Great Stop Sign Video

Bicycles, Rolling Stops, and the Idaho Stop from Spencer Boomhower on Vimeo.

If only this were considered here in BC. This video is from Oregon where last year a change to cycling law was being considered. Unfortunately, the law did not pass. In practice, however, this is a great video explaining how it works in the real word, legal or not.

I wish this guy would also make a video like this about stopping at red lights. In 2005 Idaho updated their law so that cyclists could treat red lights as if they were stop signs. I haven't heard any complaints about it working there. And a video like that would go a long way towards bringing the debate about cycling in the city in line with reality.

However, I'm not sure what angle such a video would argue. This Yeild don't stop video uses the trendy idea of energy conservation as the structure for the argument. We commonly argue for the CM way of going through red lights as a group. This doesn't really apply to individuals. I think some kind of Safety based narrative could be used but unfortuntly the trends in safety thinking aren't as positive as those in energy conservation. With safety thinking we still have a lot of superstition. Evidence based analysis is still very much on the fringe.

Anyway, I thought this video was really great. Besides being well argued, the visuals are brilliant and really help make the points.