Shorewood Trustee Weighs In On New Motorcycle Law

The new law allowing motorcycle riders to treat red lights like stop signs has been in effect for more than a week and a half, and Village Trustee Dan Gron is still getting used to it.

"I've been riding motorcycles many more years than I care to admit," Gron said during Tuesday night's village board meeting.

And after all that time he's finding it hard to adjust to the fact he can proceed through a red light after stopping for a reasonable amount of time.

Gron wanted to make sure other motorists — and officers — get used to it too.

"Don't think that they're running a red light" if you see a motorcycle pull into the intersection against the light, Gron cautioned.

The new law, which went into effect Jan. 1, was prompted by stoplight sensors failing to detect motorcycles due to their relative lack of iron content compared to cars. Gron noted that motorcycle riders will no longer have to endlessly wait for red lights to change when there are no cars around to set the sensors off.

"It's a huge change," Gron said. "It could cause a lot of confusion."