COLUMBIA, S.C. -- South Carolina may join five other states that let motorcyclists, mo-ped drivers and bicyclists run red lights that don't change within a couple minutes of their stopping.

The House and Senate sent a bill to Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday that allows that even though it raises concerns about whether intersections will become more dangerous.

Supporters say motorcyclists get trapped at red lights with sensors embedded in the road that don't respond to their smaller vehicles. The legislation would require them to stop and allow them to go through the red light if the signal doesn't change within two minutes as long as they can do so safely.

Arkansas, Idaho, Minnesota, Tennessee and Wisconsin all have similar laws, said Imre Szauter, who oversees state legislation for the American Motorcyclist Association.

Among the state's that allow post-stop, red-light running, only Tennessee requires all drivers to have helmets, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. South Carolina's death rates on motorcycles rose from 88 in 2004 to 109 in 2006, the last year for which the federal agency has numbers available.

"I think the motorcyclist community is going to be very, very careful in the use of this," Szauter said.

Motorcyclists around the nation complain about sensors that don't pick up motorcycles and trigger light changes. "There really was no alternative," said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Larry Grooms. Public safety officials here didn't oppose the law change.

While the bill started out only applying to intersections with the buried sensors, Grooms, R-Bonneau, said the Senate went along with a House amendment that made it apply to every intersection.

But there are concerns beyond motorcyclists. For instance, car drivers could think the same law applies to them.

"It invites a good deal of subjective law interpretation -- everybody sort of deciding on their own," said Doug Hecox, spokesman for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington.

It's up to states to decide laws around intersections and enforce them, Hecox said. "That's not something I think we would support. But we wish them well."

Brooke Russell, the National Safety Council's South Carolina executive director, sat in on hearings on the bill and came away with concerns for motorcyclists getting hit crossing an intersection and about them being hit from behind by careless drivers as they wait for lights to change. "I think there are two sides to this." She wouldn't say if she wanted Sanford to sign the bill.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor hasn't had a chance to look at it. "It would be a challenge, to say the least, to enforce. You would think if there was a police officer there to count off two minutes, he could go to the intersection and wave you through instead."