In general, the bill introduces a fine should a driver of a motor vehicle fail to pass a cyclist without a safe distance, where safe is defined to be:

a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic

Of interest though is one particular exception whereby this safe distance rule does not apply:

At a speed not greater than thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph);

Apparently, it’s okay to buzz or even hit a cyclist if you are driving under 35mph.

Now that the House bill has been passed, the status is listed as being forwarded to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Since the Senate is in recess, it’s unclear what this means.  While it’s still possible to have the Senate act on a bill, even during recess, I believe it is unlikely that this bill will currently become law.

We must now find sponsors to introduce the legislation in the Senate.  When the legislation is introduced to the Senate, there will be one final chance for public comment.  We will post an update once we have any information about the status of this legislation in the Senate.

Ultimately, if the legislation is passed by both the House and the Senate, assuming the Governor doesn’t veto it (why would he?), it will become law.

From an enforcement point of view, it still leaves a lot of room for interpretation which likely means it could be challenged in court.  It also makes it more difficult for police to enforce; another law on the books that just won’t be enforced?  The fine for breaking this law?  A laughable $85 dollar fine.

This is certainly not the more aggressive bill we were pressing for, based off the Oregon Vulnerable Roadway User law.  However, it is some legislation that will continue to emphasize cyclist’s rights to the road.  If it does move onto the full House and, ultimately, the Senate for consideration, and passes, we should make an effort to engage the local police and make sure they are aware of the new law.

I’ll post another update when we have more news.

Nomination and Election of Officers (please come prepared with nomination suggestions)

• Chair
• Secretary

Continuing Business

• PSA project (Matt)
• Driver’s Manual project (Sue)
• B2WD (Dick)
• Apeiron Festival (Eric & Jack & Dick)
• Outdoor Demo (Eric & Mark & Dick)
• Bicycle Legislation – H5074 (Dick & Mark)
• GARI/NBW Grant (Mark)
• Bridge Updates (Steve)
• Bikepath Updates (Eric)
• Downtown Bicycle Parking (Eric)

New Business

• Alliance for Walking & Biking (Thunderhead Alliance) Grant
  • Light up the Night (handing out free bike lights in the Fall)
• National Bike Summit (Eric & Mark)
  • Enforcement MOU
  • Bike law pamphlets

Once we’ve worked through the lawyers on both sides and feel we have a bill that has a chance of passing, it will be time for a letter writing campaign.  We will post a copy of the bill and be calling on everyone who supports the legislation to send a letter to one or more constituent.

Stay tuned…

Sorry for sounding the alarm and any confusion or inconvience this may have caused you!

Changes to existing RI Laws

31-19-2.1
31-19-4
31-19-10
31-19-15
31-19-18

For the most part, the changes to existing laws are minor edits to bring them more in line with the rest of Title 31 and to update them to match the reality of cycling today.

The big changes are included in the proposed vulnerable roadway user portion of the bill.  Representative Gemma passed our recommendations by the legal teams and our understanding is the only change they’ve made, other than to reformat the suggestions in a bill format, was to reduce the maximum fine to $800.  While I would love to see this fine stay at the level we proposed, it is still almost a 10 fold increase over any other fine you will see relating to an incident between a motorist and a cyclist.  Even at this reduced level, I believe it still sends a message.

The H5074 hearing is now scheduled to be heard tomorrow, April 2nd, at 4pm in room 205 of the State House. We need to show our strength in numbers to support this legislation, so if you are avaiable PLEASE SHOW UP!

I’ll be posting revised versions of the bill later today, so you can read our proposed legislation in advance of the hearing.

House Bill No. 5074
BY Gemma, Flaherty, Ferri, Trillo
ENTITLED, AN ACT RELATING TO MOTOR VEHICLES AND OTHER VEHICLES — PASSING, USE OF LANES, AND RULES OF THE ROAD {LC98}
01/13/09 Introduced, referred to House Judiciary
03/24/09 Scheduled for hearing and/or consideration

I’ll post more details about time if I can track this down…  Please spread the word to all your lists, we need to have a showing of the cycling community.