HB 1048 Three Foot Passing was reported out of House Transportation Sub Comm 2 this morning by a 4-2 vote, with only Del. Garrett & Chairman Carrico voting against, and Rust absent. All of the discussion had to do with the 3 foot passing section; the following too closely section did not attract any attention.
Del. Garrett’s concern was that a motorist would not be able to legally pass a bicyclist on a two lane road with a center double line, without crossing the double line, which is illegal.
Chairman Carrico’s concern was that 3 feet was not enforceable.
Now the bill goes before the full House Transportation Committee, tomorrow morning at 8:30.
If you contacted either Cox, Carr, Ward, or Oder, please thank them for supporting the bill and ask them to continue to support it in the full committee.
Here are the Sub Committee Members’ phone #’s & Emails again. All phone #’s are 804 area code at their General Assembly offices. [continue reading…]
Two Northern Virginia adult education programs are separately sponsoring
three cycling skills and bicycle maintenance courses taught by Allen
Muchnick, a nationally certified League of American Bicyclists (LAB)
Cycling Instructor. Except as noted otherwise, all classes meet on
weekday evenings from 6:30-9:30 PM. If the schools close due to the
weather, classes will be automatically rescheduled for the same time
period exactly one week later.
The three courses are: [continue reading…]
Please also see our talking points for HB 1048 & SB 566.
HB 1048, increasing passing distance from 2 to 3 feet, is on the Docket for House Transportation Sub-Committee 2 Wed. @ 7 a.m.
Please make a call or Email to the Delegates on the Sub Committee supporting it.
With only 7 on the sub committee, I think it is permissible for you to call the one geographically closest to you, urging them to support the change of passing distance from 2 feet to 3 feet.
All phone #’s are 804 area code at their General Assembly offices. [continue reading…]
Two interesting developments today —
In House Transportation, Del. May’s HB 674, which would repeal Virginia’s ban on the use of Radar Detectors (we are the only state with such a ban), squeaked through on a narrow 11-10 vote and goes on to the House floor.
While in Senate Transportation, Sen. McDougle’s SB103, which would completely re-structure the Transportation Dept., was unanimously (15-0) carried over until 2011, with even the patron voting to do so. Not sure what caused this, but looks like the Governor might have changed his mind about trying to implement a completely new Transportation organization chart right now.
If you contacted your Senator (and even if you didn’t) before the vote, it would nice if you sent them a Thank You for their YES vote on SB566, Three Foot Passing, which they all voted for, and let them know you appreciate it. They don’t get that many thank you’s and remember it when they do.
Jonathan Maus, Editor in Chief of BikePortland’s website recently interviewed Adventure Cycling’s Ginny Sullivan regarding the US Bike Route System.
Towards the end of the interview, Jonathan asked Ginny about how rails-with-trails factored into the discussion regarding high-speed rail, and whether RWT and high-speed rail are compatible.
Ginny referenced the article, “Trails and High-Speed Rail – Are They Compatible” by Alta Planning’s Mia Birk, which debunks most of the myths. The article concludes:
…that at a distance of 30 feet, a train moving at 90 mph does not create significant negative impacts on trail users. These results only confirm the previous conclusions of the Federal Railroad Administration which conducted its own test, using an even higher testing speed (150 mph). Bottom line: the presence of high speed rail is not a legitimate reason for objecting to a rail with trails project.
To see how well rails with trails are working already, see the latest rails-with-trails survey from California (November, 2009).
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