bicycle safety stop Archives

Two more studies show stop-as-yield works. Why isn’t there a bill in California?

February 3, 2025/by Jared Sanchez

A few weeks ago, we wrote about two studies showing bicycle safety stop, or stop-as-yield, laws are safe for all road users. Another study released in December 2024 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has come to the same conclusion. And yet another study from researchers at UC Berkeley’s Institute for Traffic Studies found no correlation between crash risk and the implementation of stop-as-yield laws.

Stop-as-yield allows people riding bikes to treat stop signs as yields and roll through without coming to a complete stop if they have the right of way and there’s no other traffic. Many bike riders already do this because it’s a logical way to conserve momentum on a vehicle powered by human effort. Stop-as-yield laws codify this common way of riding, setting clear expectations for all road users and reducing conflicts at intersections. Since the first such law was passed in Idaho in 1982, stop-as-yield is often called the Idaho stop. Despite this long history elsewhere, stop-as-yield for bike riders remains illegal in California.

Validating the safety of stop-as-yield

The NHTSA study follows a fact sheet released by the agency in 2023 supporting the safety of stop-as-yield laws. The study analyzed crash records in urban areas in eight states where stop-as-yield is legal and used statistical models to estimate monthly crash rates.

NHTSA Bicyclist-Yield-As-Stop-Fact-Sheet_032123_v5_tag Download

The evidence showed that stop-as-yield laws correlated with lower crash rates and didn’t increase the number of crashes involving children. These laws don’t affect the severity of bike rider crash injuries. The study also showed that stop-as-yield laws don’t lead to more reckless behavior by bike riders and could lead to more people getting around by bike.

The researchers found that the built environment was a bigger factor in collisions involving bikes than socioeconomic factors. Safe infrastructure is essential to preventing bicyclist injuries and fatalities. However, the study found a disproportionate number of Black bike riders were crash victims, a finding that highlights the need for further research.

usdot_stop as yield study Download

The UC Berkeley study used similar data, parsing crash statistics to see if crash rates went up or down after stop-as-yield was legalized in several states and comparing that data with national and state crash trends. The research found that allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields didn’t affect safety one way or the other. Since it makes bike riding easier, that’s an argument in favor of stop-as-yield.

UC Berkeley Stop-as-Yield study Download

So, if stop-as-yield laws make bike riding more appealing and reduce crashes, why can’t California pass this law? It’s complicated.

California’s twisty road to bicycle safety

California has seen bills to legalize stop-as-yield or safety stop introduced several times, and the legislature passed it in 2021, but the governor vetoed it. This year, even as Nevada proposes a stop-as-yield law and other West Coast states have recently enacted similar laws, CalBike has not found a legislator interested in introducing a bill this session.

One of the factors that stopped California’s stop-as-yield bills has undoubtedly been concerns about rising rates of traffic violence. Despite mounting evidence showing the safety of these laws, it remains difficult to convince law enforcement and legislators that allowing bike riders to treat stop signs as yields won’t increase fatalities.

Another complicating issue in the last couple of years is the steep rise in the popularity of e-bikes and, unfortunately, illegal e-motorcycles marketed as e-bikes and sold to underage riders. That, coupled with driver-caused fatal crashes and the resulting anti-e-bike hysteria in several California cities, has led to a rising public perception that bike riders are reckless. Why would we want to give these dangerous lawbreakers free rein to run stop signs?

A final roadblock is Governor Gavin Newsom. After his first veto, the author ran the bill again and it looked likely to pass the legislature once again. She pulled it at the last minute, probably because of a threatened gubernatorial veto. We may have to wait for our next governor for stop-as-yield to become law in California.

However, you never know. We’ve seen Governor Newsom move from a veto one year to signing a bill the next. CalBike will continue to push for a California stop-as-yield law. We’ve seen how perceptions can change over time with continued education and campaigning, and we won’t give up on this worthy cause.

