For those that don't know, the Idaho stop allows bikers to treat stop signs as yield signs

(I didn't know and just googled it myself, so I thought I'd save someone a click or two).

Idaho stop

>The Idaho stop is the common name for laws that allow cyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign, and a red light as a stop sign. It first became law in Idaho in 1982, but was not adopted elsewhere until Delaware adopted a limited stop-as-yield law, the "Delaware Yield", in 2017. Arkansas was the second state to legalize both stop-as-yield and red light-as-stop in April 2019. Studies in Delaware and Idaho have shown significant decreases in crashes at stop-controlled intersections.

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Seems like every state that does it likes it and more states keep doing it.

It also appears to be formally legalizing something that everybody does already, which means less arbitrary policing, which (imo) is always a good thing.

Expands DOT commissioner's authority to use eminent domain to widen and change roadways to include for "bicycle lanes or multi use trails."

Also allows state prosecutors to make someone go to driver retraining.

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The real solution is off-road and proper divided pathways for cyclists and pedestrians. But obviously, that solution is too expensive for one of the wealthiest states in a wealthy country. Go figure.

A bicycle against a however many thousand pound vehicle will lose, always.

As a bike commuter it’s kinda like this now, unless the intersection is busy. I do everything to keep myself getting pancaked by cars, and you really need to play it by ear at stop signs. Having this be the new law would be great.

How does any of this stop the unregistered and unlicensed drivers making Waterbury a complete free for all?

All this does is make the process more of a pain in the dick for people that aren't pieces of shit.

Really a fucking class on doing something ive done for years I have to pay for. I hate this fucking state

It’s not just expense. How are you going to feel when 10ft of your front yard is now gone? For some areas that’s no big deal, but in a neighborhood like mine that’s literally like 10% of my property. It would be a massive battle for a lot of places, eminent domain or no.

That said, I live in a very walkable and pretty bikeable area except for the giant stroad nearby. Not everyone is so lucky though.

I meant from existing stroad-like roads. Instead of creating additional lanes, you use those lanes for other modes of transport. I don't expect full fledged bike lanes on someone's neighborhood residential street where you have small lots

House Bill to improve jack shit. I know progress has to start someone, but if these bullet points represent the highlights of the effort, then why bother?

Where’s the getting rid of those a holes on 4 wheelers and dirt-bikes off the road ?

As someone who biked everywhere for years, this is safer. Do have any idea long it takes for a bicyclist to regain speed and get out of an intersection after stopping? The answer is too damn long. You'd get pancaked by oncoming traffic within a week if you stopped at every intersection like a car.

Agreed. CT already half-asses roads. You can bet your ass they won't put in dividers. Just widen the road and create an additional passing lane for cars.

This looks like the only section mentioning motorized bikes

"Sec. 3. Section 14-289g of the general statutes is repealed and the 55 following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2023): 56 (a) No person [under eighteen years of age] may (1) operate a 57 motorcycle or a motor-driven cycle, as defined in section 14-1, or (2) be 58 a passenger on a motorcycle or motor-driven cycle, unless such operator 59 or passenger is wearing protective headgear of a type which conforms 60 to the minimum specifications established in 49 CFR 571.218, as 61 amended from time to time. Any person who violates [this section] any 62 provision of this subsection shall have committed an infraction and shall 63 be fined not less than ninety dollars. 64 (b) As used in this section, the term "motorcycle" [shall] does not 65 include "autocycle"."

If we had police pulling wreak less drivers over that would improve road safety. It’s like nascar out there, people drive with total disregard for the safety of others.

TX drivers fly off the goddamn handle everytime they see a biker slow down for a stop sign.....and continue through it. They also die of obesity on a frequent basis.

Guess I missed the educational video on bikers killing automobiles at 4-way stops or something?

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I mean, sometimes you have to go for the lowest of the low hanging fruit and will take what we can get, but not seeing anything substantive here to meaningfully imporve road conditions.

I also do this now. If it’s safe to go, I go.

