Bicycling related bills that passed

SB 98 Use of Text Messaging Device While Driving - Prohibition - Passed Senate (43-4), House (133-2)
SB 219 Violations by Drivers Under the Age of 18 Years - Driver's License Suspensions - Passed (with amendments) Senate (44-0), House (133-0)
SB 262 Repeated Drunk and Drugged Driving Offenses - Suspension of License - Passed (with amendments) Senate (44-0), House (137-0)
SB 277 Speed Monitoring Systems - Statewide Authorization and Use in Highway Work Zones - Passed Senate (27-20), House (94-41)

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Bicycling related bills update

First what\'s left to take action on if you are at all interested:

SB 98 Use of Text Messaging Device While Driving - Prohibition - Passed Senate (43-4) now in the House
SB 219 Violations by Drivers Under the Age of 18 Years - Driver\'s License Suspensions - Passed Senate (46-0) now in House
SB 262 Repeated Drunk and Drugged Driving Offenses - Suspension of License - Passed Senate (46-0) now in House
SB 277 Speed Monitoring Systems - Statewide Authorization and Use in Highway Work Zones - Passed Senate (27-20) now in House

The odds of these passing the House are slim at best, everything else is dead.

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In TN there is no legal obligation to see a cyclist

It\'s funny I had thoughts about this last night on how our legislatures reacted to the 3\' safe passing bill and the removal of mandatory shoulder use law. One issue seems to be the problem with cyclists appearing out of nowhere as if we are some sort of specter that can be invisible till the last minute leaving motorists no time to react to our presences. Leaving cyclists baffled on the how and why\'s we can\'t be seen even when wearing some of the gaudiest clothing on the planet, well I have a thought about that.

Let\'s say I am driving in a car with a friend down a 35mph street so we are doing the acceptable 50mph, the road is fairly straight with good sight lines and then out of nowhere an illegally parked car appears, my freind gasps \"We are going to crash!\" and I say \"Slow down a bit and change lanes when its safe to do so.\" \"But why should I be inconvenienced when they are not doing the speed limit?\" So we crash and tell the officer that we just did not see the parked car so its not our fault, if it is anyone\'s fault it should be the one not doing the speed limit, giving no time for people \"lawfully\" using the roadway time to react.

The problem here is that this story would appear to be a totally bogus to most people but if we replaced parked car with a lawful cyclist the story has suddenly gained believability among a large portion of our society. Why is that? Well this is my theory: Cyclists are admonished to ride to the right of the road to facilitate passing of faster traffic. So by riding to the right we are essentially saying that it is safe to pass within the same lane and don\'t pay me any more heed then a telephone pole on the right side of the road, there is room for you to pass. It is my belief that it is the awareness of not having enough room to pass is what \"suddenly\" appears out of nowhere not the cyclists.

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Promoting an Active Maryland

Cardin Annapolis Reports

Delegate Jon S. Cardin  District 11, Baltimore County

Week 10 Annapolis Report (3/20/09)
It's March Madness both on the Court and in the Maryland General Assembly. There are just a few days left to get the bills passed out of the respective houses on third reader before the crossover deadline of March 30th. Which bills will survive with a chance to make it out of committee and to the Big Dance of the House and Senate and eventually be signed by the Governor? Time will tell.

Although the Environmental Matters committee remains skeptical, I am gratified by the attention that my bicycle safety bill, which would require a safe 3-foot bubble around a cyclist when being passed by a car, has received. It is encouraging to see such an overwhelmingly positive community response on the issue.

Michael Dresser's column in Monday's Baltimore Sun cogently addressed the opposition to the legislation. He wrote, "Whatever the rights and wrongs of… [bicyclists] …on the roads, the mismatch in weight and vulnerability between motor vehicles and bicycles is extreme. And the law protects the vulnerable, even when the vulnerable get on our nerves."  Read the whole column by following this link.

Encouraging healthy lifestyles is an important step in revitalizing our healthcare system and combating the obesity epidemic. I introduced two bills this week which would promote a healthy Maryland. On Wednesday, I introduced a bill which would establish the second Wednesday in May as a commemorative day for health improvement and disease prevention. This bill would provide awareness for the many health-related problems facing our state. ...

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Action alert: Three foot legislation

As I get older and wiser (hopefully) I realize there is a bit of a contradiction in advocacy. One part is I need to motivate you to write, that generally involves a sense of outrage, the other part is the the letters you write need to be positive in order to be effective. So...