New Studies Show No Downsides for Bicycle Safety Stop

January 9, 2025/by Jared Sanchez

Since Idaho passed its “Idaho stop” law in 1982, people on bikes have been treating stop signs as yields without any negative effects on traffic safety. As more states continue to pass similar laws, studies showing the benefits of the bike stop-as-yield, or Bicycle Safety Stop, accumulate. The latest is a pair of studies demonstrating that drivers and bike riders can easily and safely navigate intersections where the people on bikes treat stop signs as yields and that perception of the safety stop is positive or neutral, even among the car driving population.

Simulated stop-as-yield

The first study, headed by researchers from 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. The study concluded that stop-as-yield laws would work better if states included information about them in driver handbooks — something even Idaho does not do. The authors recommend more education and outreach so road users in all modes understand stop-as-yield for bike riders.

Of course, many people in cars also roll through stop signs when there are no other vehicles present; this is a common and logical behavior for all road users, though it carries different risks for people operating 2-ton machines. For bike riders, stop-as-yield is essential for efficient riding because it conserves the momentum lost when starting after coming to a complete stop. The first study also found that bike rider speed through intersections was higher, on average, when using the rolling stop, which can augment safety. This confirms other studies, such as one showing that conflicts between bike riders and car drivers at intersections went down 23% after the introduction of a stop-as-yield law in Delaware.

Bike riders roll for safety

The second study is a literature review by researchers from Gonzaga University in Washington State, the University of Idaho, and Oregon State University — all states with stop-as-yield laws. The research looked at surveys of public opinions as well as expert input on intersection safety.

One data point that jumps out is an Idaho survey of road users in all modes about why they broke traffic rules. Among bike riders, 95.9% reported breaking a traffic law, but 97.9% of pedestrians and 99.97% of drivers said they did the same. The most common reason for flouting the law among drivers (85%) and pedestrians (71%) was saving time. However, people on bikes most commonly skirted traffic regulations for their own safety (71%). This data highlights the inaccuracy of perceptions among an unfriendly segment of the driving public that bike riders are lawbreaking road anarchists.

Again, this study finds a need for better public education so people driving and biking can share the road safely.

What happened to the California Bicycle Safety Stop?

CalBike has been heavily involved in campaigning for laws to legalize bicycle stop-as-yield over the past several years, and we haven’t given up on this important advancement in bicycle safety. Unfortunately, it looks unlikely that we’ll find a champion for this bill in the legislature this year. The current panic about e-bike safety (spurred by the proliferation of electric motorcycles illegally sold as e-bikes) makes the bicycle safety stop much less likely to garner attention and support. And we may need to wait for a new governor, since Gavin Newsom has vetoed a Bicycle Safety Stop Bill in the past and seems unlikely to approve one in the future.

CalBike has heard from advocates in Nevada who are working on a bill to legalize stop-as-yield this year, and we wish them luck. The more states that adopt this sensible regulation, the greater the evidence becomes that it improves street safety rather than impairing it. We hope California will join its neighbors in enacting this legislation in the near future.

CalBike’s Agenda for 2025

December 11, 2024/by Kendra Ramsey

On December 3, around 100 advocates and supporters joined CalBike on Zoom for a recap of a momentous 2024, a celebration of 30 years of bike advocacy, and a look forward to CalBike’s 2025 agenda. In breakout sessions, participants shared more ideas and enthusiasm for some of CalBike’s top priorities, including bicycle highways and shared streets legislation. You can view the whole webinar at the bottom of this post.

CalBike’s 2025 priorities

We outlined CalBike’s 2025 priorities, which will build on successes from 2024, most notably passing the Complete Streets Bill, SB 960. We are looking for partners in Sacramento to move our legislative agenda forward and working with staffers and agency stakeholders to move our budget priorities forward and implement the Complete Streets Law.

Here are some of the key elements of CalBike’s 2025 agenda.

Bicycle highways

We plan to recommend a pilot program establishing networks of bicycle highways that are numbered and signed. The goal is to test the concept in two major metropolitan regions. The bike highways would serve trips of five miles or more, and support higher speed travel of up to 25 miles per hour. The highways would connect to other regional routes, creating links between communities and making biking an even more convenient and safe way to get around.