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Why do you object to this?

Are bikers getting pulled over for this? It’s not exactly a big policing issue.

Stroad is such a dumb non word.

They already do that. Two (or maybe three) tickets in less than two years and it’s mandatory driver retraining.

Imagine you manage to buy a house, Imagine you worked your ass really really hard, and you manage to buy a fantastic house in a nice area. Now imagine you start a Family and don't want to have a sedentary lifestyle and decide to go for a walk or let your kids play outside. Now take this one, You have no sidewalks c:

You did everything right but now you are throwing the dice every day to win the chance for a driver rolling you or your loved ones over because We NeEd To SaVe MoOoNey...

Would you prefer people call them roads that service many business and tend to have a high level of foot traffic but are simultaneously used for higher speed travel passing through instead?

There’s enough morons out there to make me think this is warranted.

I love it! I fully support all of these plans.

With that and the eminent domain proposals, absolutely a hard no.

Not that I know of, but that's sort of my point - if there are laws that are almost never enforced, it creates opportunities for arbitrary policing decisions, and I don't think that's a good thing.

Roads is sufficient. Or streets. If you want to continue using a dumb non word, have at it. Nobody is stopping you.

Introducing more bike lanes would be a great opportunity to fix a lot of the speedways you get around CT.

The "BuT BiKeS sHoUlD aCt lIkE cArS" crowd always seems to forget that traffic laws are about safety, and there's a difference between a vehicle that weighs a couple thousand pounds and a couple hundred (including the rider).

That’s DMV. I haven’t read the bill but the comment says this allows prosecutors to, I assume, make it a condition of a plea deal or sentence.

You're right, no one is. It's actually a portmanteau, but you can absolutely avoid using it. Many of us will continue using it as it describes a particular type of street. Roads are also not always considered streets as well.

Important first step. They need to fund the construction of sidewalks and trails too. All state maintained routes should have plan to get either sidewalks or full shoulders within the next 10 years. With climate change the existential threat of our lifetime, we need to encourage more human powered transportation but not at the expense of lives.

This is better for drivers too - I don't want to sit there and wait for a biker to fully stop and start again when they beat me to a 4way stop by a half-a-second. And while I would do it, some drivers wouldn't, which is unpredictable and unsafe.

If you can afford to live somewhere with NO sidewalks, then you can easily afford to live somewhere with sidewalks.

The issue here is the quality of inner city schools, no?

There shouldn’t be residential areas without sidewalks, it’s dangerous for the residents and it’s dangerous for the drivers, that’s my point

I feel like the Idaho Stop works better in out-of-the-way uncrowded places than it would in urban Connecticut

True. Makes sense. It stops people from slipping through the cracks. I’m guessing in a situation where a DUI is the only moving violation on their record, the prosecutor would be able to require the retraining that wouldn’t be automatically triggered by the current DMV rules? Or if the driver catches a reckless driving charge that’s also only the first moving violation? If that’s the case, then yes, do it. It makes sense.

I've always called that the California roll

Eminent domain for proper bike infrastructure? Yes please and thank you

"Urban Connecticut" isn't exactly most of Connecticut, but I hear you.

I will happily be inconvenienced for a knowledge test at renewal. That alone will prevent a number of unqualified people from getting behind a wheel. Will it truly stop bad drivers? No, but it's a step forward

IKR? We're supposed to be one of the most densely populated states and yet you can stand atop Heublein Tower and see nothing but trees in either direction. If this is dense population, what is the rest of the U.S. like?

Agreed,but amenities are baked into the price of home purchases. I'm still new to CT, but here in Woodbridge the build-out of sidewalks would cost a large fortune and no way would I want to pay for that.

Cyclists have the right to take the full lane anytime.

I don't think sidewalks are "amenities". I mean, I know what you are saying. But I think it comes to bad Urban planning, the amount of money and maintenance you give to such a thing is very marginal, I think the urban code should be modified. We waste public money on a lot of nonsense, why can't we use it for something that will benefit the community?

