16-02-2025
Cyclist safety bill pedals its way through the Roundhouse
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – The cycling community in New Mexico, is hoping to improve safety at intersections with a new bill. 'I've had so many close calls, I can't count them. And as a result, I do treat the stop signs as yield signs,' said Alex Applegate, an advocate of Senate Bill 73.
It's an issue that's been bubbling up for years among cyclists. More than 130,000 bicyclists are injured in crashes on roadways every year in the United States.
According to the University of New Mexico Annual Crash Report, 38 bicyclists have been killed in the last five years. 'As a cyclist who's been commuting by bicycle for over 30 years with hundreds of thousands of miles on the roads, I've been hit twice at intersections,' continued Applegate.
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This is why bicycle advocacy groups like Bike ABQ have teamed up with Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez and Representative Pamelya Herndon to push forward Senate Bill 73.
'Senate Bill 73 implements a new law that improves bicyclist safety at intersections,' mentioned Eric Biederman, board member of Bike ABQ. This bill would allow a cyclist to treat a stop sign at an intersection as a yield sign.
'So as a cyclist approaches the intersection, they have to check for conflicting traffic that may have the right-of-way, and if there is none, they're allowed to proceed through the intersection without making a complete stop,' explained Biederman.
Within the biking community, this is already a common practice but by codifying this bill into law, advocates believe it could make significant improvements. 'The reason it improves cyclist safety is that it reduces cyclist exposure to cars at these intersections. So they can transit through the intersection more quickly than they would under the current laws, and they remain more visible to traffic,' emphasized Biederman.
Soon, advocates hope to develop the necessary infrastructure to maximize safety for all motorists on the roads by adding raised sidewalks and protected bike lanes.
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