diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a84cc6c..70648b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ bs_local_args = { "key" => "<browserstack-accesskey>" , "v" => "true", "logfile"
 
 To build gem, `rake build`.
 
-To run the test suite run, `rake test`.
+To run the test suite run, `BROWSERSTACK_ACCESS_KEY=<your_access_key> rake test`.
 
 ### Reporting bugs
 
diff --git a/lib/browserstack/local.rb b/lib/browserstack/local.rb
index 32bc89c..a7906d5 100644
--- a/lib/browserstack/local.rb
+++ b/lib/browserstack/local.rb
@@ -102,7 +102,11 @@ def start(options = {})
   end
 
   def isRunning
-    return true if (!@pid.nil? && Process.kill(0, @pid)) rescue false
+    begin
+      (!@pid.nil? && Process.kill(0, @pid)) ? true : false
+    rescue
+      false
+    end
   end
 
   def stop
@@ -150,12 +154,14 @@ def start_command_args
   end
 
   def stop_command
-    "#{@binary_path} -d stop #{@local_identifier_flag}".strip
+    cmd = "#{@binary_path} -d stop"
+    cmd += " -localIdentifier #{@local_identifier_flag}" if @local_identifier_flag
+    cmd.strip
   end
 
   def stop_command_args
-    args = ["#{@binary_path}", "-d", "stop", "#{@local_identifier_flag}"]
-    args = args.select {|a| a.to_s != "" }
+    args = ["#{@binary_path}", "-d", "stop"]
+    args += ["-localIdentifier", @local_identifier_flag] if @local_identifier_flag
     args.push(:err => [:child, :out])
     args
   end
diff --git a/test/browserstack-local-test.rb b/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
index 00efef8..27fc218 100644
--- a/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
+++ b/test/browserstack-local-test.rb
@@ -28,6 +28,28 @@ def test_multiple_binary
     File.delete(second_log_file)
   end
 
+  def test_localId_independence
+    @bs_local.start
+    bs_local_by_ID = BrowserStack::Local.new
+    bs_local_by_ID.start({'localIdentifier' => "uniqueID"})
+    assert_equal true, @bs_local.isRunning
+    assert_equal true, bs_local_by_ID.isRunning
+    bs_local_by_ID.stop
+    assert_equal true, @bs_local.isRunning
+    assert_equal false, bs_local_by_ID.isRunning
+  end
+
+  def test_isRunning_stopped
+    @bs_local.instance_variable_set(:@pid,nil)
+    assert_equal false, @bs_local.isRunning
+  end
+
+  def test_isRunning_crashed
+    @bs_local.instance_variable_set(:@pid,1000000000) # probably non-existant pid
+    assert_equal false, @bs_local.isRunning
+    @bs_local.instance_variable_set(:@pid,nil)
+  end
+
   def test_enable_verbose
     @bs_local.add_args('v')
     assert_match /\-v/, @bs_local.command