Which states or countries have stop-sign-as-yield laws for bicyclists (Idaho stop law)?

Utah also considered it, but several groups including a large group of experienced bicycle commuters opposed the change. The main reasons are:

• It further designates cyclists as a "different" road user, possibly making it easier to limit our access to the roadway.
• It has the potential of increasing the conflicts at intersections (the most dangerous area for cyclists) because cyclists can behave differently than other vehicles, and motorists may not know what to expect.

While I like maintaining momentum, and recognize that I can see farther, sooner than motorists, I believe that being predictable is more important.

In the UK cyclist are not allowed to go through red lights, however at some junction the safest time for a cyclist to move of when waiting in the advanced stop box at a red list is just before the light turns green. E.g after all the other “legs” have a red light and the cyclist can see that all traffic have stopped.

In is normal practise in some towns…

So a law allowing cyclists to treat a red light as a “stop” could work well, however I think the “come to a complete stop” needs to be enforced well.

We don’t have many “stop signs” in the UK, the ones we have are on junctions when you cannot see to “give way” without stopping, so in the UK I think cyclist should always stop at a “stop sign”.

In some parts of the EU, there are separate lights for cyclists at junctions that turn green a short time before the normal lights turn green, so letting all cyclists clear the junction before motor vehicles start moving. (The fact that in most of the UK the advanced stop lines for cyclists are ignored by car drivers so are worthless due to the lack of enforcement may make this pointless)

Virginia's law, mentioned by Jacob, allows for bicyclists or motorcyclists to proceed with caution through a red light after 120 seconds or two cycles of the light (presumably the latter part is intended for turn arrow signals, where the light cycles but the rider doesn't get the signal they need).

So it's less liberal than Idaho's law. The idea is to keep cyclists from being trapped at signals that only change based on a sensor in the pavement, which often can't sense bikes or motorcycles.

I don't think there is any modification to the effect of stop signs.

http://forthunt.patch.com/articles/bikes-can-run-red-lights-under-new-virginia-law-2

I'm not aware of any Minnesota law that allows cyclists to treat a stop sign as "yield" (though it's common practice, and I've never heard of anyone being stopped for it if they do so in a responsible manner).

The regular vehicular law allows a vehicle to "proceed with caution" through a malfunctioning red light, and arguably a light that does not sense the presence of a bicycle is "malfunctioning". But this law would only go into effect after a cycle of the light had clearly missed the bike.

While we do not have Idaho Rules here in Washington, there has been a push for it at times. A "dead red" law took effect for cyclists in early 2015, but that's a far cry from Idaho Rules.

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"Dead Red" = a vehicle actuated light the fails to notice a bicycle, so the cyclist may proceed through the red after a pause.

Washington State's Senate just passed a bill to allow this. It passed by a wide margin and should clear the house as well.

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=6208&Year=2019&Initiative=false

As of this writing, it looks like the list of states with Idaho Stop laws includes:

• Arkansas
• Colorado (opt-in per municipality)
• Delaware
• Oregon

There's a longer list of states with "Dead Red" laws that explicitly permit a cyclist to proceed through a red that won't turn green (typically because embedded induction-coil sensors don't pick up bikes), although there are inconsistencies between them.

Currently the following states in the USA have stop as yield laws for bicycles: Idaho, Delaware, Colorado (opt in), Arkansas, Oregon, Washington.

The following states have legislation proposed in 2021: Virginia, New York, Colorado (making it statewide standard), California, Utah, Colorado(?)

The law sunsets in Delaware this year, but may be extended. Results there have been good.

Not strictly equivalent, but a different answer to the same observation: in France, Belgium and Netherlands (possibly other European countries), a special sign can be added to traffic lights to allow cyclists to (safely) ignore the red light (see below). Typically, to turn right or to go straight on T-junctions on the lane without crossing.

In the idea of a “a bike is a slow and agile vehicle”: there’s also a recent concept in the traffic laws that can be translated by “integral green light”: it is a special green light (represented by a bike surrounded by 4 arrows) that allows bikes from all directions to cross at the same time. It's not generalized, though. To see it in action: https://www.ukrant.nl/hoe-overleef-ik-tegelijk-groen/ (the amount of bikes that cross is quite impressive)