TheWashCycle

2018 Virginia Bike legislation

There are several bills working their way through the Virginia legislature right now that are of interest to cyclists, and if you really want to know more you should follow the Virginia Bicycling Federation. But I will try to give a quick rundown of things as they stand now. (I'm skipping over some with a tenuous connection to biking). Only one "bike" bill is still alive, a distracted driving bill, so Virginia voters, now is the time to work the phones. 

HB181 was reported out of the House Courts and Justice Subcommittee 1 on a 5-1 vote. This bill provides that any person who drives a vehicle on any highway (i) in a negligent manner but does not endanger the life, limb, or property of another or (ii) while using a handheld personal communications device where such use substantially diverts the driver's attention from the operation of the vehicle is guilty of improper driving. It was later cleared the House Courts Committee by a 15-3  and then sent to the House floor, then back to the Courts Committee for another vote, which it survived 11-6.  It was then defeated on the House floor, 53-47, before being reconsidered and passing 50-47 just today. 

Failed, which is bad, in committee

SB74, expands the prohibition on using a handheld personal communication device while operating a motor vehicle unless it is being operated in a hands free manner PASSED the Senate Transportation Committee by a 9-4 vote, but then voted down in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee 11-4. 

SB46/ STOP for a pedestrian in a marked Crosswalk, failed in the Senate Transportation Committee on a party line vote

SB87 this year’s Vulnerable Road User bill, failed in the Senate Transportation Committee on a party line vote

SB919 which provides that a motor vehicle driver whose carelessness causes serious bodily injury to a vulnerable road user would be guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor, failed in the Senate Transportation Committee on a party line vote

SB88 No passing by a motor vehicle driving in a bike lane, failed in the Senate Transportation Committee on a party line vote

SB97 No person shall operate a moving motor vehicle with an animal on their lap failed to receive a motion to report

HB207 Creates a penalty for operating a vehicle after failing to clear accumulated snow or ice from it, failed in the House Transportation Subcommittee on a party line vote

HB464 Driver must STOP for a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk, failed in the House Transportation Subcommittee on a party line vote

HB308 which would prohibit motor vehicles from passing in bike lanes, failed in the House Transportation Subcommittee on a party line vote

Failed, which is good

HB428, which would establish a minimum speed limit of 45 mph on all limited access highways in the state was pulled by its author

Support Virginia bike lane and anti-distracted driver legislation

Two bills designed to make biking safer made it out of the Senate last week and need support to get them out of the heavily Republican House of Delegates.

SB 1338 would prohibit driving in a bicycle lane to pass or attempt to pass another vehicle. The Virginia Senate passed SB 1338 on a 23-17 vote, with only four Republicans voting in favor. Unfortunately,  Subcommittee #1 failed to report SB 1338 to the full House Transportation Committee on a 3-4 vote.  Thus, unless someone (such as Del. Anderson) who voted against reporting SB 1338 changes his mind and asks that SB 1338 be reconsidered in the full Transportation Committee, SB 1338 is now dead. 

SB 1339 would establish a traffic infraction when a careless or distracted motorist is the proximate cause of serious physical injury to a pedestrian, bicyclist, or other “vulnerable road user”, as defined in this bill.   The Virginia Senate passed SB 1339 on a 21-19 vote, with only two Republicans voting in favor.

Subcommittee #1 recommended that SB 1339 be referred to the House Courts of Justice Committee, so SB 1339 is still alive.  The Courts of Justice Committee meets on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons, so SB 1339 may go before that committee in a few days.

The House Courts of Justice Committee members from Northern Virginia are listed below.  Please call or email one or more of these delegates as soon as possible to ask them to support SB 1339.

