Thursday, January 3, 2013
Delegate Tom Rust to hold Town Hall meetings
Delegate Rust will be holding three town hall meetings over the next couple of weeks. Del. Rust has opposed the three foot passing bill in the past. As we noted in an earlier post, this year Del. Lopez will be introducing two other bicycle-related bills, "following too close" "exercise due care" Virginia is one of only a few other states without these provisions. Why not attend one of these town hall meetings and ask Delegate Rust to support these bills?- Monday January 7th: Joint Town Hall with VDOT who will review snow removal plans.
- Time: 7:00 pm
- Where: Rachel Carson Middle School, 13618 McLearen Road, Herndon
- Saturday, January 12th:
- Time: 9:00 am
- Where: Town of Herndon, Mary Ingram Council Chambers, 765 Lynn Street
- Saturday, January 12th:
- Time: 11:00 am
- Where: Sterling Community Center, 120 Enterprise Street
- Following too close — banning motorists from tailgating/intimidating cyclists. See Talking points on Following Bicyclists Too Closelyfrom 2012
- Vulnerable road user protection, and/or due care. See Talking points on Exercise Due Care bill (HB 784)
Labels: delegate rust, due care, follow too close
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
McLean Town Hall with VA legislators
On Wednesday, January 2 the McLean Citizens Association will host a Town Hall meeting with several local legislators, including Delegate Barbara Comstock. Delegate Comstock cast the deciding votes last year to kill two bills that would help protect bicyclists: 1. A bill that would prevent motorists from following a bicyclist more closely than is reasonable. Virginia appears to be the only state where bicyclists are excluded from "following too close" provisions; 2. A bill that "Requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian or the operator of a human-powered vehicle." Virginia is one of only four states without this provision.Both bills will be introduced again this year by Delegate Alfonso Lopez. Support from Delegate Comstock is key to their passage. Why not attend this meeting and ask Delegate Comstock to support these bills? The meeting is 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. at the McLean Community Center, 1234 Ingleside Ave, McLean.
For more information on these bills, see the talking points developed by Allen Muchnick of Virginia Bicycling Federation:
- Following too close — banning motorists from tailgating/intimidating cyclists. See Talking points on Following Bicyclists Too Closely from 2012
- Vulnerable road user protection, and/or due care. See Talking points on Exercise Due Care bill (HB 784)
Labels: delegate comstock, delegate lopez, due care, follow too close, mclean
Friday, September 21, 2012
Bicycle bills in upcoming VA legislative session
Delegate Alfonso Lopez (49th District) plans to reintroduce the "Exercise due care" and "Following too closely" bills again in the 2013 session. Both bills would help educate motorists about the rights of bicyclists and the need for motorists to drive carefully around them. Below is are the bill numbers and text of the bills from last year's session:- HB 784 Exercise due care; Drivers to exercise due care. Requires drivers to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian or the operator of a human-powered vehicle.
- HB 785 Following too closely; Includes bicycles, electric personal assistive mobility devices, electric power-assisted bicycles, and mopeds among vehicles that the driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow more closely than is reasonable.
It's hard to argue against these bills, especially the bill that requires drivers to be careful around pedestrians and bicyclists. Unfortunately Northern Virginia Delegate Barbara Comstock (34th District) thought otherwise and cast deciding votes in defeating those bills last year.
Both delegates represent Fairfax County residents. Thanks to Delegate Lopez for his support. During the legislative session we'll be sending out information about how you can support these bills. We'll also be asking cyclists to contact Delegate Comstock to ask her to support Fairfax bicyclists. We're trying to schedule a meeting with her to discuss her objections to the bills last year.
Labels: delegate comstock, delegate lopez, due care, follow too close
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Bill to require drivers to exercise due care defeated in VA House subcommittee
The Virginia House Transportation subcommittee 2 today voted to pass by indefinitely, in other words to kill, a bill that would have drivers of motor vehicles exercising due care to avoid crashing into a pedestrian or bicyclist. Here's the full text of the bill:
§ 46.2-923.1. Drivers to exercise due care.
Notwithstanding the other provisions of this chapter, every driver of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or the operator of a human-powered vehicle and shall give an audible signal when necessary. Every driver shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person on the highways.
Delegate Barbara Comstock (R-McLean) cast the deciding vote to kill this bill. Unfortunately we have not been watching the session closely and did not ask cyclists to send messages to members of the subcommittee. This is an important bill that would help protect cyclists by requiring motorists to exercise due care to avoid hitting them. Four out of the 7 members of the committee, all Republicans, voted against the bill. We wrote the following note to Delegate Comstock:Notwithstanding the other provisions of this chapter, every driver of a motor vehicle shall exercise due care to avoid colliding with any pedestrian or the operator of a human-powered vehicle and shall give an audible signal when necessary. Every driver shall exercise proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person on the highways.
Dear Delegate Comstock,
I was very disappointed to hear that you voted to pass by indefinitely the bill (HB 784 Exercise due care; requires drivers to avoid colliding with pedestrian) that would help protect pedestrians, bicyclists, children, and incapacitated pedestrians. It's hard to believe that 4 of the 7 members of House Transportation subcommittee 2 voted against this bill. It doesn't seem to be too much to ask motorists to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian or a bicyclist. Please reconsider your vote and have this bill heard by the full Transportation Committee and House as a whole.
Sincerely,
Bruce Wright
See a summary of what Virginia Bicycling Federation considers bicycling-related bills in the 2012 General Assembly. They are also posting regular Legislative Updates.I was very disappointed to hear that you voted to pass by indefinitely the bill (HB 784 Exercise due care; requires drivers to avoid colliding with pedestrian) that would help protect pedestrians, bicyclists, children, and incapacitated pedestrians. It's hard to believe that 4 of the 7 members of House Transportation subcommittee 2 voted against this bill. It doesn't seem to be too much to ask motorists to exercise due care to avoid colliding with a pedestrian or a bicyclist. Please reconsider your vote and have this bill heard by the full Transportation Committee and House as a whole.
Sincerely,
Bruce Wright
Labels: delegate comstock, due care, hb784
