Friday, August 7, 2009

Bicycle Efficiency is a Win for Everybody

I just heard about the Idaho Stop Law, and I like it.

When I think about making bicycle commuting more attractive I usually think about increasing the number of bike lanes and bike paths. That's a policy which would greatly benefit me as a bicylce commuter, but whose net economic value for the community is arguable. But the Idaho Stop Law is a costless means of making bicycle commuting more efficient and feasible.

I think that it's enough of a bright-line rule that the automobile-driving public would understand it and be able to apply it without much fuss. Plus, hopefully this policy would not only legalize some of the common practices of bicyclists (guilty) but reduce the amount of really annoying and dangerous bicycle anarchism.

I'm not sure about the advocacy video though.

Thanks to Common Tragedies for the story.