Got lucky at 7 this morning in House Trans Sub 2 as Del. Riley Ingram’s (who’s District includes Hopewell and across the Benj. Harrison Bridge to Charles City county) HB1746 Mandatory Sidepath bill was heard first. Stating that he had been swamped with EMails from around the state, he was amending the bill from statewide to only Rt. 5 and the Virginia Capital Trail. He further stated that a female constituent had contacted him, stating that driving east on Rt.5 in Charles City county, with a completed section of the Trail alongside (on which millions of dollars of taxpayer’s money had been spent) she came around a bend only to find cyclists riding four abreast in the highway, who she almost hit. Her request to him was, “Please do what you can to get those cyclists off the road and onto that Trail. I couldn’t live with myself, if I had hit one of them”.
After I stated that this incident did not warrant banning cyclists from the entire length of Rt. 5, Del. Ingram responded that he would further amend his bill to cover only Rt. 5 in Charles City county. Given a final chance to respond by Chairman Garrett, I stated that this section was on Bike Rt. 76, the TransAmerica Trail, and although cyclists would generally opt to ride the Trail rather than the road, there would be occasions when it would be preferable to be on the road, and they should have that option. Further, I mentioned that the Commonwealth Trans Board already had the authority to restrict slow traffic from highway sections where they thought they would be unsafe, so no further legislation was necessary. With that, the Chairman called for a vote, and by 7-0 the bill was tabled, although he offered Del. Ingram the chance to rework the bill into something “acceptable” if he could do so by tomorrow or Thursday so it could be heard in the Full Committee’s final meetings prior to Crossover. In talking to Del. Ingram (who is a really good guy) after the meeting, we apologized for the riders’ improper behavior, stating we would continue to preach for proper riding, whereupon he replied that he thought he would “drop the matter”. Tomorrow’s House Trans Comm docket does not list this bill, which I believe confirms his intention.
Our other bill that we were opposing, to restrict mo-peds to highways with 45 mph speed limits or below, was listed for House Trans SubComm3 at 4 p.m., but upon arrival we and a number of Committee members, Patron Delegates and the usual attendees were informed by the Clerk that the meeting was postponed, to be rescheduled. Later, we learned that it will be tomorrow at 4 p.m.
The only other bill of interest to us that is still being considered prior to Crossover, SB1220, Sen. Reeves’ Following Too Closely bill, had 2nd reading on the Senate floor today, so 3rd reading and vote should be tomorrow or Wednesday. If and when it passes, it will be conformed with Del. DeSteph’s identical House bill, and it will go to the Governor for his signature.
Our other bills, Dooring, Crossing the Double Yellow Line, and Reimbursement for Bike Lanes, have all passed their House of origin, and are awaiting Crossover (which is not til next week), so it appears we will have the rest of the week off after tomorrow’s House TransSubComm3 meeting.
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