Let me extend it a little bit more. I believe pedestrian infrastructure is just as elemental as vehicle infrastructure, It shouldn’t be seen as an "upgrade" it should be mandatory. The town should guarantee the safety of the residents by providing them with proper designs. If I go for a walk and a car hits me because it is a narrow road with a 35mph limit I didn't do anything wrong, nor did the driver, it was terrible urban design.

It comes from the concept that a road and a street are actually two different things. A road connects two places and allows high speed traffic, a street is a place businesses and homes are. You want people to drive slowly on a street because people are walking and biking around between homes and businesses

When a street also becomes a place that people drive fast on, it becomes hostile to pedestrian and cyclist traffic but its density also stops it from effectively carrying all the traffic that wants to drive through it like it's a road. It sucks at being both a road and a street. So it's now a stroad. All words are made up and sometimes we need new ones. It's a perfectly cromulent word

since I'm being downvoted I'm only curious about housing prices.

Where exactly are there neighborhoods with no sidewalks that would still be less expensive than inner city Bridgeport or New Haven?

I'm sure it varies by city, but there's a plan in Manchester to put in fully protected bike lane throughout downtown.

Nice Simpsons reference. As for the rest I get it, I don’t have to like it and I don’t. The stroads you refer to are streets that people drive like crap on. Imo no need for a different word.

I am being downvoted too, this is just a very controversial issue, and that is fine. Typically nicer suburban areas don't have any pedestrian infrastructure but in general, you won't find much solidarity with non-drivers throughout the state.

It is very expensive to live here, even if you have the money to buy a house, taxes won't give you a break, so it can be overwhelming this feeling of giving a lot to the state in exchange for nothing, some people get angry when you come out with solutions that imply public spending(I can't blame them), because they know this could incur into more taxation.

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it actually works best in the most dense parts of cities, especially when combined with a walking sign

its just trees lol

Am I the only one against MORE pointless laws? Waste of tax money really is what it is

>They also die of obesity on a frequent basis.

That's pretty much everywhere now.. Most states are over 30% obesity rate, us included..

Cool, when can we vote in the California stop?

Can’t believe anyone in CT could be pro eminent domain after Kelo

Read a law text book dumb ass

They are, but that usually comes down to their design. If you've got a wide street with no curves and stoplights every couple thousand feet, but it's completely lined with businesses and apartments, then tossing down a 25mph sign isn't going to get people to drive 25mph. The street needs to be designed so that people don't feel safe driving 40mph on it.

Narrowing a street is usually the easiest way to do it. If you're worried you don't have enough room to get around that car parked on the side of the street, you're going to slow down.

Edit: I thought the poster I replied to may have been trolling, instead I missed a reply of theirs. They don't like the term, but I included a link previously explaining what a Stroad is. I apologize for insinuating you may have been trolling, I should do better reading replies before jumping to this conclusion.

Here is more information on the topic: Wikipedia

It was coined in 2011 by a Civil Engineer, so if the Simpsons borrowed it they certainly did from a very intelligent individual.

Nah he's talking about cromulent, it's a made-up word from the Simpsons used to show how weird their town is/poke fun at regional vocab. Saying something is 'perfectly cromulent' is acknowledging it's recently made up, but that it's useful

I haven't watched the Simpsons in a bit, but I think I remember cromulent. Thanks, gave me a chuckle 😂

I get the feeling this test is going to turn into a 10-minute video where the question is "Did you watch this video?"

I got my license late in life, and even well into the 2000s, my pre-license test featured an introduction from President Clinton and scout's honor that I had been behind the wheel. Then I had to complete this brain buster to prove I knew what these terms meant.

Our entire society is so built around requiring a driver's license that the agency sworn to gatekeep it to only the most competent cannot risk handing down a death sentence to an individual by failing them on it.

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You can always use your fancy vintage drivers license and move your boomer ass to another state.
This moron doesn't know how to apply for a Stop & Shop card and he's over here claiming to be the paragon of procedural competency.

Correct.

