Bike-Related Bills in the 2014 Virginia General Assembly

[Terpfan]

@lordofthemark 78537 wrote:

It seems to depend a lot on who introduces the bill (the 3 foot bill was introduced by an R, I think) and the personal issues of the comm and sub comm chairs.

Yah, that’s commonplace in state legislatures. It’s pretty much the partisan opposite and same rule in Maryland. What’s nice is at least these committee and subcommittee chairs are giving the bills votes. I’ve seen where spiteful chairs refused to give bills votes or did so after key deadlines had passed (crossover, etc). Each vote gives us some folks to target messages to in the interim between sessions and try to turn them around.

[lordofthemark]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/2014/03/05/61e178aa-a39d-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html

While the Post headlines the defeat of dooring and following closely, and has some quotes from legislators sure to get your blood pressure up, the bottom line good news – the 3 foot passing bill WON! I’d call that progress.

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 78995 wrote:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/2014/03/05/61e178aa-a39d-11e3-84d4-e59b1709222c_story.html

While the Post headlines the defeat of dooring and following closely, and has some quotes from legislators sure to get your blood pressure up, the bottom line good news – the 3 foot passing bill WON! I’d call that progress.

meh, it’s the one least likely to make a difference. nobody is going to proactively ticket for violations, and if someone was going to assign liability based on 3ft they’d do it just as easily with 2ft. the dooring and the following too closely bills actually changed liabilities (so, of course, they died). another frustrating year from the general assembly.

[dasgeh]

@mstone 79001 wrote:

meh, it’s the one least likely to make a difference. nobody is going to proactively ticket for violations, and if someone was going to assign liability based on 3ft they’d do it just as easily with 2ft. the dooring and the following too closely bills actually changed liabilities (so, of course, they died). another frustrating year from the general assembly.

Maybe, but it will help, for example, when working with police to discuss when a cyclist can take a lane.

[mstone]

@dasgeh 79015 wrote:

Maybe, but it will help, for example, when working with police to discuss when a cyclist can take a lane.

not in arlington

[bobco85]

@dasgeh 79015 wrote:

Maybe, but it will help, for example, when working with police to discuss when a cyclist can take a lane.

I think that, at the very least, the passage of this bill makes things more uniform for drivers in the DC area, i.e., for people driving anywhere in DC/MD/VA, they will now know to give a 3-foot berth when passing a cyclist. Plus, (I admit this is anecdotal) the typical VA driver probably has no idea that a 2-foot passing law (VA Code § 46.2-839) even existed before, so the news of this bill should help to put it in their minds.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 79001 wrote:

meh, it’s the one least likely to make a difference. nobody is going to proactively ticket for violations, and if someone was going to assign liability based on 3ft they’d do it just as easily with 2ft. the dooring and the following too closely bills actually changed liabilities (so, of course, they died). another frustrating year from the general assembly.

IANAL, but – couldnt someone who sideswipes a cyclist, under the old law, make the claim that he had left 2 feet, but the cyclist wobbled? Wouldnt that be a more difficult claim to make with a 3 foot law? Isnt that the rationale for a 3 foot law – to make the passing distance at least as wide as the typical wobble space?

[mstone]

@lordofthemark 79025 wrote:

IANAL, but – couldnt someone who sideswipes a cyclist, under the old law, make the claim that he had left 2 feet, but the cyclist wobbled? Wouldnt that be a more difficult claim to make with a 3 foot law? Isnt that the rationale for a 3 foot law – to make the passing distance at least as wide as the typical wobble space?

didn’t you know, cyclists *always* drive into cars. we like it, it’s fun.

I don’t think going from 2 to 3 feet is going to prevent such claims. Maybe the police will be more willing to cite drivers, we’ll see. Note that there’s nothing magical about 3 feet, and people in a neighboring state want to change from 3 to 4.

[lordofthemark]

@mstone 79031 wrote:

didn’t you know, cyclists *always* drive into cars. we like it, it’s fun.

I don’t think going from 2 to 3 feet is going to prevent such claims. Maybe the police will be more willing to cite drivers, we’ll see. Note that there’s nothing magical about 3 feet, and people in a neighboring state want to change from 3 to 4.

Well I’d certainly rather be passed at 4 feet than at 3 feet (but then I’m not “strong and fearless”) but I am curious what arguments our friends in Pennsylvania are bringing to bear. I note LAB considers a 3 feet passing law as one of their criteria for determining a bike friendly state. Did they pull that out of the air?

[mattotoole]

Frankly we’re thrilled about winning “three foot passing” (finally!). We got the news during a busy Bike Summit in the midst of congressional meetings (you can thank us for those, too).

Here’s the latest:

• From Bud
• From Champe
• From WashCycle

Note: we need Gov. McAuliffe to sign SB97 “three foot passing.”

Though “following too closely” and “doorong” weren’t successful, it wasn’t for lack of trying by their patrons. Thank-you notes to Del. Comstock and Sen. Petersen are definitely in order.

[chris_s]

http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/01/support-bike-bills-in-the-virginia-senate.html

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), , 804-698-7529
2) Senatior Barbara Favola (Arlington), ,804-698-7531
3) Senator David Marsden (Burke), , 804-698-7537
4) Senator Jennifer Wexton (Leesburg), , 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.

Suggested text at the link!

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