The Motor Vehicle Collision Recovery Act of 2015, Mary Cheh's bill to fix the contributory negligence issue for cyclists and pedestrians, is now online. You can compare it to the 2014 bill here. The language is quite different, but I'll try to summarize the differences as best as I can.
1. The new bill allows cyclists and pedestrians to recover from a motorist as long as they are less than 50% responsible. So if the vulnerable user is 49% responsible, than the motorist(s) pays 100% of the cost. If there are two other parties that are 25% and 26% responsible, the vulnerable user can still collect 100%. But if they are 51% at fault, they get nothing. Under the 2014 bill, the cyclist could collect at the proportion that the other party was at fault. So if the driver was 60% at fault, they paid 60% of the costs.
2. This new bill specifically says that "in no event shall this act change or affect the doctrine of joint and several liability"
3. The new bill explicitly states that it doesn't change the protection offered to cyclists or pedestrians under a pair of previous laws; and that it is nonseverable - if one part is invalidated, the whole law is invalidated.
In addition to Cheh, it is being co-introduced by Bonds, Evans, Grosso, and Allen. That's bodes well for the bill. There is reason to be hopeful.
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