Shared Streets

The Open Streets and Slow Streets movements gained momentum during the pandemic. Demand for safe spaces where people of all ages can comfortably play, ride a bike, roll, and walk continues to grow, building on ideas such as School Streets.

Shared Streets would create a new roadway classification where vulnerable road users would have the right of way at all locations, not just at intersections and crosswalks. Popular in Europe, Shared Streets are slow-speed facilities that truly prioritize travel by bike and foot. They are safe and vibrant spaces built around people-powered movement.

Quick-build pilot

A perfect companion to Shared Streets is a Bikeway Quick-Build Pilot Program. The program would expedite the development and implementation of safe, protected bikeways on the state highway system, much of which runs through our towns and cities. It would also give planners and road users the opportunity to live with safer streets and iterate the design process, leading to robust community support for building more permanent facilities.

CalBike’s concept would require Caltrans to develop guidelines for implementing bikeway quick-build projects, which would be both faster and less expensive to build than hardscape changes. Quick-build would be a catalyst for the development of facilities to improve safety for people on bikes, who continue to be injured and killed on unsafe roadways while long-term planning is done.

Bike Omnibus

In 2022, Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s OmniBike Bill made several significant changes to the California Vehicle Code as it applied to biking and walking. The commonsense changes in that bill make our streets more bike-friendly, and we’d like to run another bill to build in more change to the code for people who get around by bike.

The bill would:

Clarify hand signaling: Bicyclists would not be required to provide a signal if “circumstances require that both hands be used to safely control or operate the bicycle.”
Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon: this would clarify that a person riding a bicycle would have the rights and responsibilities of a pedestrian at a PHB or HAWK beacon but shall yield to pedestrians upon and along a crosswalk.
More daylighting: Prohibit extra-tall vehicles from parking for an additional specified distance from a marked or unmarked crosswalk to improve visibility for vulnerable road users at the crossing.

The Bicycle Safety Stop

We continue to seek the introduction and passage of this commonsense regulation, which allows people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields. Similar laws have existed for more than 40 years in other states with no adverse outcomes, and the Safety Stop helps bike riders and car drivers share the road more and makes bike riding safer. Whether or not we’re able to run a bill in 2025, CalBike will keep campaigning for this law.

A new bikeway classification

Many California cities have created bike boulevards — traffic-calmed streets where people on bikes are safe to take the lane. Currently, bike boulevards are classified as a subset of Class III bikeways, on which people in cars and people on bikes share a lane. However, bike boulevards are distinct from Class III bikeways, many of which consist of sharrows on high-speed routes. It’s time to create a separate classification for these low-volume streets, many of which have diverters to prevent non-local car traffic and prioritize bicycle through traffic. Bike boulevards would become Class 5 bikeways.

E-Bike Policy

E-bike safety is a hot topic and we are having ongoing conversations with our local partners and legislators alike on issues surrounding e-bikes. There were several pilot bills in different parts of the state in 2024, as well as local ordinances cracking down on e-bikes. Some key topics include clarification of illegal electric motorcycles, which may be marketed as e-bikes but have significant differences including not having operable pedals, operating at much higher speeds, and/or being able to be modified or switched between modes to go faster than the top speed allowed for e-bikes. We recently crafted a coalition letter on the topic and will keep working to ensure that e-bikes continue to be a safe and viable form of transportation in California.

We are also talking with legislators about more money for active transportation infrastructure in next year’s budget and working with Caltrans to ensure it fully implements the new Complete Streets law. CalBike had a big year in 2024 and we’ll continue to push for a California full of bikes in 2025.

Watch the Agenda Reveal, including a look back at CalBike’s 30-year history of bicycle advocacy.

