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Home My WebLink About8-15-2022 AB 1713 - SupportCity of San Luis Obispo, Office of the City Council, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, CA, 93401-3249, 805.781.7114, slocity.org August 15, 2022 The Honorable Tasha Boerner-Horvath 1021 O St, Suite 4150 Sacramento CA 95814 Re: Support—AB 1713 (Boerner-Horvath), Bike Safety at Stop Signs Dear Assemblymember Boerner-Horvath, The City of San Luis Obispo is pleased to support your bill Assembly Bill 1713, the Safety Stop bill. This much needed reform would authorize an adult bicycling to treat a stop sign like a yield sign, giving right-of-way to other traffic at an intersection before proceeding safely through, but without the requirement to come to a full stop. Bicycling is a key component of any sustainable transportation system, and the state should be doing everything in its power to encourage more people to bike , thereby reducing climate change impacts from transportation, while improving public health and air quality. Caltrans and local agencies are investing significant resources in planning and building safe, connected, and protected bikeways on major streets, while also direct ing cyclists onto side streets with slower, calmer traffic. As bicycling continues to grow as everyday transportation, the main barrier is traffic danger on the roadways. Cyclists often avoid direct routes, opting instead for quieter side streets, but then face frequent stop signs. A full stop on a bicycle requires significant extra work for the person bicycling to pedal back up to a normal riding speed. The repeated stopping and restarting becomes a significant deterrent to bicycling and research has found that it reduces the distance that people are willing to ride. The Safety Stop, proposed in AB 1713, does not change the normal rules of yielding at an intersection, it simply legalizes a common bicycling practice of slowing down when approaching an intersection, checking for traffic, proceeding if it is safe, and stopping if it is not. Penalizing this bicycling practice with unnecessary enforcement at stop signs is counterproductive to the larger goal of increasing bicycling. Studies indicate that bicycling away from high-speed traffic, like on a stop sign controlled side street, is much safer than bicycling on a higher-speed arterial. Two separate studies of the city of Boise, Idaho, found a reduction in the frequency and severity of bicycle crashes after the law was implemented. Recognizing the imperative of supporting convenient and safe bike travel, many communities have changed the law to allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs. Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Delaware, Arkansas, and Colorado have all passed Safety Stop legislation. Delaware realized a 23 percent reduction in crashes at stop sign controlled intersections. It should be mentioned that our Police Department does express some concerns about this bill. Our city is home to California Polytechnic State University, which brings in many students from throughout California and beyond, who for them is their first time bicycling for commute purposes on a daily basis. In that context, there is a concern that the bill could lead to an increase in collisions among new riders. For that reason, the City is supportive of the bill’s sunset in 2029 and the requirement that the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol submit a report to the Legislature on the effects of the bill. Transportation is in a period of flux as society moves away from motor vehicl es and toward increased pedestrian, cyclist, and motor scooter traffic. Legalizing the Safety Stop for cyclists will make intersections much safer for cyclists, pedestrians, and motorists. AB 1713 would make this reasonable practice of treating stop signs as yield signs while bicycling explicitly legal, ensuring that law enforcement do not unfairly penalize this behavior and discourage people from bicycling. We urge your support of AB 1713, the Safety Stop bill. Sincerely, Erica A Stewart Mayor City of San Luis Obispo c. San Luis Obispo City Council Senator John Laird, Fax: (916) 651-4017 Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, Fax (916) 319 -2135 Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org League of California Cities (via email: cityletters@calcities.org)