April 9, 20134 Comments on California 3 Feet for Safety bill amended to address liability concerns
California Assemblyman Stephen Bradford (D-Gardena) amended AB 1371 to address liability concerns Governor Jerry Brown expressed over last year’s version of the Three Foot Safe Passing Law that he vetoed.
March 26, 20133 Comments on California bill amended to remove bicycle knowledge requirement from license test
Quick quiz: Who remembers California Assembly Bill 840 introduced by Tom Ammaniano for the 2013 legislative session. Anybody? Anybody?
This is the bill that would have required questions on bicycling, including questions about “bicycle markings, bicycle lanes, and bicycles in travel lanes” on California’s driver license test. Pretty cool, huh?
March 20, 20131 Comment on Nicholas Petris R.I.P.
The former California state senator from Oakland passed this morning. The notable East Bay liberal championed laws that restructured mental health care, controlled development around San Francisco Bay, and significantly expanded the University of California system.
Petris tried several times to limit the sale of cars in California and was portrayed in editorial cartoons as a Don Quixote tilting at the internal combustion engine. One early attempt, in which he introduced a bill limiting car ownership to one car per family, died quickly. In 1969, Petris introduced a bill to prohibit the sale of internal combustion engines in California by 1975. The California Senate approved Petris’ bill. Then-Governor Ronald Reagan promised to veto this bill, but the Assembly quashed it after heavy lobbying by the automotive industry.
March 11, 20131 Comment on Petition for three feet in California
Two years in a row, Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach introduced a safe passing bill to the California legislature. Two years in a row, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed the bill in spite of heavy lobbying by California cyclists.
Lowenthal has since moved on to the U.S. Congress, and nobody has yet taken up his safe-passing torch in the California legislature.
Los Angeles cyclist Rick Risemburg hopes to bring this to statewide attention again with his safe passing online petition to be delivered to Jerry Brown’s desk. He’s already most of the way there to the required 1000 signatures. Sending this over the top will highlight the importance of this issue for California cyclists.
20 states and several local governments have a 3 foot law in place. Rick Perry of Texas and Brown are the only two governors to have vetoed 3 foot legislation.
Risemburg realizes the deadline has passed to introduce new legislation in California for the 2013 session, but hopes for action in 2014. Although Lowenthal termed out of the state Senate last year, we now have other bona fide bike people among the freshmen members of the California assembly.
View the petition here –> Three Feet Please! for California.
Via Biking In LA, where you can find a good collection of weekend CARnage.
March 4, 20131 Comment on Nevada considers complete streets, red light law for motorcycles & bicycles
I’m now visiting Nevada in my virtual meander across the American bike legislation tour of 2013. Of interest in the Silver State: voluntary funding of a Complete Streets program for your county, and a bipartisan run the red light rule for motorcycles and bicycles.
March 4, 20133 Comments on Amending Arizona’s 3 Foot Passing Law
Arizona’s safe passing law — ARS 28-735 — has the usual text that a motorist “shall exercise due care by leaving a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet until the motor vehicle is safely past the overtaken bicycle.”
ARS 28-735 infamously contains a get out of jail free card: if the cyclist is hit in the street when a bike lane or path is present, there’s absolutely no penalty for the driver. (more…)