Rolling-stop bike laws don’t lead to unsafe behavior, Oregon State study finds

PORTLAND, Ore. ( KOIN ) – In a “groundbreaking” study, researchers at Oregon State University found rolling-stop bicycle laws do not lead drivers or cyclists to act unsafe.

While recent data shows there were over 1,000 bicyclists killed in crashes involving vehicles across the United States in 2022, researchers say outreach about the laws could help.

“We evaluated safety-relevant behaviors associated with laws stemming from the ‘Idaho stop,’ which was put on the books in 1982 but largely ignored around the country until not long ago,” OSU transportation engineering professor David Hurwitz said.

Beginning in 2017, seven states have followed Idaho’s lead and implemented rolling-stop laws for bikes, including Oregon in 2019, and Washington in 2020. Other states with rolling stop laws include Arkansas, Delaware, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Utah.

While details of each law vary, they all allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs.

In their study , researchers from OSU’s College of Engineering used a novel experimental technique, using a video game-like simulator with a bicyclist and vehicle coming together at a four-way stop.

According to Hurwitz, previous research found that drivers tend to be more aggressive toward cyclists when they think cyclists are breaking the law.

The study found that after learning about the rolling stop law, cyclists preferred to yield rather than stop and ride through intersections faster. Meanwhile, drivers approached the intersection more slowly or at a similar speed after learning about the law.

According to OSU, the main reason supporters agree with the law is that it allows cyclists to keep their momentum, which may reduce congestion and crash risks in intersections as bicycles get through intersections faster.

Hurwitz noted that almost half of all car crashes with a bicycle happen at intersections.

In 2022, the latest year for the data, 1,105 bicyclists in the U.S. were killed in crashes with vehicles, OSU said, citing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration . This was a 13% increase from the 976 bicyclists who were killed in 2021.

In Oregon, there have been 103 bicyclist deaths in crashes with vehicles between 2013 and 2022, according to the NHTSA , noting 30% of those deaths occurred in intersections.

This includes 18 deaths in 2021 – which saw the highest number of deaths between those years – and 13 deaths in 2022.

The researchers said this study is important as other states consider rolling-stop laws for bikes.

“The findings suggest more outreach in regard to rolling-stop laws would be useful, and this research gives decision-makers information to support prospective legislative policies, set up educational programs and design robust enforcement practices,” Hurwitz said.

He added that outreach is particularly important for places such as the Pacific Northwest as Oregon and Washington have two of the largest percentages of bicycle commuters in the U.S. with about 22,000 bicycle commuters in Portland and about 17,000 in Seattle.

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