Del. Dave Albo (Chair), R, HD-42 (Springfield), 804-698-1042, [email protected]

Del. Jackson Miller, R, HD-50 (Manassas), 804-698-1050, [email protected]

Del. Vivian Watts, D, HD-39 (Annandale), 804-698-1039, [email protected]

Del. Charniele Herring, D, HD-46 (Alexandria), 804-698-1046, [email protected]

Del. Patrick Hope, D, HD-47 (Arlington), 804-698-1047, [email protected]

Del. Paul Krizek, D, HD-44 (Mount Vernon), 804-698-1044, [email protected]

Del. Todd Gilbert, D, HD-15 (Woodstock), 804-698-1015, [email protected]

A short and simple request to support SB 1339 should suffice.  Please include your home address and contact information, so they know you are a constituent or live near their district.  Here’s a sample message:
====

Subject: Support SB 1339
Dear Delegate xxxxxxxxx,
Please vote for SB 1339, which was just referred to the House Courts of Justice Committee.   SB 1339 would hold a careless or distracted motorist accountable when his or her negligence causes serious injury to a pedestrian, bicyclist, or other “vulnerable road user”.
As a [name of county] resident,I would greatly appreciate your support for this simple and straightforward traffic-law improvement, to help make me and my family safer when we travel by foot or bicycle.  Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,

Your Name

Your Street Address

Your City, VA Zipcode

And remember, the House of Delegates elections are this fall.

Virginia bills to protect cyclists clear Senate

A few bills designed to protect cyclists and other vulnerable users were recently approved by the Senate.

One bill would block drivers from using a bike lane to go around a car that is stopped or turning left while also removing mopeds from bike lanes.

A separate [ Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, of Fairfax] bill also narrowly approved by the Senate this week would create a specific traffic violation for distracted or careless drivers who strike a “vulnerable road user” in a crash that causes serious bodily injury.

Surovell said if the bill becomes law, it could set a standard that could help victims win civil suits against drivers for damages too.

“Right now, if a driver basically stands up in court and says ‘I didn’t see him’, it’s pretty much an absolute defense,” Surovell said.

Another bill that was advanced Wednesday by a subcommittee would expand Virginia’s existing ban on texting or emailing while driving to include tapping icons rather than just entering text and to clearly include the time a car is stopped in traffic or at a light

The bill would maintain an exception for the use of navigation apps.

Meanwhile, in the Republican controlled House of Delegates

A bill approved 80-18 in the House would provide a new exception [to distracted driving] for using screens that are factory-installed in a car.

The Senate bills were not without opponents

Republican Sen. Bill Carrico, of southwest Virginia, opposed the [bike lane bill], arguing that the new rules could confuse drivers.

“Their habits have been that they do this, and I think this is just going to create a confusion for the drivers out on the highways today that have practiced this for many many years,” Carrico said.

Changing laws is too confusing. Which is why we should have never gotten rid of witch burning laws. Now people have no idea what to do when a woman turns them into a newt.

GOP Sen. Ryan McDougle said existing laws should be enough [for crashes that causes serious bodily injury], since drivers can be charged with reckless driving in the most serious cases.

“The court is making the determination of whether the action is culpable and criminal or less culpable and not criminal. When we create this, now there’s a specific statute, so if somebody is struck … and there is serious injury, that person is not going to go to jail,” McDougle said.

“Reckless driving doesn’t work often in cycling cases,” Surovell responded, because there is not enough evidence.

The penalties in Surovell’s bill would only apply to drivers who are careless or distracted

By the way, on Inauguration Day I ran into Governor McAuliffe by chance. He asked about my injuries and so we had a brief talk about bike commuting and road safety, it was all very encouraging. "We need more people to bike and if we want them to bike, we need to make sure they're safe" he said (paraphrasing from memory). 

Support Bike Bills in the Virginia Senate

It's that time again...

The Transportation Committee of the Virginia Senate will consider eight bills this afternoon (Wed., January 21) that are important for Virginia bicyclists.  Northern Virginia is represented by the following four members of that committee:
1) Senator Charles Colgan (Manassas), <[email protected]>, 804-698-7529
2) Senatior Barbara Favola (Arlington), <[email protected]>,804-698-7531
3) Senator David Marsden (Burke), <[email protected]>, 804-698-7537
4) Senator Jennifer Wexton (Leesburg), <[email protected]>, 804-698-7533

Please feel free to call or email the Richmond office of any of these senators in support of some or all of these bills.  Detailed information is provided below.

