Should cyclists have to come to a complete stop at stop signs, as drivers are supposed to, or are bicycles---traveling at low speeds, with no blind spots, not surrounded by two tons of glass and steel---fundamentally different than cars?

In the Portland Tribune, bike consultant Mia Birk makes a convincing case for the latter view. Stop signs, she writes,

are placed at intersections to keep two-ton vehicles from crashing into each other. One- to two-hundred-pound riders on bicycles do not need to come to a complete stop to avoid serious injury.

While stop signs are an efficient and effective way to delineate right of way for motorists, cyclists need something different.

A potential solution: at Ladd Circle and many other intersections, we can add yield signs and pavement markings to govern cyclist behavior. This is the approach of the bicycle-friendly cities of Europe. However, it’s easier said than done, for numerous technical, financial and political reasons.

Or, engineers can remove or flip stop signs to favor cyclist flow, while calming motor vehicle speeds with speed bumps. Examples can be found on excellent new “neighborhood greenways” such as Northeast Going Street.

A bicycle is not a motor vehicle. To expect bicycle riders to behave exactly like motorists is like expecting kayakers to follow the same rules as motor boaters. Ultimately, we need to tailor a set of laws that is based on cycling as its own form of transportation, rather than today’s the-bicycle-is-mostly-the-same-as-a-motor vehicle line of thinking.

If you cycle regularly, I suspect you understand. If you don’t, you’re probably getting ready to fire off a nasty email. Try this instead: get your bike out of the garage, pump up the tires, and try riding to the coffee shop, library, or a friend’s house. Use Portland’s fine network of neighborhood bikeways, and see if you think that coming to a complete and full stop is necessary to assure safety for yourself and your fellow residents.

Think the idea of allowing cyclists to simply slow down at stop signs is a radical, nutso, maybe even Dutch idea? Think again: The model for allowing cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs is right in our backyard, in Idaho.