"Stop signs are major hindrance to bike safety and have an impact on pedestrian safety,"
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Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
The chaos this crackdown is causing should not be underestimated. Although not living there now, in the past I was a bicycle commuter in San Francisco and there are large neighbourhoods with dozens of stop signs every 100 m (eg. Sunset and Richmond). There are thoroughfares for drivers to divert to, but cyclists are mostly stuck on the residential streets to go through these areas.
The use of stop signs in the USA as a traffic calming measure is completely daft IMHO and making cyclist obey them is even more daft.
Given the tiny number of stop signs in the UK (only on junctions with dangerous restricted view generally) I am quite happy stopping at them on my bike. I don't think I'd be so happy in the USA.
I was in New York state earlier this year and I must say that 4-way stop junctions make no sense at all. For cyclists or motorists. It's really annoying to have to stop every few yards in a town when you're not giving way. Also when it's busy it's a pain remembering exactly what order everyone turned up!
Anyway, if we could get red lights to mean give way if you're on a bike in the UK I would be very happy.
Anyway, if we could get red lights to mean give way if you're on a bike in the UK I would be very happy.
Not sure about that - I think it London it might be a recipe for disaster. I do think that the US's "Right on Red" rule would work really well for cyclists in the UK.
Except it wouldn't be right, it would be left.
And then you couldn't say "Left on Red" because you lose the alliteration.
And then you couldn't say "Left on Red" because you lose the alliteration.
You get a nice bit of assonance though. It rhymes. That's how I remember which colour reflectors are on those poles beside roads on bends: red - left, white - right.
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I admire the 4 way stop sign system in the U.S. Could you see 4 British drivers choosing who was first at every crossroads...
The chaos this crackdown is causing should not be underestimated. Although not living there now, in the past I was a bicycle commuter in San Francisco and there are large neighbourhoods with dozens of stop signs every 100 m (eg. Sunset and Richmond). There are thoroughfares for drivers to divert to, but cyclists are mostly stuck on the residential streets to go through these areas.
Shouldn't be a shocker as Americans generally do as they're told by Authoritative types.
The use of stop signs in the USA as a traffic calming measure is completely daft IMHO and making cyclist obey them is even more daft.
Given the tiny number of stop signs in the UK (only on junctions with dangerous restricted view generally) I am quite happy stopping at them on my bike. I don't think I'd be so happy in the USA.
I was in New York state earlier this year and I must say that 4-way stop junctions make no sense at all. For cyclists or motorists. It's really annoying to have to stop every few yards in a town when you're not giving way. Also when it's busy it's a pain remembering exactly what order everyone turned up!
Anyway, if we could get red lights to mean give way if you're on a bike in the UK I would be very happy.
Not sure about that - I think it London it might be a recipe for disaster. I do think that the US's "Right on Red" rule would work really well for cyclists in the UK.
Except it wouldn't be right, it would be left.
And then you couldn't say "Left on Red" because you lose the alliteration.
"Red light left"?
You get a nice bit of assonance though. It rhymes. That's how I remember which colour reflectors are on those poles beside roads on bends: red - left, white - right.
That Idaho stop law does actually make a lot of sense.
Nice one SF!
Maybe traffic lights & stop signs aren't always the best form of junction & motor vehicle speed control?
But then having roads so wide it's hard to see the other side cannot help the situation either.
San Francisco cyclists, I salute you! :