Bicycle Safety Stop FAQs

June 5, 2023/by Kevin Claxton

The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill will make it legal for people on bikes to do what they already do: slow at stop signs, stop if necessary, and proceed with care if the way is clear. It’s a commonsense bike riding maneuver that’s legal in several other states. Yet the governor has vetoed it twice, citing safety concerns. So we wanted to break down common misconceptions about the bicycle safety stop to respond to those concerns.

What is the bicycle safety stop?

The bicycle safety stop allows bicycles to treat stop signs as yields. When a bike rider comes to a stop sign, they must slow down and assess whether they have the right of way and whether it is safe to proceed. If the intersection is clear, the person on a bike may proceed. However, bikes still have to yield to pedestrians and other traffic that entered the intersection first.

Is the safety stop the same as the Idaho stop?

Yes and no. The original safety stop law, passed in Idaho in 1982, allows people on bikes to ride through red lights after coming to a full stop, in addition to treating stop signs as yields. So the bicycle safety stop, as proposed in California, resembles half of the Idaho stop law. California would not allow bike riders to treat red lights as stop signs.

Is the safety stop the same as the Delaware yield?

California’s safety stop law would be the same as the Delaware yield, which allows people on bikes to yield at stop signs.

Is the bicycle safety stop legal in California?

No. Assemblymember Tasha Boerner authored a bill to legalize the bicycle safety stop in 2021 and 2022. Both bills passed the Assembly and Senate and were vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The governor cited safety concerns in his veto messages.

In 2023, Boerner is running AB 73 in another attempt to make stop-as-yield legal for adults on bikes in California. As of this writing, it has passed the Assembly and is moving through committees in the Senate soon. Look for opportunities to raise your voice to support AB 73 in the coming months.

Is the bicycle safety stop safe?

In the six years after Delaware legalized stop-as-yield for bikes, the state police have reported that bike-involved crashes went down, most notably at intersections. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued a fact sheet in 2022, citing the safety of stop-as-yield laws. There is no evidence that the laws have made bicycling less safe anywhere they have been adopted.

Why does CalBike support the bicycle safety stop?

CalBike has long supported legalizing the bicycle safety stop.

Treating stop signs as yields makes sense for bike riders because it conserves momentum.
At bike riding speeds and with full visibility (bikes don’t have blind spots), it’s safe for bikes to yield at stop signs when the intersection is clear of other traffic.
Bike riders are safer when car drivers know what to expect. The safety stop is a common and commonsense behavior that is likely to reduce crashes.
Most bike riders never get a ticket, despite commonly treating stop signs as yields. However, we know that Black and Latino bike riders in California are targeted by police disproportionately and are more likely to be cited for minor infractions with no impact on public safety, such as rolling through a stop sign. Legalizing the safety stop will reduce the number of traffic stops for people on bikes that can sometimes become deadly police encounters.

What are the benefits of the bicycle safety stop?

The bicycle safety stop gives people in cars better information about what to expect from people on bikes, particularly at intersections. It has been shown to reduce or have no effect on crashes involving bikes. And it will make Black and Latino bike riders safer from pretextual police stops.

The safety stop allows bike riders to conserve momentum and maintain the flow of traffic, making riding more intuitive and fun. And that’s good for the climate and for neighborhood safety because the more people that bike, the safer it is to ride.

Where is the bicycle safety stop legal?

At the moment, some version of the bicycle safety stop is legal in these states:

Idaho
Washington
Oregon
Utah
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Arkansas
Delaware
District of Columbia
Minnesota (as of 8/1/2023)

Legislation is currently being considered in Virginia, New York, and Texas, and there is interest in other states and in Canada as well.

What’s the federal position on the bicycle safety stop?

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Transportation, issued a fact sheet in 2022 citing the safety and benefits of stop-as-yield laws.

Is it dangerous for bikes to treat stop signs as yields?

Legalizing the safety stop is an important step to recognizing that riding a bike is different from operating a motor vehicle and creating bike-specific regulations that make it easier for bike riders to operate legally and safely on California roadways.

