Bicycle Safety Stop Campaign

Make the Bicycle Safety Stop Legal

It’s time for California to join many other states and the NHTSA and recognize the value of stop-as-yield for bikes. It’s safe. It’s smart. It’s common sense.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

Bike Stop-as-Yield

Bicycle Safety Stop

You might know the bicycle safety stop as stop-as-yield or as the Idaho stop because Idaho was the first state to legalize it, way back in 1982. It’s time for California to make the Bicycle Safety Stop legal, too.

Every day, thousands of bike riders across California slow as they approach stop signs. They look both ways. If there is traffic, they stop; if not, they roll safely through the intersection. Right now, this is illegal under California law, but it shouldn’t be. That’s why CalBike and our allies continue to advocate for a change in the law allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields in California.

As more states adopt the safety stop, the evidence continues to mount for this common sense reform. From simulations, to real world practice, the safety stop is overdue for enactment in California.

Oregon State University placed participants in a simulator that had bike riders and car drivers navigating intersections where people on bikes were allowed to treat stop signs as yields. The study found no unsafe behavior from the bike riders and no difficulties in sharing the road from those operating motor vehicles.(1)
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has documented safety benefits in states where these laws have been evaluated.(3)
Data from Delaware shows that collisions involving bikes at intersections went down by 23% after the state adopted the bicycle safety stop.(4)

In California, CalBike has already demonstrated that the Bicycle Safety Stop can build a broad political coalition. In 2021, AB 122 passed the Legislature with bipartisan support before Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed it. The following year, AB 1713 again drew strong support and passed the Assembly, but was withdrawn ahead of an anticipated veto. These efforts established a foundation for reform: lawmakers across party lines could agree that the rules of the road should reflect how people safely ride bicycles. The task now is to turn that agreement into law. As California looks toward its next administration, a future governor could open the door to this critical reform.

Sources and further reading:

Research on driver and bicyclist behavior under stop-as-yield rules — Woodside and colleagues, Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies (2024).In a connected driving and bicycling simulator study, researchers found no unsafe bicyclist behavior under the rolling-stop rules tested. The study also highlighted the need for education and outreach.
Characterization of Expert and Public Perceptions of Bicycle Rolling Stop Laws — Young and colleagues, Transportation Research Record (2024).Research in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington found that bicyclists generally viewed the laws’ impacts as neutral to positive, while the broader public’s views were mostly neutral. Researchers identified gaps in awareness and a need for public education.
Bicyclist “Stop-As-Yield” Laws and Safety Fact Sheet — National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2023).This federal overview summarizes research showing safety benefits in states where stop-as-yield laws were evaluated and explains that riders must still yield to other traffic.
Delaware Yield Crash Data — Bike Delaware, citing Delaware State Police data (2018).Crashes involving bicycles at stop-sign-controlled intersections fell by 23% in the 30 months after the law’s passage, compared with the preceding 30 months. This is a before-and-after comparison, rather than proof that the law alone caused the decline.

Localities that have passed the bicycle safety stop

Place	Year passed	What the law allows
Idaho	1982	Stop signs may be treated as yields; riders may proceed through a red light after stopping and yielding.
Delaware	2017	Stop-as-yield applies at intersections with roads of two lanes or fewer; red lights remain unchanged.
Arkansas	2019	Stop signs may be treated as yields; red lights may be treated as stop signs.
Oregon	2019	Stop signs and flashing red signals may be treated as yields; steady red lights remain unchanged.
Washington	2020	Stop signs may be treated as yields; the law does not create a general red-light exception.
North Dakota	2021	Stop signs may be treated as yields; the safety stop law does not change steady red lights.
Oklahoma	2021	Stop signs may be treated as yields; riders may proceed through red lights after stopping and yielding.
Utah	2021	Stop signs may be treated as yields. A separate rule allows riders aged 16 or older to proceed through a red light after stopping and waiting at least 90 seconds.
Colorado	2022	Riders aged 15 or older, and younger riders accompanied by an adult, may treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs.
Minnesota	2023	Stop signs may be treated as yields; traffic lights remain unchanged.
New Mexico	2025	Stop signs may be treated as yields; riders may proceed through red lights after stopping and yielding.
South Carolina	2026	Stop signs may be treated as yields; riders may proceed through red lights after stopping and yielding. Right turns on red require slowing and yielding but not a complete stop.
Washington, D.C.	2022	Stop signs may be treated as yields. Riders may turn right on red after stopping; other movements on red require specific signage.
Anchorage, Alaska	2023	A local, rather than statewide, law allows bicyclists and other vulnerable road users to yield at stop signs and proceed through red lights after stopping when safe.

OUR APPROACH

CalBike Video Explaining the Bicycle Stop as Yield Law

Thank you to Spencer Boomhower for the animation, originally created to promote the Idaho stop in Oregon.

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WHY IT MATTERS

4 Reasons to Support the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill:

Safety

Our streets are safer when everyone knows what to expect from each other. Legalizing the commonsense move of slowing and rolling through a stop sign on a bike reduces conflicts between bike riders and car drivers.

Uniformity

California’s neighboring states have adopted similar laws. The bicycle safety stop will help bike riders throughout the West know what to expect.

Respect

A minority of car drivers will use any excuse to stereotype people who ride bikes as outlaws. These anti-bike attitudes lead to harassment and threatening behavior on the streets and, in a few cases, to outright violence against bike riders. Legalizing the safety stop recognizes the rights of people on bikes to share the streets and affirms that they are riding responsibly when they practice the bicycle safety stop.

Equity

Like other minor infractions, failure to stop is disproportionately enforced against poor and BIPOC people. Removing the infraction takes away one tool of oppression.