There ought to be a law - about bicycle laws being available and accurate


Updated update: MVA's site is coming along nicely: <a href="http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm">http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm</a>;
There is more I would like to do but I have to involve the &quot;committee&quot; which is going to be hard in the middle of the legislative season, so stay tuned, more to come.

Unfortunately somehow the ball got dropped on changing the law summary on SHA's site. After a bit of effort hopefully the right person has the info and motivation to update the laws. In the process we found another link to be fixed: <a href="http://www.marylandroads.com/oots/Appendix%20C%20-%20PedBikeCode.pdf">http://www.marylandroads.com/oots/Appendix%20C%20-%20PedBikeCode.pdf</a>;
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Update: Conversation has begun and I will let everyone know the outcome when it happens. Thanks to everyone who took time to write and getting the State to take more seriously the dissemination of bike laws and that they be correctly stated.

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§ 21-1212. Copies or summaries of laws and regulations.
The Administration shall publish copies or summaries of the regulations and laws of this State that regulate the operation of bicycles ...

This started off as a nice law but a lot has changed since 1986. I would hope that it's implied those copy of summaries should be current and not to mention accurate.

I remember Bob Moore's (may he rest in peace) testimony in Annapolis about &quot;the quaint antiquated notion&quot; of requiring bikes to have a bell and that was in 2006 yet the summary as provided by SHA has that we are still required by law to have a bell. Not to mention our resent removal of mandatory shoulder use, this really needs to be updated.
<a href="http://www.sha.maryland.gov/OPPEN/acom_bike_laws1.pdf">http://www.sha.maryland.gov/OPPEN/acom_bike_laws1.pdf</a>;

I have written to SHA's bike/ped coordinator before on this subject but I guess they keep switching who is in charge of that position so this has yet to be done but 4 years out of date is really too much and should be corrected.

********************************************************************** On the subject of accuracy MVA's summary is a comedy of errors (if not a deliberate attempt at misrepresenting the laws.) <a href="http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm">http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm</a>;

The basic constructs of same road, same rights as been removed or altered by MVA. A lane too narrow to share, MVA changed to a lane too narrow for a bicycle. And the MVA decided we can no longer make left turns from the left side of the roadway. I will strongly assert if you are going to quote law so that in appearance it seems like a verbatim quote but then go and drop critical words or add unintelligible phrase like &quot;make a justify turn&quot; something is really out of place if not a very poor understanding of what is required of cyclists and this needs to be corrected. Or in the words of our cover letter for the recommended changes to the Drivers' Handbook &quot;Simply put, we must get all rightful roadway users on the same page. &quot; And that applies to all state agencies as well.

It just sad that a simple request needs to be turned into an action alert to get some attention on this matter but accessibility to (accurate) laws and regulations for the operation of bicycles is critical as outlined above and there should be zero tolerance for errors.
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So what I am asking is if everyone take a moment to write:

governor@gov.state.md.us;
cc: Beverley Swaim-Staley &lt;bswaim-staley@mdot.state.md.us&gt;; Michael Jackson &lt;mjackson3@mdot.state.md.us&gt;;

Sub: Please correct bicycle law summaries

Please correct the information on the following web pages as it is either 4 years out of date or terribly inaccurate. Previous requests have not resulted in any changes.

<a href="http://www.sha.maryland.gov/OPPEN/acom_bike_laws1.pdf">http://www.sha.maryland.gov/OPPEN/acom_bike_laws1.pdf</a>;
<a href="http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm">http://www.mva.maryland.gov/Driver-Safety/Bicycle/default.htm</a>;

Thank you,
[full name and address]

by B' Spokes

Like most people I live a hectic life and who has the time for much exercise? Thanks to xtracycle now I do. By using my bike for daily activities I can get things done and get an hour plus work out in 15 minutes extra of my time, not a bad deal and beats taking the extra time going to the gym. In case you are still having trouble being motivated; the National Center of Disease Control says that inactivity is the #2 killer in the United States just behind smoking. ( http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/bb_nutrition/ ) Get out there and start living life! I can carry home a full shopping cart of groceries, car pool two kids or just get lost in the great outdoors camping for a week. Well I got go, another outing this weekend.
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