The safety stop won’t cause bike riders to suddenly start blowing through stop signs or riding more dangerously. They will do what they currently do: slow down at stop signs, stop when necessary, and ride cautiously through the intersection if the way is clear. The only difference will be that this common, safe way to ride will be legal.

Why did the governor veto the bicycle safety stop before, and why won’t he veto it again?\

In the governor’s veto message, he stated he was concerned that the change in law may decrease rather than increase safety, specifically for children. Ignoring years of data from other states that have successfully implemented the law, he instead focused on faulty state traffic data that effectively blamed people on bikes for increasing collisions. This time around, more states have adopted these laws, and more data is available. In addition, this year’s bill only applies to adults, so we’re hopeful the governor will take a more reasonable position.

People on bikes already do crazy things. Won’t the safety stop make them even more dangerous?

A small minority of bike riders, like a minority of car drivers, make poor choices, disregard the safety of others, and fail to share the road considerately. If you drive a motor vehicle around people biking, you may notice the few who ride unpredictably and not the many who share the road safely and considerately.

So, no, people on bikes don’t generally do crazy things. If a bike rider blows through a stop sign and gets hit by a car, the person on the bike will fare much worse in the collision than the person in the car, so the bicyclist, a vulnerable road user, has a strong incentive to be cautious.

Unfortunately, our streets and roads were designed for people in cars. Bike riders do their best to find safe ways to get where they need to go, often without safe or adequate infrastructure. That can lead to confusion and challenges in sharing the road.

People on bikes aren’t the only ones who treat stop signs as yields on California roads. Our state is famous for the California rolling stop, where a car driver slows but doesn’t stop at a stop sign. Perhaps you do this yourself.

If someone in a 2-ton vehicle with limited visibility can safely roll through a stop sign, someone on a human-powered, low-speed, 30-pound bicycle (or even a slightly heavier and faster e-bike) with a tall vantage point and high visibility can certainly do the same.
Everyone will be safer if we make the bicycle safety stop legal. If you support the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill, sign our petition and stay tuned for chances to tell the decision-makers in Sacramento that California should legalize stop-as-yield for people on bikes.

Bike, Yield, Go: Trying to Pass the Safety Stop (Again)

April 24, 2023/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike Statement on the Withdrawal of the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill, AB 1713

September 6, 2022/by Jared Sanchez

CalBike is disappointed that AB 1713, the Bicycle Safety Stop, was withdrawn ahead of a likely veto from Governor Gavin Newsom. The bill would have allowed bike riders aged 18 and older to treat stop signs as yields. Riders would have been required to slow down, stop for pedestrians and cross traffic, and proceed carefully if the way is clear.

Once again, the governor has chosen to listen to law enforcement groups that oppose this bill. That opposition is based on biased accident data compiled by police who default to assigning blame for crashes to bike riders. A recent study added to previous data that bicyclists are often inaccurately deemed responsible for crashes.

Nine states already have similar laws on the books, and more are poised to join them. After Delaware legalized the bicycle safety stop, a study found that bike-involved collisions declined. Earlier this year, the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration endorsed stop-as-yield laws, saying, “Bicyclist stop-as-yield laws allow cyclists to mitigate risk to their advantage, increase their visibility to drivers and reduce exposure.”

While our state has embraced measures to make driving greener, it hasn’t done nearly enough to encourage alternative modes of transportation. We need to make it easier, cheaper, more convenient, and safer for people to bike, walk, and take public transit so we can reduce our dependence on private automobiles.

The bicycle safety stop is essential to creating the bike-friendly California we need. The administration’s position on this essential bike safety measure is wrongheaded and counterproductive. If, as promised, Assemblymember Boerner Horvath introduces it again in 2023, we hope Governor Newsom will have the vision to support it.

