…where we have three bills being heard tomorrow afternoon (Wed. Jan. 21) permitting a driver to Cross the Double Yellow Line in order to pass a slower moving vehicle as long as it is safe to do so:

• SB 781 by Sen. Ken Alexander of Norfolk
• SB 1027 by Sen. Tom Garrett of Goochland
• SB 1228 by Sen. Bryce Reeves of Fredericksburg

At some point, if more than one of these identical bills go forward, they will be conformed into one, but for the moment they are all still alive and need our support. Note that 15 states now have such laws, with none reporting a rash of head on collisions as a result.

Also being heard will be SB 882 by Sen Petersen of Fairfax “No person shall open the door of a motor vehicle on the side adjacent to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so” 40 states now have such laws, with Virginia being one of only 10 that don’t.

…and the Senate version of the “Following too Closely” bill, SB 1220 being carried by Sen. Reeves of Fredericksburg

All of these bills need our support, and of the 15 Senators on Transportation, we have:

• Two from the Richmond area in John Watkins & Ryan McDougle
• Four from Hampton Roads in Frank Wagner, Jeff McWaters, Ken Alexander, & John Cosgrove
• Four from Northern VA in Dave Marsden, Chas. Colgan, Barbara Favola, & Jennifer Wexton
• Two from the Roanoke area in John Edwards & Ralph Smith

…with one each from the Charlottesville area in Creigh Deeds, from Galax in Bill Carrico, & Chairman Steve Newman from Lynchburg.

Let’s have everyone, particularly constituents, make a call or two and see if we can move these bills along.

Please call or email your senator Wednesday morning. There’s still plenty of time. If you need their contact info, use the Who’s My Legislator page.

HB1342 “Don’t Follow Another Vehicle Too Closely”…

…was reported out of the House Transportation Committee by an 18 – 1 vote this morning, with Del. Garrett from Lynchburg again casting the only dissenting vote. Again Del. Bill DeSteph of VA. Beach did a nice job of presenting it. Now the bill goes on the the floor of the House fairly soon, so it is in order for everyone to make a call to their Delegate asking them to be on the lookout for this bill, and support it, when it comes up on the floor.

If you don’t know who your delegate is, go to this link:

http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/

…and hit Who’s My Legislator under the Quick Links on the right side, upper half of the page.

While you are at it, also see who your Senator is, and have their number and email handy for when we have bills in the Senate, as we do on Wednesday afternoon at the Senate Transportation Committee, where the Dooring, Crossing the Double Yellow Line, and their version of the Following too Closely bill will all be heard.

Below are this year’s bills of interest to cyclists. We support all except one, the mandatory sidepath bill, which of course we oppose.

Some of these bills are identical, or nearly so. Any that move forward together are typically “conformed” into a single bill.

See our online spreadsheet for a detailed listing, with status and links to history of each bill.

Following (Bicycles) Too Closely

HB1342 and SB1220, by striking one instance of the word “motor,” would include non-motorized vehicles (bicycles) among the vehicles and other that a driver of a motor vehicle shall not follow too closely. We support these bills.

Crossing the Double Yellow Line to Pass Cyclists

SB781 would allow drivers to cross the double yellow line to pass vehicles traveling at 25 MPH or less. Most drivers already do this to pass postal jeeps, street sweepers, farm vehicles and lawnmowing equipment. Making this clearly legal would let drivers feel free to pass people on bikes with at least the 3′ minimum clearance now required by law, and eliminate the most common excuse for not doing so. We support this bill.

Highway Maintenance Payments — Road Diets

HB1402 would preserve maintenance funding based on lane-miles, when regular travel lanes are converted to bike lanes. Concern about loss of lane-mile funding keeps many municipalities from implementing road diets, creating bike lanes and improving safety for all road users. We support this bill.

Delegate Bill DeSteph of Virginia Beach did a nice job of presenting HB1342 “Motor vehicles not to follow any other vehicles more closely than is reasonable and prudent” in House Transportation SubCommittee 2 this morning at 7 a.m. With minimal discussion, the bill was reported out by a 6-1 vote, with only Chairman Garrett dissenting, to keep his record intact of never supporting any bicycling safety bill.

Now the bill is very likely to be heard in the House Transportation Committee Tuesday morning at 8:30, as everything is on a fast track in this 46 day “Short” legislative session.

As expected, HB1746, the Mandatory Sidepath bill has now been assigned to Transportation, and could also be heard on Tuesday, but more likely will be assigned further to Sub2 for hearing next Monday at 7 a.m., where I will be there in opposition.

Wednesday afternoon we should see the “Crossing the double yellow line” (SB781, SB1027, SB1228) “Dooring” (SB882), and Sen. Reeves’ version of the “Don’t follow too closely” bill (SB1220) in Senate Transportation.

Thursday morning at 7 a.m. will see the three Maintenance reimbursement bills (HB1402, HB1501, HB1502), to wrap up a very busy week.

No referral to a committee yet of the “Stop for Pedestrians in a Crosswalk” or the bill to “Ban Handheld Cell Phone Usage When Driving” but that should happen soon.

For those who haven’t yet seen it, here’s the link to the VBF & RABA list of bills we are following: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11_c5tEb8-2uY3N6AKBNc9pbSfb-fs_xivugUC7euxNk/edit?usp=sharing