If "any accidents occurring while they are crossing will be deemed their fault," doesn't it just seem like it'd be open season? How many fatal accidents do you think we'd have every month?
You know Idaho has had a law allowing cyclists to stop at red lights, then proceed through when they deem it is clear while yielding to anyone who has the right of way for more than 6 years now. It has not caused an increase in accidents, these laws are just common sense.
As long as people in bikes actually stop at red lights first, I don't have a problem with it. That's really the issues though, is the not stopping initially. Watch the intersection of Williams and Killigsworth during peak hours and you'll likely see a quarter of the people commuting by bike blowing through the light. The people who stop first aren't the problem.
Thing is, what's the argument for not doing the same for cars? If there's no one coming in either direction, why not treat it like a flashing red?
As a resident of the Illuminated City for a year (and an ex-Portlander), I can tell you that riding a bicycle in Paris is a bit crazy. There are a lot of ancient Roman 3-way intersections here and cruising through them at a moderate speed is what EVERYONE does.
hey oh!
Thing is, what's the argument for not doing the same for cars? If there's no one coming in either direction, why not treat it like a flashing red?
How's about we make the choices:
NON, NON, NON! JE CONDAMNE CETTE NOUVELLE LOI!
Et
Oui, oui oui! Je permettrai cette nouvelle loi.
That would be making the assumption I even took high school French. Why learn a different language when you have Google Translator?