Poll of the Day > are bicyclists allowed to ignore stop signs?

(+) Yeah! (+)

i've never seen someone on a bicycle stop at a stop sign. shit is weird. they obey traffic lights but ignore stop signs.

---

Varies with local laws obviously, but around here cyclists mutatis mutandis are required to follow the exact same laws as motor vehicles.

---

I think they are supposed to but yeah they usually do not. Its confusing.

---

No.

Sharing the road means cars and cyclists obey the same rules.

---

A bicycle is a vehicle. If theyre on the road they have to follow the same rules as if they were driving a car.

---

if I were to guess from observation I'd say that bicycles don't have to follow any rules, ever

---

honk your horn if you witness it, they clearly aren't paying attention, ok?

---

It depends on the local laws.

While a bike is a vehicle, it is still not a car. Bikes travel at lower speeds and are capable of less damage. If a bicyclist has the time to safely check the intersection while maintaining a low speed without coming to a complete stop, then maybe the stop isn't entirely necessary. It depends on the exact behavior in the situation, just like cars. Bringing your car down to 2-3 mph is going to look close enough to a stop while many people who do a 'rolling stop' are closer to 10-15, the speed you go with light to no pressure on the brake while not on the accelerator. And those two situations should be looked at differently, because they are different, instead of slapping the same label on them because NeItHeR tEcHnIcALlY StOpPeD

Bicyclists are inventivized to be paying attention around intersections because if a motorist and bicyclist collide, guess which one is going to be taking more damage?

---

Do you let the bike take the entire lane, and follow behind them until you hit a dotted line and it's safe to pass?

No.

You don't treat that bike as another car.

So don't worry about it. You don't really belive in "share the road".

---

I wish I could post a picture on here of a bicyclist that didnt stop for a stop sign in Brooklyn.

Furthermore she was on the side walk riding and then transitioned to cross the street.

Long story short... she got hit by a huge truck and her body is mangled in a gruesome yet fascinating way. Im talking about limbs wrapped around and through the bike in ways that wouldnt be possible without the bones inside being broken in dozens of places.

---

Depends on if they are on the road or not. If they're on the sidewalk, I don't think the same rules apply. But on the road, they do...
---

they piss me off when there a bike path or empty road next to them and yet they rather force people walking on FOOTPATHS to stop or walk onto the road.

pissed some guy off once because i pointed to the bike path well walking on the foot path forcing them to move and there was even an empty road right next to us

---

Well they are SUPPOSED to stop, but I have rarely seen any bicyclist do what they are supposed to do.

---

BlazeAndBlade posted...

they piss me off when there a bike path or empty road next to them and yet they rather force people walking on FOOTPATHS to stop or walk onto the road.

pissed some guy off once because i pointed to the bike path well walking on the foot path forcing them to move and there was even an empty road right next to us

i think they are supposed to use the bike path if there is one. they can get pulled over by the police if they are using the sidewalk when there is a bicycle lane. at least in california i think.

---

I imagine it varies a bit from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, but generally, bikes are required to obey all applicable traffic laws, including coming to a complete stop at stop signs. In practice, I personally end up doing rolling stops pretty frequently because it's kind of a pain to come to a complete stop on a bike, and the fact that I'm going relatively slowly and have no blind spots means I can pretty comfortably be certain that nobody is coming without having to fully stop. That is against the letter of the law, but it at least follows the spirit of it in that I do not ignore stop signs and I do yield right of way appropriately whenever I encounter one (I come to a complete stop if I can't go right away when I get there). You may be seeing cyclists doing that, in which case, it's probably altogether legal, but it is safe and I'd say that's okay.

Now, the ones that ignore stop signs and blow through them, cutting off people that have right of way? They're just terrible and don't belong on the road and give competent ones a bad name. Treat them accordingly.

LinkPizza posted...

Depends on if they are on the road or not. If they're on the sidewalk, I don't think the same rules apply. But on the road, they do...

I've never lived anywhere where bikes are even allowed on the sidewalk, though that very frequently gets ignored. If they are on the sidewalk, the expectation is that they dismount and walk across crosswalks according to the rules that govern pedestrians, so while it's not technically wrong to say they don't have to obey stop signs, they still are not permitted to ignore the intersection entirely and zip out with no regard for oncoming traffic (for obvious reasons).

---

Cyclists think they're the most important people in the world.

When I lived in Boston they were the biggest assholes on the road. They'd weave in and out of traffic, cut you off, run stop signs, and then cry and cry and cry when one of them got turned into a stain on the road.

Wanna share the streets? Follow the rules.

---

adjl posted...

I've never lived anywhere where bikes are even allowed on the sidewalk, though that very frequently gets ignored.

Im not sure if its changed as I got older, or was always this way and I didnt know/care as a kid, tbh. I just know as a kid, I was told ride on the sidewalk so I wouldnt get hit by a car. And other kids did, too. Also, kids in my current neighborhood do, too. But many places around here also dont have sidewalks, so...

adjl posted...

they still are not permitted to ignore the intersection entirely and zip out with no regard for oncoming traffic

Well, even pedestrians shouldnt do that...
---

Depends I suppose.

If cyclists have to go on the road, then yes, same road same rules.
If there is a separate cyclist lane, only if the sign is to the right of the cycling lane.

Signs between the road and the cyclist lane only apply to the road, unless I am completely misremembering for now.

---

LinkPizza posted...

Im not sure if its changed as I got older, or was always this way and I didnt know/care as a kid, tbh. I just know as a kid, I was told ride on the sidewalk so I wouldnt get hit by a car. And other kids did, too. Also, kids in my current neighborhood do, too. But many places around here also dont have sidewalks, so...

It's usually waived for kids. I don't know of specific regulations to that effect, and in practice I think it is technically illegal and you get the occasional turbo-Karen calling the cops on kids riding their bikes on her sidewalk, but it's generally accepted that if you can't ride appreciably faster than a jogger would be going, the sidewalk's safe enough.

LinkPizza posted...

Well, even pedestrians shouldnt do that...

They shouldn't, but if they do, pedestrians are usually moving slowly enough that there's time to react. Bikes, on the other hand, typically move 3-5 times faster than pedestrians (at least on the sidewalk, since it's harder to go fast there), so if they do that, it's likely to cause some problems.

Nichtcrawler X posted...

Depends I suppose.

If cyclists have to go on the road, then yes, same road same rules.
If there is a separate cyclist lane, only if the sign is to the right of the cycling lane.

Signs between the road and the cyclist lane only apply to the road, unless I am completely misremembering for now.

Bearing in mind that the Netherlands generally have some of the most bike-friendly cycling laws in the world and actually have the infrastructure for separate signage to be reasonable. I can't say I've ever seen a stop sign in North America that explicitly didn't apply to the bike lane.

---