Dear Senators Colgan, Marsden, Favola, and Wexton,

Please support the following bicycle- and pedestrian-related bills in the Senate Transportation Committee on January 21.

1) Crossing a double-yellow Line to pass a stopped or slow-moving vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian.  SB 781 (Alexander), SB 1027 (Garrett), and SB 1228 (Reeves) would similarly make it lawful to carefully cross a double-yellow roadway centerline to pass a stopped or slow-moving road user.  Double-yellow lines are installed when it is deemed unsafe to overtake a vehicle moving near the speed limit.  A growing number of states already allow motorists to cross a double-yellow line carefully to pass a stopped or slow-moving vehicle, bicyclist, or pedestrian with a safe gap, something that's already a common practice by motorists driving on Virginia's many narrow two-lane roadways. Please support this practical and common-sense exception to promote safe passing of pedestrians, bicyclists, farm vehicles, postal and garbage trucks, and other slow and stopped vehicles.   

2) Opening a vehicle door into the path of moving traffic: Senator Petersen is once again patroning legislation (SB 882) that would assign responsibility to motor vehicle occupants who cause property damage or injury by carelessly opening their vehicle door into the path of moving traffic.  Forty states already have such a law, with Virginia one of the ten that do not.  Car doors opened carelessly account for a significant share of urban bicycling crashes, and many localities install bike lanes within the "door zone" of parked vehicles.  SB 882, would create a simple $100 traffic infraction--not subject to driver demerit points and not applicable to emergency responders--that would help injured bicyclists receive just compensation from the insurance policy covering the owner of the responsible vehicle.    

3) Following non-motorized road users too closely.  Virginia is practically the only state that does not clearly prohibit motorists from rear-ending a bicyclist or other non-motorized road user. SB 1220 (Reeves) deletes a single word in Virginia’s “Following Too Closely” law (§ 46.2-816) to cover bicyclists and other lawful road users not inside a motor vehicle when rear-ended by a negligent following motorist. The Senate Transportation Committee favorably reported similar bills in 2011, 2012, and 2013, and a House version of this bill (HB 1342) was just reported 20-2 by the House Transportation Committee.

4) Prohibit the use of a handheld personal communications device while driving.  SB 1279 (Wexton) would make it unlawful to operate any handheld personal communications device while driving and establish a reckless driving charge if the motorist was also violating another traffic law or caused a crash at the same time.

5)  Mandate jail time and vehicle forfeiture for DUI without a valid drivers license.  SB 958 (Lewis) would increase penalties for driving while intoxicated and without a valid drivers license. 

6) Allow new sidewalk projects to be funded by the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.  SB 932 (Petersen) would allow the NVTA to fund new sidewalk projects.  If possible, this bill should be amended to make transportation bikeways clearly eligible for NVTA money as well. 

Thank you for helping to make Virginia safer for people who walk and bike.

Sincerely,

Your Name and Mailing Address

Update; Other Bills!

The first two are similar bills that preserve highway funding in the event of a road diet. (Currently cities' and towns' highway funds from VDOT are allocated based on lane miles which means that a road diet to accommodate bike lanes can decrease funding to a city or town.) These are super important changes to help make jurisdictions receptive to the idea of a road diet rather than scared of losing funding.

 

The last bill deals with funding of paved multiuse trails.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?151+sum+HB1402
 
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?151+sum+HB1501

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?151+sum+HB1502

 

Each of these bills has already been filed for this session and referred to Transportation subcommittee #4.

Virginia Senate kills the following-too-closely bill, passes 3 feet law

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath), Transportation Committee chair, voted to pass over (which is bad) the following too closely bill because state police told him it would be hard to enforce. 

[He] acknowledged that he may well have supported the same policy in the past three sessions. Nevertheless, he said, “you always have to reserve the right to be smarter than you were the day before.”

Sometimes minds change in other ways. When the third bill came up in the Senate, Sen. John A. Cosgrove Jr. (R-Chesapeake) said he’d normally vote against it. However, a friend had just been hit by a pickup truck with large mirrors, he said. “Because of that incident, I think this year I would support this bill.”