CalBike Senior Policy Advocate Reflects on Big Picture Agenda

June 30, 2022/by Jared Sanchez

by Jared Sanchez

The California State Legislature is advancing more bicycle-related bills than ever. At least three times this year, a legislative committee approved seven important policy changes in a single day. With my years of experience, I’ve never seen so much energy and attention on bicycling issues at the state level. I’m grateful to our members whose advocacy has made this possible and to the legislators advancing powerful policy changes. It’s great to watch, and I want our organization to do everything we can to influence the changemakers who are taking bold steps to make our streets safer in a year that could have a huge impact on active transportation in California.

Three goals that will bring better biking to California

These goals top CalBike’s agenda:

Build 100% complete, protected bikeway networks in five California cities in five years.

At current funding levels, most local and regional bike plans won’t be complete for another 30 years. And even then, those plans too often leave gaps where one dangerous intersection or one block of fast-moving traffic will scare most people away from biking. CalBike has proposed a new program to fund cities that build complete bikeway networks without gaps quickly. We won’t wait 30 years.

Make it easy and inexpensive to hop on a shared bike anywhere in California.

We need to subsidize bike-share as an integral part of public transit so that anybody who can afford the bus can afford a similar ride on a shared bike. Shared bikes and scooters can be just as valuable as public transit if they’re supported with the same level of funding. Good shared micromobility programs, equitably distributed and affordable, can help millions of Californians take advantage of multimodal public transit and bike trips instead of car trips and make transit more effective and efficient.

Make sure that when we talk about safe streets, we prioritize safety for Black and brown Californians.

Our policy team worked hard last year to pass bills that would have removed opportunities for pretextual policing—allowing bicyclists to treat stop signs as yields and decriminalizing safe mid-block crossings. The governor vetoed both bills, but we’re bringing them back this year with some changes that we think will garner his signature.

We can’t forget the climate crisis

Climate disaster looms closer every day. Fire, drought, and extreme weather hit disadvantaged people hardest, widening social inequities. Energy costs, including the price of gas, are rising faster than incomes, squeezing low-income people even more. We can’t separate climate policy from economic policy from transportation policy.

Bicycling is central to creating transportation policy that will meet this critical moment in California.

We know that to make transportation affordable for everyone, Californians need to be much less dependent on their cars. We can do that easily, as CalBike members well know, by relying much more heavily on bikes. And we have to make the switch quickly, in the next 10 years.

Yet California is moving very slowly to implement the changes necessary to make bicycling an easy choice for people. California’s policymakers know that bicycling is a low-cost, sustainable, healthy, and joyful transportation solution—bikeways are drawn on maps in every city and town in California. But local governments aren’t building them. That’s why CalBike’s 2022 agenda focuses on how we can speed up this transformation.

The past two years have proven that California’s lawmakers and agencies can move quickly when faced with a dire challenge. The climate crisis, and the cascade of issues that result from it, require the same level of urgent action.

No more “something is better than nothing” for bicycle infrastructure.
No more prioritizing freeway building over creating safe neighborhoods.
No more programs that advantage the comfortable and leave everyone else behind.

We can’t do this work without YOU. We rely on individual supporters, and your involvement is hugely impactful to the work we do.

This is the time for bold action. Are you with us?

Response From CalBike’s Executive Director to the Governor’s Vetoes of Bicycle and Pedestrian Bills

October 20, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

In 2021, CalBike decided to sponsor two related bills that would have legalized walking midblock across an empty street (AB 1238, Ting) or biking carefully through a stop sign at an empty intersection (AB 122, Boerner Horvath). Our goal was to broaden and strengthen the movement for the dignity and safety of people who walk and bike.

Despite the governor’s vetoes (see below), we made significant progress. More than 100 organizations and 3,000 people signed on in support of both bills. Your support made a difference.

The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill received bipartisan supermajority support. The Freedom to Walk Act started a national discussion about how we police walking in this country (covered in the New York Times and on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me”).

Newsom’s veto messages cited solidarity with our cause, if not our proposals. In his veto of the Freedom to Walk Act, he said, “unequal enforcement of jaywalking laws and the use of minor offenses like it as a pretext to stop people of color … is unacceptable.” His veto of the Bicycle Safety Stop Bill cited his “full support of safe and equitable access to the state’s transportation network for bicyclists.”

