Beginning January 1, 2010, anyone bicycling or riding horses on trails in any of Virginia’s 19 State Forests is required to have a valid State Forest Use Permit.  The permit is required for persons aged 16 years or older where these activities are allowed. 

Permits are not required on State Forest roads that are open to motor vehicles.

Anyone caught without a valid Forest Use Permit may be ticketed and convicted of a misdemeanor. [continue reading…]

A bummer for Bruce Drees, who got up at 4 and drove up from VA Beach for this morning’s House Trans SubComm 2 meeting, only to have HB1048/Following Too Closely and 3 foot passing carried over until next week, same time, same place. Our patron, Del. Kory , had another meeting at the same time and was not able to come into this meeting until just before 8:30 adjournment time, so there was not sufficient time to hear the bill.

The committee did hear HB 1083, which would ban mopeds from any highway with a speed limit of 45 mph or greater. Del. Crockett-Stark from Wytheville apparently has a section of heavily traveled highway in her district that goes up a steep mountain and any slow moving vehicle tends to back traffic up behind it, irritating some of her constituents. [continue reading…]

You can also download this article as a PDF file to print out and pass around.

This bill would help educate motor vehicle drivers to pass the drivers of any non-motorized vehicle (including a bicycle) with a wider margin of error and thereby reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries to these legal and legitimate road users. In addition, this bill could improve justice for all lawful and prudent drivers of non-motorized vehicles (including bicycles) who are injured by negligent following motorists. Finally, this bill would make it illegal to harass or endanger the driver of any legal vehicle by tail-gaiting. [continue reading…]

Important update: HB 1083 prohibits mopeds from roads with speed limits greater than 45 MPH — a dangerous precedent. When you call your legislator to vote for HB 1048 and HB 566, please also ask them to vote against HB 1083. Also see our talking points for HB 1048 and the Senate version, SB 566. House Transportation Committee 2 meets first thing Wednesday morning — 7 am. Please contact your legislators before then.

HB1048 Following too Close & 3 Foot Passing is on the Docket for House Transportation Sub-Committee 2 Wed. @ 7 a.m.

Have not yet talked to the patron to see if she intends to merge it into
SB 566, but in the event it is heard on Wed., please make some calls or
Emails supporting it. All phone #’s are 804 area code at their General Assembly offices. [continue reading…]