Will DOT Finally Implement Long-Promised Rule Changes For Cyclist Safety?

Fourth time’s the charm?

The Department of Transportation once again says it will change city rules to allow cyclists to legally make right turns on red lights and also pass through stop lights at the top-of-the-T intersections — long-sought safety improvements that the agency has been trying to implement since at least the de Blasio administration.

On Friday, the DOT posted the proposed rule change (right) in the City Record — something the agency has done repeatedly over the years, yet never gotten across the finish line for reasons that remain unclear (and, yes, Streetsblog has asked every single year).

Of the three changes rules, one is already moot because cyclists have long had the right enter intersections on the pedestrian “walk” signal — a right that has been affirmed multiple times by multiple courts, but one that cops still occasionally ignore.

The other two rule changes — allowing cyclists to turn right on a red light after a full stop and if no pedestrians are present, and allowing cyclists to ride through a stop signal or sign at a “top of the T” intersection (again if no pedestrians are present) — are considered safety improvements for cyclists because they can get in front of drivers where they can be better seen.

The rule change is also aimed at encouraging cycling by reducing the number of times a bike rider must slow down from speed, stop, and then huff and puff back to cruising speed.

Both changes were originally supposed to take effect between January and March 2021. The DOT later said they would take effect between April and June of 2021. In May 2023, the agency said the rules would go into effect by December 2024. In no instance did the rule changes actually happen, but DOT would never explain why. (All agencies are required to annually submit their regulatory proposals, but beyond that, it’s unclear why some don’t get implemented.)

Now there’s a new mayor — one who bikes around a lot. And — coincidence or not — now the DOT is promising that these rule changes will take effect between October and December of this year.

“These proposed rules can help enhance safety by improving visibility between cyclists and drivers,” agency spokesman Vin Barone said, without addressing why these rules have never been finalized. “The new turning measures would formalize the way cyclists already travel through our streets and are in place in most cities and states across the country.”

The state legislature is considering a bill that would legalize the so-called “Idaho stop” — which allows cyclists to treat stop signs and lights as “yield” signs — which is also seen primarily as a safety measure, but also as a move to limit ticket stings (or, worse, racially biased policing) by the NYPD.

But the Albany bill has been proposed more or less every year, but meets the same fate as DOT’s rule changes — they just disappear.

“All of these rules are long overdue,” a former leader of Transportation Alternatives told Streetsblog in 2021. “I wish they’d gotten to them before the last year of Mayor de Blasio’s term.”

Two mayors later, we’re still wishing.

— with Kevin Duggan