New bike laws will soon go into effect in North Dakota

FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) - Three new bike laws that were passed during this year’s North Dakota legislative session will soon go into effect.

The new laws are the following:

House Bill 1290 – Overtaking and Passing a Bicycle This law requires vehicles to pass a bicycle with a minimum of 3 feet between the bicyclist and the vehicle. This provides a safer environment for those riding bicycles on the road. Prior to this law, North Dakota was one of only seven states without a safe passing law.

House Bill 1252 – Yielding/Stopping While Operating a Bicycle This law allows bicyclists riding on the roadway to treat stop signs as yield signs under most circumstances. The exception is if the roadway contains three or more lanes of moving traffic. Under this circumstance the bicyclist is required to come to a complete stop regardless of whether or not a vehicle is present at the intersection. This law makes traffic flow more efficient and provides less wait times for bicyclists to accelerate.

House Bill 1148 – E-Bike Regulations With the growing use of electric bicycles, or E-bikes, classification and regulation of these bikes is necessary. E-bikes are bicycles which have an electric component that assist riders. Pedaling is still used with E-bikes. Prior to this law, E-bikes were considered motorized vehicles. This law classifies E-bikes as bicycles with three classifications of E-bikes depending on their capabilities. This new law allows E-bikes to legally use all bikeways such as shared-use paths, bike lanes, and mountain bike trails.

The laws will go into effect on August 1st.