Stop signs don't work for bicycling

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Stop signs don't work for bicycling

Posted Apr 25, 2011 by Mia Birk

[Excerpt] Riding my bicycle home not long ago, I encountered a police officer videotaping bicyclists at Ladd Circle, on one of Portland’s most popular bikeways. More than 4,000 cyclists a day circumnavigate the large, landscaped roundabout — the salient feature of the historic Ladd’s Addition neighborhood.

A couple times a year, neighbors complain about cyclists rolling through the stop signs. Police then hand out a couple dozen $242 tickets and go back to ignoring the situation. Once again, someone had complained.

Sure, cyclists don’t stop at this or practically all stop-controlled intersections. Most motorists don’t come to a complete stop either, as the officer acknowledged, though crash statistics give the location a clean bill of health. This intersection, with its wide expanse of asphalt and circular nature, seems tailor-made for the rolling river of whooshing tires and strong legs flowing to and from downtown.

From the officer’s perspective, the law is the law. He’s just doing his job...

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Originally published April 21, 2011 at SustainableLife.

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