A word about STOP signs from our Safety and Maintenance Director

The following is a requested message from Bill Prall, TOMTC’s Safety and Maintenance Director:

One very easy thing we bicyclists can do to promote bicycling is to STOP! On roadways or bike paths with traffic STOP signs or RED lights the Michigan Motor Vehicle Code (MVC) and the Michigan Compiled Law (MCL), states that you must obey these traffic signals. Where do Michigan laws apply to bicycles? Section 257.656(3) of the (MVC), “The regulations applicable to bicycles under sections 656 to 662 shall apply when a bicycle is operated upon a highway or upon a path set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles”…

Does a bicyclist have to obey the same traffic laws as a motorist? Yes. Section 257.657 of the (MVC) states: “Each person riding a bicycle…upon a roadway has all the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle”…

This includes obeying STOP signs and RED lights.

When you ride your bicycle on the roadways or the pathways you can help to promote the safety and legitimacy of bicycling, to say nothing of your own well-being, by just by stopping at STOP signs and RED lights. By observing the “rules of the road,” you not only assure your safety but also promote bicycling as an alternative mode of transportation in the eyes of other users of our public roads. By running STOP signs and RED lights you give fodder to those who would ban bicycling from pubic roads and paths.

Most cyclists are also drivers. Imagine yourself behind the wheel of a car that crosses the path of a cyclist that failed to stop. No one wants to carry that burden.

–Bill Prall