Be outraged enough to be motivated to write or call, what's being said in the halls of Annapolis is enough to make you steaming mad but don't have that come across in your letters. Be positive and supportive of your representative and try to make your appeal palatable to someone who does not bike. Try to be short and to the point and ***please stay on topic, focus on safety and mention that HB 496 only applies to bicyclists that act lawfully.*** Also we have MDOT's support this year on this bill, that is significant!

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Buffer zone a good idea for cyclists, even the irksome ones

By Michael Dresser | Getting There, Baltimore Sun March 16, 2009

Bicyclists are obnoxious.

On any sunny spring day, you'll find them infesting the country roads surrounding Baltimore looking freakishly fit in their Spandex outfits and dweeby helmets. You just know they're a bunch of smug, greener-than-thou elitists whose greatest joy - apart from forcing motorists to crawl along at 10 mph while they drift toward the middle of the road - is to lecture you about your carbon footprint.

So I can sympathize with those members of an Annapolis House subcommittee who would really prefer to kill Del. Jon S. Cardin's bill to establish a 3-foot buffer zone for bicyclists when cars are passing them. It would be galling to hand a victory to those irksome people - half of whom don't seem to think the rules of the road apply to them. Why reward their bad behavior?

Because it's a good bill. And it's needed.

House Bill 496, along with the companion Senate measure that received preliminary approval last week, would write into Maryland law an evolving national standard that has been adopted in at least 20 states. It won't cost the state money. The State Highway Administration and AAA have endorsed it. Nobody testified against it when it came up for a hearing. It could save a life or two.

Nevertheless, Cardin told me Friday, the bill's prospects are hanging by a thread in the House subcommittee. The Baltimore County Democrat said it isn't being lobbied to death, but it has touched a nerve of resentment among some legislators.

They've seen the way some bicyclists behave. They've seen them scoot through red lights where vehicles are stopped. They see them flagrantly going the wrong way on one-way streets. They see them riding side by side and taking up a whole lane of a two-lane road, oblivious to the vehicle traffic stacking up behind them. Why would anyone possibly want to pass a law on behalf of those people?

Because it's the right thing to do.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of who does what to whom on the roads, the mismatch in weight and vulnerability between motor vehicles and bicycles is extreme. And the law protects the vulnerable, even when the vulnerable get on our nerves.

And, hard as it is to accept, there are many law-abiding, courteous bicyclists who would never dream of lecturing you about your vehicular decisions. These bicyclists tell me the law is urgently needed.

Take Adam Berg, a 35-year-old recycling business owner from Stevenson, who said he does his best to stay close to the white line on the right of the road. But that doesn't stop some drivers from passing him as closely as possible - sometimes deliberately.

"They still buzz you. It happens all the time," he said.

Berg said that the wind forces generated when a vehicle - particularly a truck - passes too closely alternately push a bicycle away and then pull it back toward the vehicle. He said that he hasn't been blown over but that he's come close to being dragged into the side of a passing truck.

One concern that always comes up in writing traffic laws is how they will be enforced. It's definitely an issue with the subcommittee chair, Del. James E. Malone of Baltimore County. And rightly so.

It's true there's no way to measure exactly the distance between every bicycle and every passing car, but this law would certainly be just as enforceable as the current statute on tailgating. We leave such judgment calls to police officers. Why not with vehicles passing bicycles? You're not going to see many officers writing tickets for vehicles passing 2 feet, 11 inches from bicycles. But many judges would give weight to an officer's estimate that a vehicle passed within a foot of a bicyclist.

And sadly, there are cases where there is actual contact - often with a protruding side-view mirror. It won't hurt the car much, but the damage to the bicyclist can be serious. For the motorist in such a case, a ticket for violating the buffer zone would be both deserved and provable.

Even if there aren't a ton of convictions for buffer-zone offenses, many bicyclists believe there is value in simply making it The Law.

"It helps to educate," said Paul DeSantis, a 35-year-old bicyclist from Freeland in northern Baltimore County. Once the law is on the books, he said, the rule will find its way into driver's ed classes. Maybe even the driver's license exam. There's value in that.

If subcommittee members are still having trouble getting their heads around the notion of voting for a pro-bicyclist bill, it might help to put a face on a person it might protect.

Delegates, imagine your best friend has a young adult son or daughter who is enjoying a glorious day pedaling through the scenic valleys outside Baltimore. That bicyclist is obeying the law, staying as far right as possible. But the driver coming up from behind at 50 mph is in a hurry, feeling stressed and in a bad mood.

Consider the worst - and how you'd explain a "No" vote to your friend.