If enforcement is a concern, then I'm sure they will rescind the law making it illegal to tailgate another car.

The goal is not a wave of citations for tailgating, cyclists said, but a way to find wrongdoing when a car hits the back of a bicycle. Police are often reluctant to charge reckless driving, and without the new law, “it’s one less argument that a cyclist’s attorney could use,” said Bruce Wright of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling.

On the upside, a 3-foot passing law passed. Previously Virginia had 2-feet and, 3-feet is more in keeping with most states. 

Comstock, who is running for the congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R), has opposed pro-bike legislation in the past. She said she’s been working with the biking community and they had addressed her concerns.

Monday Afternoon Commute - Here's to the losers

Good afternoon

• Mayor Gray's Sustainable DC isn't as ambitious, when considering bike lanes, as it would appear "But as WABA noted in its action alert at the end of 2011 about anemic progress in bike lanes, DC had installed 4-8 lanes per year from 2006-2010, which if continued should put the District at 130-210 by 2032 rather than just 100. Gabe Klein's Action Agenda set a target of 80 miles by 2012, so only 25% more than that 20 years later seems a bit underwhelming." Of course, you could argue that adding 5 miles a year gets more difficult each year as the low-hanging fruit gets picked (more and more often you have to take out parking to get in bike lanes). On the other hand, it gets easier as more cyclists and more cyclist-friendly voters creates greater political will. Which force is larger, I can't say.
• WABA is hiring.
• Virginia's transportation plan will lower the tax on gasoline (and thus driving) while using more of the sales tax to make up the difference (among other things). Since much of the money will go to roads, and cyclists mostly use roads, it's hard to say if they'll be winners or losers. A 100% cyclist will definitely pay a larger percentage of Virginia's transportation costs, but they may get more of the benefit too. Drivers are clearly winners and transit users are clearly losers. 
• More on the dud of a year that the Virginia legislative session was for cyclists. 

Monday Morning Commute - Argo

Good morning

• WABA's annual meeting is tomorrow night.
• The last of the Silver Spring Transit Center's section of the Metropolitan Branch Trail opened. So now I can stop following the whole weak concrete/transit center delay drama. The Metropolitan Branch Trail now extends from the Silver Spring Metro station to Ripley Street.
• "During the 2013 National Bike Summit, March 4-6, Capital Bikeshare will have additional corrals at its regular station at H and 8th  Streets (just two blocks from the Summit hotel). That means you can pick up a CaBi at any location in the city and ride it to the Summit — without having to worry about the bike docks being full. Capitol Bikeshare will have valets there ready to take your bike and point you in the right direction."
• There were some losses in the Virginia legislature this year, including a bill that allows localities to put stop signs or lights on trails where the intersect roads, but there was one win with a bill that will make texting while driving a primary offense and raise the penalty. Both those bills now go before the Governor.  
• A letter writer to Dr. Gridlock warns other pedestrians about speeding cyclists on the sidewalk. Dr. G adds "Conditions aren’t as bad for pedestrians as they were in the heyday of the bicycle messenger, but walkers still need to be very aware of their surroundings. As Wahl points out, it’s not paranoid to look behind you."
• Bicycling advocate and Montgomery County Planning Board member Casey Anderson is also the spokesman for Marylanders Against Gun Violence. But has he watched every episode of Smallville?
• "In fact, Marylanders enjoy bicycling for many reasons and at many levels of expertise, and some, including me, even do so on occasion simply to feel the joy of the wind in their hair."
• DDOT is rolling out more Leading Pedestrian Interval intersections. "Leading pedestrian intervals are already in place at 14th Street and U Street N.W., which had nine crashes involving a cyclist and seven more involving pedestrians between 2010 and March 2012, " If the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013 passes, they would become Leading Pedestrian (and Bicyclist) Intervals.  
• Do you like drinking wine while riding around in a pedicab? Well, not only is it a new Olympic sport but also a groupon.
• "The Catonsville Short Line Trail between Maiden Choice Lane and Paradise Ave. will be resurfaced with a crush and run (CR6) gravel surface beginning on February 25, 2013."