I agree it'd be nice for everywhere to have sidewalks, but the density levels throughout CT make that cost prohibitive, both here and around the rest of the world.

Again, I support it and on a local level, the individual towns should be taxing their residents accordingly to support sidewalk build-outs. IF it's a priority for your family's safety, I'd recommend moving to a town that does just that, there are many.

Trolling because I said I understand what you are talking about? Or because I don’t like it? Or because of the Simpsons reference you didn’t even know you used?

I missed a reply of yours so I apologize for insinuating you were trolling, you don't have to use the term. It's fine.

Make a deal, we implement the Idaho stop and raise the speed limit on the highway to 75. Win win in my book. Everyone is driving 75 anyway might as well make it the law.

Half of them are driving without licenses or insurance already.

And imagine you busted your ass to buy a house and now they come and take away some of your property

Good now send every driver in CT for driver retraining!!!

If I give up some land for eminent domain to make a sidewalk I’m going to pay less in property taxes, right? No? Just a ticket if I don’t shovel it fast enough…

that is a really really good point, Maybe the town should buy it from you? or give you a tax break? but in my humble opinion, something should be done. Also, it is a very narrow space, most streets already have enough clearance room to make a small sidewalk

Popping in here to say that your username is mint

You absolutely can. Call them to come measure the property after the work is done and they will update the records. If it meets the threshold for a property tax reduction, you will see it.

Oh, I've got a million of them! My left knee aches, the overhead lighting is annoying, it's too warm today, and my hot chocolate went cold.

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It's the safest way to ride, and people do it for that reason anyway, so it makes sense to make it legal.

How and why should density affect that??

If you think density is the problem, then just take away the car-exclusive space. Plenty of room.

Not sure I like the test to renew part. That's gonna take time and I don't have that

Eminent domain is the forced purchase of land. So by definition you should be paying less property tax.

Is this based on the swedish law of a similar name?

If I remember correctly, some of the arguments against sidewalks being installed in areas that really could use or fit them, i.e. suburban neighborhoods, is suddenly you've got a sidewalk you're required to clear of snow.

*Pay you for some of your property*

Most towns have different responsibilities for sidewalks. Check your local ordinances to see yours. Not all are the same.

Isn’t that what they already do? Just makes it legal I guess

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But people can't stop going the wrong way on highways & killing others but i have to learn about bicycles ? This state is INSANE!

That is stop signs and not stop lights right?

So renewing what license? Cars or are people on bicycles going to get licenses too? Which I would be in favor of to a degree, since they will be sharing the road more.

Eminent domain a small piece to make a bike lane, makes sense though I don't know how feasible it will be on many roads considering there are some sections, where there isn't enough yard to make a path.

Yes and no - this bill would allow cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs, and red lights as stop signs. You can read more here.

CT should become a leader in traffic innovation by implementing the Connecticut Stop, which would replace all regular stop signs and require that drivers merely yield to traffic instead of coming to a complete stop.

Some towns have their own parks dept do the plowing of sidewalks with a small vehicle. Home owners don’t have to shovel

Yummy

I thought that was the California stop.

That's how I read it.

The random shapes apart from stop and forward/backward drive me nuts.

This is just another waste of tax payer money. Who TF is actually gonna follow this?

Need to enforce current laws to stop the out of control bad driver behavior in this state. An additional law isn't going to do squat.

They had to make a law to stop for pedestrians... when they raise their hand. How's that going?

People are driving easy over that speed because they can. Not sure if you read the bill in its entirety. The bill also has a section about speed enforcement cameras, so I don't think the limit will be raised anytime soon. Safety Data supports lower speeds.

The state is testing some wrong way devices. Once we have data, it's expected more devices will be installed. link

& how much is this going to all cost the taxpayers

How about address wrong way drivers by more clearly marked on-ramps and modifying their placement to make this happen less.

I was also surprised by that.

you know it's because you are up high, the nearby area are mostly rural and suburban, and ct has a lot of trees, which block most 1-2 story houses and non field areas?