Arkansas governor signs law changing rules for cyclists at red lights, stop signs

[TexasTowelie]

Bicyclists will be able to treat stop signs as yields and red lights as stop signs under a bill signed into law this week by Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a change supporters said would make cyclists safer while also improving traffic flow.

Hutchinson signed Act 650 into law on Tuesday, and it will go into effect on July 1.

Joe Jacobs, the chairman of the governor's Advisory Council on Cycling, said in a statement issued by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism that the new law amounts to a safety improvement for cyclists because they will "be able to move through before traffic begins to flow during light changes."

Morgan Lommele, director of state and local policy for the group PeopleFor Bikes, said in the statement that studies show cyclists are "safer when they are able to get a head start at intersections, and they become more visible to the drivers behind them."

Read more: https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2019/apr/03/arkansas-governor-signs-law-changing-rules-cyclist/

[wasupaloopa]

1. Some do it now without the law.

This has been debated here before.

I think the critical mass idea helped put this law on the books.