Unfortunately, the governor didn’t include specific proposals to accomplish these supposed commitments to our goals in either letter. And we are troubled by his reliance on biased SWITRS data to support conclusions about bicycle and pedestrian safety.

However, CalBike is part of a strong movement and public support for giving people the joyful option to bike safely. It’s affordable, healthy, neighborly, and sustainable. We’ve gained momentum, and we’ll use that to move us forward. CalBike is advocating for significant increases in active transportation investment at the scale needed to make our streets safe for people who bike and walk. We’ll give the governor a real chance to achieve his stated goals, and we’ll build a strong coalition with increasing public support that will make it even harder for lawmakers to reject future proposals.

Dave Snyder, Executive Director, CalBike

What Governor Newsom Got Wrong About Biking and Walking

October 20, 2021/by Kevin Claxton

On October 8, 2021, the governor vetoed two bills that CalBike had sponsored: The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill (AB 122, Boerner Horvath) and the Freedom to Walk Act (AB 1238, Ting). In both cases, he cited data collected by police and, therefore, marred by police biases. In 2021, it should be unacceptable to rely on police accounts when making decisions about public safety. On top of that, Newsom presented slices of data cherry-picked to support his vetoes.

Here’s why Governor Newsom’s statistics, and the conclusions he reached, were misleading, disingenuous, and just plain wrong.

The governor’s defective data on biking

bikes should be able to treat stop signs as yields

The governor’s veto of the Bicycle Safety Stop demonstrates how inaccurate reporting of bike crashes harms bike safety efforts. The governor cited statistics from the Statewide Integrated Traffic Reporting System (SWITRS), California’s database of crash reports compiled by police departments around the state. It is the only official source of data about the cause of traffic crashes.

In his veto message, Newsom’s claim that 88% of the people killed while biking past a stop sign were at fault displays a fundamental failure to understand safe bicycling or account for the anti-bike bias that is endemic to policing. And, unfortunately, police have only the car driver’s word for what happened after they have killed someone on a bike.

For example, when Amelie le Moullac was killed in San Francisco by a truck turning right into her path, the police report faulted the bicyclist for running into the side of the truck. SFPD didn’t even bother to look for evidence to back up this anti-bike assumption. It was the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition that found camera footage of the crash, proving that Ms. le Moullac was standing legally in the bike lane when the truck turned into her.

According to SWITRS, people on bikes and walking are constantly throwing themselves in front of law-abiding drivers and suffering death and injury as a result.

SWITRS data is unreliable. Police aren’t trained in the choices people on bikes make to ensure their safety, and they then make assumptions about who is at fault in a crash based on preconceived ideas about bicyclists’ bad behavior. Unfortunately, this unverified information influences policy debates throughout California. When the media reports on a controversial bike safety improvement, reporters cite SWITRS that claims half of all bike crashes are the bicyclist’s fault. That false statistic reduces the political will to take the actions needed to truly make the streets safe for people on bikes.

Cherry-picked pedestrian data leads Newsom to the wrong conclusion

In his veto statement for the Freedom to Walk Act, the governor used CHP talking points to blur the truth about what really makes pedestrians most vulnerable: prioritizing fast-moving cars and trucks over human life. People walking don’t stand a chance when two tons of steel take ownership of public streets, and crashes are considered the collateral damage of modern life.

jaywalking Legalize Safe Street Crossings

The biggest problem with Newsom’s cherry-picked SWITRS data is that he didn’t include ALL pedestrian crashes. He just cited fatalities, but fatal crashes represent only a small share of the accidents where cars hit pedestrians, and using this figure gives a distorted picture of street safety.

When you look at all crashes involving a car and a pedestrian, it becomes clear that it’s not those crossing outside of crosswalks that are at most danger. California’s own data show that 44% of all pedestrian crashes occur when someone is “crossing at a crosswalk in an intersection.” Almost 70% of collisions involving pedestrians are caused by the driver disregarding a traffic law.

