FABB Blog

 46.2-816. Following too closely. The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard to the speed of both vehicles and the traffic on, and conditions of, the highway at the time.

46.2-804. Special regulations applicable on highways laned for traffic. Wherever a highway is marked with double traffic lines consisting of two immediately adjacent solid yellow lines, no vehicle shall be driven to the left of such lines, except (i) when turning left or (ii) in order to pass a pedestrian or a device moved by human power, including a bicycle, skateboard, or foot-scooter, provided such movement can be made safely;

Thanks to Jim Durham of Alexandria Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for sharing this information, and to Virginia Bicycle Federation for reporting on progress in today's session.

"...we have only SB781 “Crossing the Double Yellow Line” and SB882 “the Dooring bill”, both of which will be heard in House Trans Sub2 next Monday. As usual, we can use the help of our Northern VA folks to ask Del. LeMunyon’s support and our Hampton Roads folks to ask Del. Taylor’s so we can get these bills out of this Sub Committee, which would appear to be our last major obstacle."

Below is extracted info from VBF's latest report on bike-related bills in this year's VA legislative session. See the last paragraph about contacting your delegate to have them support the Following Too Closely bill:

Del. Manoli Loupassi from the Fan District did a nice job of patroning (Highway Maintenance Bill) HB 1402 (into which Del. Betsy Carr’s similar HB1501 had been combined) This bill would provide that the Jurisdictions that do their own Highway Maintenance rather than having VDOT do it for them (City of Richmond, Henrico county, and Town of Ashland are in this category) do not lose their maintenance reimbursement if they convert highway “lane miles” to bike lanes, as is now the case. This is a fairly big deal since the current reimbursement practice has been a big dis-incentive for the installation of bike lanes in those jurisdictions).

After some discussion, and some mild dissent from Del. Randy Minchew of Leesburg, the bill was REPORTED by a 6-1 vote, with only Minchew voting against, and now goes on to the full Trans Comm, probably on Tuesday morning at 8:30.

Last of all was Del. Carr with her (Highway Maintenance Bill - Paved Trails) HB1502, which would give the City of Richmond maintenance reimbursement at 1/2 that of highway mileage for that portion of the Capital Trail which was (and will be) built by VDOT in the City but will be the City’s to maintain (unlike the rest of the Trail, which was built by VDOT and will be maintained by them). With little sentiment by the panel members for helping the City in this way, the bill was TABLED by a 7-0 vote.

I had hoped to get up to the House Militia, Police and Public Safety SubComm meeting to support Del. Rich Anderson’s HB1926 restricting the use of Cell Phones by drivers which started at 7:30. After the meeting, I learned that HB 1926 had been TABLED on a voice vote, which will be a big disappointment to the Drive Smart people and the others working to reduce Distracted Driving, who had some hopes of getting it through. With that result, I don’t hold any hope for Sen. Wexton’s similar, but a little more strict SB1279, which will be heard next week.

Meanwhile, HB1342, the Following Too Closely bill got its 2nd reading today on the House Floor and probably will get voted on Tomorrow. If you haven’t done so, it’s not too late to contact YOUR Delegate and ask them to support it. I think its in good shape, but nothing is certain until the vote is tallied, so your contact will be a big help.

We support all except one, the mandatory sidepath bill, which of course we oppose. Some of these bills are identical, or nearly so. As they move forward, they are typically “conformed” into a single bill.

"The driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow another motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having due regard to the speed of both vehicles and the traffic on, and conditions of, the highway at the time."

"Payments made to affected localities shall be based on the number of moving-lane-miles of highways or portions thereof available to peak-hour traffic in that locality. Moving-lane-miles of highway that are converted to two-way bicycle travel lanes shall continue to be included as moving-lane-miles of highway for purposes of calculating payments under this section."

"Wherever a highway is marked with double traffic lines consisting of two immediately adjacent solid yellow lines, no vehicle shall be driven to the left of such lines, except (i) when turning left or (ii) in order to pass a pedestrian, a device moved by human power, a stopped vehicle, or a vehicle moving at less than 25 miles per hour in the same lane, provided such movement can be made safely;"