Albuquerque is known as a desirable place for recreational bicyclists (think Paseo del Bosque Trail and others), but as in many cities, it can be a nightmare for two-wheeled commuters sharing the street with vehicles. Bicyclists get frustrated with aggressive or distracted drivers and drivers get irked by bicyclists who occupy traffic lanes.
There’s an effort underway to pass legislation that seeks to deescalate the tension and make bicycling safer: The “Idaho Stop” law. The measure is expected to face its first test at the legislative session in Santa Fe next week.
Idaho Stop is the term used for a measure that allows bicyclists to treat a stop sign as a yield sign and a red light as a stop sign. Studies from some of the nine states that have enacted the law show it decreased incidents at intersections, especially when a vehicle making a right turn cuts off or hits a bicyclist who has been waiting to cross the street and proceeds on the green light.
Leila Murrieta, a board director at BikeABQ, calls it the “right hook” problem. She said during a trip the group organized at the Roundhouse last week, a commercial truck driver told lawmakers it was a good idea.
“He said it’d make him feel better to know that [a bicyclist] has already gone through the intersection,” Murrieta said. “He said he often can’t see a cyclist because they’re small and usually in the blind spot of his larger vehicle.”
Idaho was the first to implement the law in 1982 and Colorado was the last in 2022. If approved by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico would become the 10th state to enact it.
Members of Albuquerque’s (and the state’s) considerable bicycling community — including advocacy organizations such as BikeABQ — are hopeful 2025 is their year. Longtime bicyclist Lynn Pickard recalls that the last attempt came in 2011, when the measure was sponsored by then-Sen. Eric Griego, a Democrat representing Albuquerque, at the request of then-Albuquerque City Councilor Isaac Benton who is an avid bicyclist.
While Pickard couldn’t recall exactly why the measure failed all those years ago, she said some opposition to it comes from a perception that it unduly exempts bicyclists from following traffic laws.
“I think that bicyclists need to educate drivers as to why this is not just a special, arbitrary thing for bicyclists — because we’re so special,” Pickard, who’s lived in New Mexico since 1973, said. “It has to do with safety.”
Pickard lives in Tesuque and has commuted back and forth to downtown Santa Fe on her bicycle “up Bishop’s Lodge Hill for over 50 years.” She said it’s important for the public to know that the law only comes into play when there’s no oncoming traffic and when nobody else has the right of way.
“That is the only time a cyclist could use this,” Pickard said.
A balm for road rage?
Murrieta said the law also gives an advantage to potentially aggravated motorists. Bicycles are allowed to occupy most city streets as a vehicle would — which can cause drivers in a hurry to be annoyed at best. If a bicyclist is first to arrive at an intersection, for example, its weight isn’t enough to trigger the streetlight’s “trip system” as it does for a vehicle, causing time to drag on before the light changes or a driver can turn right. The Idaho Stop law gives the bicyclist the option to proceed in such a case.
“It’s up to the rider’s discretion. If they don’t feel safe crossing the intersection when the light is red, then there’s no need,” Murrieta said. “It allows cyclists to take safety into their own hands. You still have to yield to traffic and pedestrians. You’re not just blindly riding your bike through a red light because you can.”
Murrieta moved to Albuquerque about 10 years ago and said she primarily uses her bicycle for commuting these days.
“There’s a bicycling community more focused on recreation than commuting, but it seems like in recent years there’s been a greater push for making the commuting piece — we call them vehicular cyclists — safer,” she said.
Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Bernalillo, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 73. It is scheduled to be heard before the Senate Tax, Business & Transportation Committee Feb. 4 at 1:30 p.m. To keep up-to-date on the legislation through BikeABQ, click here.