As a person who rides a bicycle, I believe that regulations governing road engineering have long been the main barrier to transportation diversity in the United States. And the best symbol of that barrier may be the traffic signal that is unable to sense the presence of a bicycle.
What’s a person on a bicycle to do? Treat the signal as an impenetrable obstacle to movement in order to uphold the rule of law? Or ignore the law in order to cross the intersection?
Neither is a satisfactory solution, and it is long past time for government to replace (and stop installing) non-functional traffic signals. But if certain governmental entities in Illinois have refused to recognize the problem or their complicity, state government may at least (and at last) provide a legal work-around to non-functional traffic signals.
On April 14, the League of Illinois Bicyclists passed along the following news on its Facebook page.
“A state bill that would allow a bike to legally ride through a red light, if the signal fails to detect it, has unanimously passed the house & has moved to the senate. LIB welcomes the change, but we also advocate (and educate about) engineering solutions for better bicycle detection at demand-actuated stoplights. Thanks to ATA for having bicycles added to this bill, which originally would only benefit motorcycles.”
You can track the status of the bill here.
16incheswestofpeoria 
You must be logged in to post a comment.