Wednesday Morning Commute - Dominate City Streets

Good morning

• More biking is part of Mayor Gray's Sustainable DC Plan. "Although cars would still dominate city streets, it would cost more to park them and they would be expected to share the road with a streetcar system and tens of thousands of bicyclists.  By 2032, according to the plan, a quarter of all commuter trips would be by bike or foot and half would be by public transportation... Other “medium term” goals include having ... an additional 200 Capital Bikeshare stations, twice as many bike lanes..."
• WABA supports the Bicycle Safety Omnibus Bill. 
• Attend the Bike Maryland Symposium next week. 
• Support Capital Bikeshare at Arlington Cemetery Metro on the southern sidewalk of Memorial Drive. NPS has another location in mind, one that is harder to see, harder to access and harder to service. 
• Virginia texting bill passes Senate awaits Governor's signature. "Currently, texting is a secondary offense — drivers can be cited only while stopped for something else. Fines are only $20 for a first offense, $50 for subsequent offenses. The new law would raise fines to $250 and $500 respectively. Additionally, drivers convicted of reckless driving would face a $500 fine if they were texting at the time of the offense."
• "Traffic fatalities rose 5 percent last year, according to an analysis of preliminary state data, reversing a seven-year decline in which the number of annual traffic deaths reached their lowest level in more than six decades." While more driving is part of the reason, the rate of deaths also went up. Faster driving, driving on rural roads, more freight traffic and distracted driving are possible reasons. "Increases in pedestrian and bicyclist deaths — a reflection of more people walking and biking in urban areas — may also be a factor, said Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety offices."

Friday Morning Commute - Jane emily

Good morning

• Photos from WABA's L Street outreach. 
• The "Following Too Closely" bill made it out of committee and now goes to the Virginia House. Del Rust of Loudoun County was one of only 3 votes against it. 
• Elias Webb was found guilty of felony hit-and-run in the Lanie Kruszewski case. The jury recommended he serve 3 years. While it is good that DA's prosecute hit and run, it's disappointing to see that running someone down from behind and killing them isn't a crime, just leaving the scene afterward is. [But then the following too close bill could change that].
• Driving may get more expensive. 
• Ann Clymer, passed away. She was a leader in the fight against drunk driving after her daughter was killed by a drunk driver. "Jane emily, then a junior at the University of Vermont, was walking her bike along a rural road near the school when she was struck by a drunk driver."
• 5 points from Understanding Walking and Cycling

Thursday Afternoon Commute - Whirlpool or circling the drain?

Good afternoon

• Jonathan Kass, who has been an invaluable source of assistance to cyclists in his work on the District Council is moving on. Luckily, he's staying in DC where he will be the Transportation Director for the Georgetown Business Improvement District and can still influence cycling in the district. Former WABA director Ellen Jones has been an invaluable ally in the same position for the downtown BID. 
• DDOT released a study of bicycle and pedestrian crashes in the District. (You can see DCist's coverage here - I'll point out now that the cycletrack conclusions they report on are not new and I covered those at the time that study came out). I'll have more tomorrow. 
• The dooring law appears to have been unlucky. "Rust and Comstock said in e-mails that they and Hugo were in a Commerce and Labor Committee meeting at the same time, where Rust was presenting a “major health care bill.” Rust said “no one notified me the bill was up in order to leave Commerce and Labor to vote.” Anderson said he was scheduled to present two of his own bills to Senate committees at the same time and that took priority. “Had I been there, I would have voted for Sen. Petersen’s bill,” Anderson said in an e-mail, noting that he’d voted for it in subcommittee. “I felt bad for Chap because his bill got caught in the whirlpool that the General Assembly becomes in the last two weeks.”"
  • Why else did people oppose the bill? “Spite,” Blacknell theorized. He noted that Del. John Cox (R-Ashland) runs a trucking company. “He makes his money off the public roads, he just doesn’t want to share them,” Blacknell said. “It’s just maddening.”