Advocacy & Safety - The Bike Safety & Responsibility Bill Shows Life In House

For those that are able to please ask the Representatives to support this.



Senate File 117 remains alive after passing one chamber of
the Iowa Legislature. The bill is currently in the Human
Resources Committee. View the amendment. See sample email
below. The amendment addresses the following:


1. Bicyclists must obey signs and signals.

2. When passing a bicycle, a motorist must maintain 5' of
distance from the bicyclist.

3. Vulnerable users is defined as:
As used in this section, the term “vulnerable user of a
highway” means any of the following persons using a highway,
including a crosswalk, the roadway, or the shoulder adjacent
to the roadway:
a. A pedestrian.
b. A person riding an animal.
c. A person operating a farm tractor or implement of
husbandry without an enclosed shell.
d. A person on a skateboard.
e. A person using in-line skates or roller skates.
f. A highway worker.
g. A person on an electric scooter.
h. A person on a bicycle.

4. A person operating a motor vehicle shall not steer the
motor vehicle, in a careless or imprudent manner,
unnecessarily close to or toward a vulnerable user of a highway.

5. A person shall not knowingly project any object or
substance at or against a vulnerable user of a highway.


Please contact the following members of the House Human
Resources Committee. Please tell them to support the
amended Bike Safety and Responsibility Bill.

BIKE BILL NEEDS YOUR HELP!

The Iowa Bicycle Coalition and its partners are pushing for
the amendment and passage of the Bicycle Safety Bill, Senate
File 117.

Our first step this legislative session is approval by the
full House Human Resources Committee.
Please contact the members of the House Human Resources
Committee (listed below) TODAY and ask them to:
*Support the updated bicycle safety bill.
*SF 117 with it proposed amendment is fair to both
bicyclists and motorists.

Committee Members:
Rep. Mark Smith (mark.smith@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Deb Berry (deborah.berry@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Linda Miller (linda.miller@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Ako Abdul-Samad (ako.abdul-samad@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Dwayne Alons (dwayne.alons@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Clel Baudler (clel.baudler@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Greg Forristal (greg.forristall@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Dave Heaton (dave.heaton@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Lisa Heddens (lisa.heddens@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Bruce Hunter (bruce.hunter@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Kevin Koester (kevin.koester@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Mary Mascher (mary.mascher@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Tyler Olson (tyler.olson@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Janet Petersen (janet.petersen@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Renee Schulte (renee.schulte@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Chuck Soderberg (chuck.soderberg@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Sharon Steckman (sharon.steckman@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Phyllis Thede (phyllis.thede@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Linda Upmeyer (linda.upmeyer@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Roger Wendt (roger.wendt@legis.state.ia.us)
Rep. Beth Wessel-Krieschell
(beth.wessel-kroeschell@legis.state.ia.us)

SAMPLE EMAIL

Dear Representative NAME,

Please support the amended SF 117, the Bike Safety and
Responsibility Bill. The bill is fair to both bicyclists
and motorist.

The required passing distance could save lives. The
dangerous behavior towards vulnerable highway users should
not be tolerated in Iowa.


Sincerely,

YOUR NAME


Links:
http://www.bikeiowa.com/asp/hotnews/newsdisplay.asp?NewsID=4312
http://www.iowabicyclecoalition.org/node/297

Devil's advocate: as much as I like it when people pass me with a wide berth, why 5' as opposed to the standard 3'? After all, uniformity in traffic law is usually a good thing, right?

Devil's advocate: as much as I like it when people pass me with a wide berth, why 5' as opposed to the standard 3'? After all, uniformity in traffic law is usually a good thing, right?

I honestly do not know why not 3'.

3 feet is not sufficient buffer particularily at high speeds. 3 feet is only arbitrary anyways, there is no '3 foot passing clearance in the UVC.

if anything, 5 feet clearance should be the number states set as a passing clearance of a vulnerable road user. its the vulnerable road users that are being protected, LOS is not longer the prime directive, there has been a shift in the design focus of road cooridors towards ped and bicyclist safety across the country.

Hmm... Interesting. I'd like to see the same happen in Florida.

Have you been passed with 3 feet of clearance by a car doing 45? It's too close.

I sent the email to all of the representatives listed. I got this response back from Representative Mark Smith:



Dear Johnathan:

Thank you for contacting me about the bicycle bill. I introduced the bill in the House and am an avid cyclist myself. I will be supporting the amendment to SF 117.

Thank you, Mark

Devil's advocate: as much as I like it when people pass me with a wide berth, why 5' as opposed to the standard 3'? After all, uniformity in traffic law is usually a good thing, right?

I'm thinking margin of error. Many drivers, otherwise fine people some of them, can't even get centered in parking lines.

Devil's advocate: as much as I like it when people pass me with a wide berth, why 5' as opposed to the standard 3'? After all, uniformity in traffic law is usually a good thing, right?

Ks requires 4' space, I like the idea of 5'. The more space between higher speed traffic and slower speed traffic the better.

As a practical matter, one would have to increase the threshold for a lane that is considered "substandard" if the passing distance is 5' vice 3'. Suddenly lots of roads with lanes that were previously considered shareable might now be two feet too narrow.

On the other hand. Good luck getting anyone to enforce 5'. I'm not see any particular attention paid to the 3' we have in Massachusetts.

Speedo

Have you been passed with 3 feet of clearance by a car doing 45? It's too close.

I've been passed closer than that at 60, and it doesn't really bother me. But I guess it would freak out a lot of people.

I know I give 5 feet to parked cars...
Those damn things scare me!

:)

Have you been passed with 3 feet of clearance by a car doing 45? It's too close.

Hell, I got passed last week by a car doing 60 -- about 2 feet away! Now THAT'S too close!