In addition, SWITRS data is drawn from accident reports prepared by the police, who have a notoriously anti-pedestrian bias. It’s not surprising that police would find pedestrians at fault for “taking actions against traffic controls or safety laws” in 63% of fatal crashes. Police, and our society at large, don’t place enough responsibility on car drivers to share the road responsibly with other road users.

When did the penalty for walking outside of proscribed pedestrian boundaries become a death sentence?

It is inaccurate for the governor, using arguments from the CHP, to insinuate that illegal crossings are the reason for rising pedestrian fatality rates. There’s no evidence of a rise in jaywalking correlated with an increase in pedestrian fatalities. In fact, recent data from the state of Virginia shows the opposite. After the state decriminalized jaywalking earlier this year, initial data indicates that it hasn’t made pedestrians less safe.

But there is a correlation that increased distracted driving and a trend toward higher front grills, mainly on trucks and SUVs, which reduce visibility for drivers and increase the deadliness of car-pedestrian crashes that correlates with this increase.

Also, it is not surprising that the most deadly crashes happen outside of crosswalks, where drivers travel at much higher speeds.

How to get accurate accident data

The prevalence of faulty data in these reports is also an argument for reducing the police role in traffic crash reporting. The movement to refocus police energy away from such activities is growing. For instance, the City of Berkeley is considering transferring that duty to its Transportation Department to allow police officers to focus more on crimes they are better equipped to deal with, an initiative that CalBike supports.

Fact-checking SWITRS accident reports would go a long way toward changing the narrative about who causes the most harm on our street. But it will be a big job to comb through the data, investigate the facts, and prepare more truthful reports. Still, it’s a critical job. If you know someone willing to analyze the SWITRS data and provide more accurate accident data, contact Jared Sanchez at jared@calbike.org.

Governor Newsom Vetoes Bill to Improve Bike Safety

October 11, 2021/by Jared Sanchez

For Immediate Release: October 11, 2021

Contact:

Dave Snyder, 916-251-9433, dave@calbike.org

Jared Sanchez, 714-262-0921, jared@calbike.org

Governor Newsom Vetoes Bill to Improve Bike Safety

Sacramento – The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill (AB 122 – Boerner Horvath, Friedman, Ting) had broad support from the Assembly, the Senate, and people who ride bikes. CalBike is disappointed that Governor Newsom vetoed a bill that would make it legal for people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields.

Similar laws are on the books in 10 other states and have been proven to reduce collisions and improve conditions for bike riders. CalBike created a video to explain how the bicycle safety stop works, and more than 75 organizations across the state signed a letter supporting the bill.

“Governor Newsom showed today he doesn’t understand the needs of people who use bikes for everyday transportation. This commonsense law would have reduced conflict between bike riders and car drivers,” said Dave Snyder, Executive Director of CalBike. “I’m disappointed that, while climate change ravages our state, the governor blocked a popular measure that would have helped more people choose carbon-free transportation.”

CalBike Senior Policy Advocate Jared Sanchez said, “CalBike hears complaints every year about punitive sting operations that have nothing to do with safety and are sometimes used as a pretext to stop Black and Latinx people. These police interactions too often have tragic results. The Bicycle Safety Stop Bill would have been a step towards making the streets safer for every Californian.”

Assemblymember Tasha Boerner Horvath, the bill’s original author, said, “We know from the example of other states that when riders are allowed to yield at stop signs, they choose safer streets and will spend less time in dangerous intersections. It’s time for California to live up to its values and start encouraging — not penalizing — smart riding in our state.”

In Delaware, a recent study found that collisions involving bicycles at intersections decreased by 23% after the state made the safety stop legal. The governor’s veto prevents California from joining a long list of states that have implemented the safety stop: Idaho, Delaware, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Arkansas, Utah, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. None of those states have reported any safety problems after implementing this rule.

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Tag Archive for: bicycle safety stop

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Governor Newsom Vetoes Bill to Improve Bike Safety