VA bicycling bills under consideration now

[elbows]

Apologies if this was posted and I missed it.

Keep an eye on this site if you live in VA and consider reaching out to your legislators: https://www.vabike.org/

HB2262 -
Traffic regulation; bicycles. Permits operators of bicycles to treat a stop sign as a yield sign in certain situations. The bill requires the driver of a motor vehicle to change lanes when overtaking a bicycle or certain other vehicles when the lane of travel is not wide enough for the overtaking motor vehicle to pass at least three feet to the left of the overtaken vehicle. The bill also removes the limitations on riding bicycles and certain other vehicles two abreast.

SB2163
Traffic regulations; bicycles. Permits operators of bicycles to treat a stop sign as a yield sign in certain situations. The bill requires the driver of a motor vehicle to change lanes when overtaking a bicycle or certain other vehicles when the lane of travel is not wide enough for the overtaking motor vehicle to pass at least three feet to the left of the overtaken vehicle. The bill also removes the limitations on riding bicycles and certain other vehicles two abreast.

HB1903 – Carr/ Richmond – Authorize localities to lower speed limits in Residential/Business Districts (1/14/21 Reported unanimously 22-0 from full House Transportation Committee)

[Judd]

The Bicyclist Safety Act has made it out of Senate Committee. It needs your immediate help to get passed by the full Senate this week and also to get it passed through the House committee.

Take 1.5 minutes to send an email to your state delegate and senator here: https://t.co/WCarshJgo0


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Boomer2U]

Just sent emails to my Senator & Delegate via the website, which was super easy. All I had to do was fill in my name, address and email. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.


Sent from Boomer_Cycles via my iPhone using Tapatalk

[peterw_diy]

Thanks for posting.

I think I might be more excited about the notion of riding two abreast than the long awaited Idaho Stop. Sure would be nice for errands with kids if we didn't have to go single file!

[Judd]

Thanks for posting.

I think I might be more excited about the notion of riding two abreast than the long awaited Idaho Stop. Sure would be nice for errands with kids if we didn't have to go single file!

One of the arguments made by the Virginia Bicycling Federation was it legalizes parents protecting their kids by riding side by side.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Judd]

If you haven't sent a note to your Senator or Delegate yet, it's still needed. The Senate bill will likely be voted on by the full Senate on Wednesday. The House version of the bill made it out of subcomittee by an 8-2 vote and goes to the full Transportation committee this week. If it makes it through the Transportation Committee and will go to the full House for a vote.

Latest updates are here: http://www.vabike.org

[arlcxrider]

SB1263: "Idaho Stop," riding two abreast, etc. was defeated yesterday in the state Senate. Vote 16 Y, 22 N. (One not voting, one vacancy.)

Janet Howell (D-Fairfax/Arlington) and Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) were among the "no" votes.

[elbows]

SB1263: "Idaho Stop," riding two abreast, etc. was defeated yesterday in the state Senate. Vote 16 Y, 22 N. (One not voting, one vacancy.)

Janet Howell (D-Fairfax/Arlington) and Majority Leader Dick Saslaw (D-Fairfax) were among the "no" votes.

Howell's district:
https://www.vpap.org/offices/state-s...redistricting/

Saslaw's district:
https://www.vpap.org/offices/state-s.../district-map/

[Relwal Noj]

Howell and Saslaw will represent different districts in the 2023 senate elections. I imagine with the new redistricting bill, virtually all of Arlington County will be put into a single district - which will be represented by either Favola or Ebbin.

Sadly, this means this bill is permanently dead because there's very little chance the dems retain the house of delegates after the elections this Nov and they deserve to lose it after passing that flawed redistricting amendment.

[chris_s]

Twitter tells me that the House version of the Bicyclist Safety Act has passed. This gives us a 2nd shot at Senate passage. Here's how the vote went down last time:

YEAS--Barker, Bell, Boysko, DeSteph, Ebbin, Favola, Hashmi, Lewis, Marsden, Mason, McClellan, McPike, Morrissey, Petersen, Spruill, Surovell--16.

NAYS--Chase, Cosgrove, Deeds, Dunnavant, Edwards, Hanger, Howell, Kiggans, Locke, Lucas, McDougle, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Peake, Pillion, Reeves, Ruff, Saslaw, Stuart, Suetterlein, Vogel--22.

RULE 36--0.

NOT VOTING--Stanley--1.

If your state senator is Howell or Saslaw, we REALLY need you to reach out to them and try to change their vote. Hopefully our friends in other areas of the state will do their part as well and we can get this to 20 YEAS.

Here's a good FAQ from the VA Bike Federation