Besides Malone, the bill's fate lies in the hands of Dels. Saqib Ali, Alfred C. Carr Jr., Barbara Frush, Cheryl Glenn, Anne Healey, H. Wayne Norman, Andrew Serafini, Dana M. Stein and Paul Stull. If someone you love is one of those obnoxious bicyclists, you might want to let them know how you feel.

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SENATE BILL 784 Vehicle Laws - Motorcycle at a Red Signal - Affirmative Defense

Providing an affirmative defense for the operator of a motorcycle [and bicyclists] to the charge of entering or crossing an intersection against a red traffic signal in violation of specified provisions of law; and establishing specified elements to the affirmative defense.

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The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) opposes HB 1197.

Committee: ENV Date: 3/03/09 Bill #: HB 1197

Position: OPPOSE Title: Vehicle Laws — Bicycles — Rules of the Road

Explanation: HB 1197 would expand the definition of a bicycle to include a wider variety of wheel configurations and provide that, except for the requirement to use a sidewalk and travel facing traffic on a roadway or shoulder, a bicyclist has the same rights and duties as a pedestrian. It would also allow bicycles and motor scooters to be ridden on the shoulder or in the roadway if no smooth bike lane exists. Finally, it would allow a bicyclist to pass another vehicle by driving off the roadway.

Comment: The Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) opposes HB 1197.

Currently, bicyclists are granted all of the rights and are subject to the same duties as a vehicle driver. While those provisions of law would not be repealed by HB 1197 they appear to conflict with the provision in this bill that bicyclists be treated as pedestrians. In fact it is more appropriate that bicycles generally be treated as vehicles.

[Note: Fact: Bicycles using trail crossing are not treated as vehicles per State law but encouraged/required to be pedestrians.]

Unlike their motorized counterparts (cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc.), bicycles and motor scooters typically are incapable of attaining or sustaining the speeds which are prevalent on highways throughout the State. Accordingly, special provisions were enacted in law to separate these slower vehicles from conflict with higher speed vehicles where there is a suitable alternative. Under existing law, bicyclists and motor scooter operators are restricted to riding on the shoulder in a bike lane and not in the roadway if a smooth shoulder or bike lane exists. Doing so greatly reduces the potential for conflict due to speed disparity with other vehicles.

This bill would allow these riders to ride in the roadway if there is no bike lane, even if a smooth shoulder exists. This would permit bikes and motor scooters to be operated in a position where they are more vulnerable to being struck by motor vehicles traveling in the same direction. It also would interfere with the flow of traffic to a considerably greater extent. These issues would likely be exacerbated with respect to youthful bicycle and motor scooter riders, who may lack the necessary skills and are less prone to pay attention to safety when mixing with faster traffic.

[Note: Fact: Under current law and current MDOT policies bicyclist are required to ride in "facilities" that fail to meet minimum width AASHTO standards and fail to have the required notice of hazards and protection of bicyclists right-of-way.]

Finally, the provision in current law that operators of bicycles and motor scooters are allowed to use the shoulder and bike lanes provides adequate legal authorization for them to pass other vehicles by leaving the roadway.

For these reasons, the Department respectfully requests the Committee grant HB 1197 an unfavorable report.



For Information: Tom Hicks
Martin Harris
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Maryland House Bill 1197 Removal of mandatory shoulder use and right-of-way in crosswalks

[From the League of American Bicyclists]
Needs Support & Testimony
The League wishes to express our support for Maryland House Bill 1197 . It is our opinion that the bill would help clarify Maryland law in addition to being a step forward to fully recognizing cyclists as authorized, legal road users. Maryland is only one of four states whose laws require cyclist to use a shoulder when one is present. This fact only serves to reinforce the second class status of cyclists on Maryland's roads. Such discriminatory laws are part of the reason the League ranked Maryland 35 out of 50 through our Bicycle Friendly State program. Passage of HB 1197 will help improve its standing, and help Maryland fulfill the promise of its Department of Transportation to "encourage walking and bicycling, and will provide a seamless, balanced and barrier-free network for all." HB 1197 would remove any ambiguity to the law, and make for more clear concise language that is easier for cyclists to follow, officers and judges to enforce, and for all to understand.

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SB 426 Vehicle Laws - Reckless Driving While License Is Suspended or Revoked - Penalty for Serious Bodily Injury

Synopsis:

Establishing a penalty for a person who, while in violation of provisions of law related to driving while a license is canceled, suspended, refused, or revoked, commits a violation of a specified prohibition against reckless driving that results in serious bodily injury or death.

...IS SUBJECT TO A FINE OF NOT MORE THAN $1,000, OR IMPRISONMENT FOR NOT MORE THAN 3 YEARS, OR BOTH.

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