The Center Square<\/a>) \u2014 Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman is the prime sponsor of a proposal that would make stop signs and red lights function as yields for all Pennsylvania cyclists.<\/p>\nThis, after\u00a0current research\u00a0has found forcing cyclists to stop at intersections often creates unnecessary and dangerous situations for both cyclists and motorists.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania law treats pedal bikes the same as vehicles. This means that a biker must come to a full and complete stop at a stop sign or red light regardless if there is any traffic for which to stop. This also means that not stopping, even if waved off by a motorist, is still illegal.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a cyclist myself I\u2019ve noticed the inconsistency of interactions between cyclists and motorists,\u201d said Coleman, R-Lehigh\/Bucks. \u201cIt creates a lot of ambiguity.\u201d<\/p>\n
This \u201cambiguity\u201d not only makes intersections disproportionately more dangerous for bikers, but can also increase a motorist\u2019s collision rate, Coleman said. Without knowing proper procedure, motorists will often forgo their right-of-way and risk being rear-ended when they abruptly stop for bikers.<\/p>\n
While biking in urban areas is a popular mode of no-emissions transportation, cyclists are unfortunately more likely to experience dangerous miscommunication there than anywhere else.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the cities it\u2019s even more of an issue because there are a lot more interactions in the intersections; a lot more fatal interactions.\u201d Coleman said. \u201cSo you try to remove that by just letting the cyclists use common sense at the traffic control devices.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today,\u00a081%\u00a0of cyclist deaths occur in urban areas and bicycle collisions with a car continue to occur at intersections at\u00a0rates\u00a0higher than any other location.<\/p>\n
Dean Auchenbach, the president of the Lebanon Valley Bicycle Coalition, hopes that this legislation will, in addition to dispelling misinformation, ease some of the tension he has witnessed between cyclists and motorists.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest complaints I get is about cyclists not stopping at stop signs or red lights,\u201d Auchenbach said. \u201cSo I think what it\u2019s going to take, if that were to pass, is a big education campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without proper education, Auchenbach worries the distinction between a yield and a green light may dangerously blur and bikers will maintain a\u00a0 \u2018I don\u2019t have to stop anywhere,\u2019 attitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou [cyclists] still have a responsibility to make sure it\u2019s clear before you proceed,\u201d Auchenbach said.<\/p>\n
Proper procedure for how to treat cyclists is already part of a driver\u2019s permit test, and Coleman would require this new legislation to be included. Similarly, license renewals would incorporate up to date cyclists\/motor policy.<\/p>\n
Education on this \u201ccommon sense measure\u201d however, will only describe what is already practiced by many bikers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re not going to come to a complete stop,\u201d Auchenbach said. \u201cIf you\u2019re riding a bike and you come to an intersection, and everybody\u2019s got a stop sign and there\u2019s not a car in sight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this were to pass, it would legitimize what really happens out there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since 1982 more than a dozen states have enacted \u201cStop as yield\u201d legislation and have cited a reduction in crash rates. Coleman believes this can be the case for Pennsylvania, but has his doubts that Harrisburg will make biker safety a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemocrats and Republicans ride bikes and they should want to increase the safety,\u201d Coleman said. \u201cThe question is will it rise enough to be a concern?\u201d<\/p>\n
For Auchenbach, who has been teaching Pennsylvania\u2019s youth how to safely ride their bikes and advocating for greater consideration on the road for years, this issue definitely does.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt all comes down to sharing the road,\u201d Auchenbach said. \u201cWe all want to get to where we\u2019re going and arrive alive.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Julia Kramer | The Center Square (The Center Square) \u2014 Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman is the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-263347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}