Stop means Stop, right?

"Mom, that's a stop sign. Does that mean we have to stop?"
I was biking with my 7-year old daughter back home from a Girls Scout bike outing. This was the first time she was riding on the street with me on her own bike (we usually ride a family tandem or trailer bike).

Prior to embarking on a bicycle trip with eight Brownie Girl Scouts, we did a little bit of preparation on safety, and following the rules of the road.
In the church basement, where we usually meet, I held up a red paper stop sign.
"What does this say?"
"STOP!"
"What do you do when you see this sign?"
"STOP!!!"
"If you are on a bicycle, do you still have to stop?"
"Yes!" most girls yelled, but one wasn't sure: "No?"
As a Girl Scout leader, I assured her that yes, the law required her to stop at a stop sign, even while riding a bike.
But here I was now, approaching a quiet street corner with my daughter, and I realized with sharp clarity, that, as a cyclist, I never stop at stop signs.
Sure, I stop when there are other vehicles approaching the intersection at the same time. Especially large, motorized vehicles, with drivers who don't appear to be paying attention. You better believe I stop, planting one foot firmly on the ground, and allowing them to wrest the right of way from me. I'm not proud.
But it's the presence of the automobiles, not the stop sign, that makes me halt.
Frankly, as a cyclist, I treat the stop sign more like a flashing yellow light: proceed with caution. It would be completely ridiculous for me to come to a full stop riding on side streets, where stop signs are planted at every block. What I do instead, and I do it without thinking, is to shift down a step or two, coast briefly, and jut my head slightly forward to get a better view of the intersection, and, if all is clear, or if the approaching driver waves me on, pedal on through.
I did stop at the intersection with my daughter, even though no car was coming. And, as we started pedaling again, I explained to her that the rules of the road were made with automobiles in mind, and are not always practical for cyclists. And that as a cyclist, sometimes you have to use judgment and common sense.
"Does that mean you sometimes break the rules?"
"I guess that's what it means."

Comments

[Charlotte]

We break the rules because the rules don't make sense, indeed are occasionally counter to EVERYONE'S best interest (not just cyclists who want to break rules).

Rules are made by man and can and should be changed by man. My father the attorney drones in my ear "when the reason for the law ceases to exist, the law itself should cease to exist".

I've become a fan of Idaho's "slow, then go" bicycle laws. I'd like to see similar laws nationwide. We may need additional signage to keep everyone clear, maybe little yellow signs with a bicycle and the bicycle's rule (probably almost always "Yield"). I am willing to bet the money for those signs can be found somewhere.

[Justyna]

They certainly have those little signs for snowmobiles in some parts of the country. Maybe, in time, we'll see them for bicycles too.

[Cat]

I love your answer to her and I also feel the rules if the road are not written for the bike - but like you - I will allow a car to go through and stop when they are at an intersection - but other than this, unless the street is busy I will ride through.

[cortney]

I have been thinking a lot about this too since I just started riding my new fixed gear. It would be so impractical, not to mention horrible for my knees, to stop every block.

[Leah]

I too do 'slow, then go' at stop signs because as you said, it's the presence of automobiles, not the sign itself, that makes me stop. I'm curious if your daughter had the same question at a stop light and, if so, what was your answer?

[Fritz]

An important thing regarding children, though, is they don't have a decades of experience dealing with motor traffic. they have difficulty estimating speed and distance of approaching objects and have no idea that they're possibly invisible to motorists.

For children, I think hard, fast rules are much easier for them to deal with than fuzzy logic --

[Jennifer]

I stop pretty much all the time regardless because the cars never do. (I also usually stop for other cyclists because I know they're going to run it.) Call me a doormat if you will. My dorkass hybrid has excellent brakes.

In a similar vein, I'd like to know where drivers got the idea that a cyclist stopping at a stop sign means that all the drivers on the cross street lined up behind the one already at the intersection can proceed through the intersection as well. I've lost count of the number of times lately that I've almost been hit by the car _behind_ the one I had stopped for.

My hypothesis is that "cyclists never obey the rules of the road" _really_ means "cyclists never yield to ME."

[justyna]

Fritz, good point about kids and lack of traffic experience. So, my response to my daughter was not actually quite that flippant. And our ride through the neighborhood is peppered with remarks from me that, I hope, help draw her attention to the types of situations you hint at. But at the same time, I do want her to eventually be able to draw her own conclusions about what is safe and prudent based on the circumstances.
Jennifer, thank you for that healthy dose of cynicism. The moral is, don't stop paying attention, even if you think you've been noticed.
Leah, please see my post on red lights.

[Electric bicycle]

Well, you are not alone, me too sometimes i don't stop because i find it like a waist of time to do that when there is no car coming.