Legislation

LEGISLATORS RIDE ORGANIZED BY DELAWARE BICYCLE COUNCIL May 1 | To Dover, Delaware REGISTER HERE FOR LEGISLATORS RIDE The Delaware Bicycle Council is a sponsor of the 2013 Walkable Bikeable Delaware Summit and is organizing the Legislators Ride that takes places the same day. What is the Delaware Bicycle Council? The Council is a commission of state [...]

by Jeff Potter Excerpted from Mackinac Island: “Watch the Bike!” published in Bicycle Times Magazine (Feb/Mar 2013)   Bike culture has recently been booming in the U.S.  But there’s a little place in the north that’s been in love with bikes for generations: Mackinac Island, Michigan, a historic tourist destination on the Straits of Mackinac, between Lakes [...]

What do we normally think about when we think about “politics”? Well, we might think about political campaigns, like the recent presidential campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney with its, literally, billions of dollars of television advertising, 24-hours a day cable news coverage, daily polling and millions of phone calls to individual voters. Or [...]

There are a lot of things we do while bicycling to avoid accidents and injuries. For safety’s sake, we should be doing these kinds of things: Safe behaviors:  for example, stopping at stop signs and red lights; riding defensively, watching what motorists around us are doing that could create problems for us; riding single file [...]

Maryland’s MVA has produced and distributed this bicycle safety public service announcement (PSA) to communicate the three-foot safety rule for motorists as well as bicyclists. The PSA emphasizes the need for everyone to share the roads. While some might question its effectiveness, having a 3’ passing law is more about education and legal protection for [...]

by Angie Schmitt, Streetsblog – Currently 20 states have laws on the books requiring motorists to give cyclists a three-foot berth when passing. Pennsylvania was the latest state to join the club this week, and did so with a flourish. The commonwealth upped the ante by enacting a four-foot passing requirement. One of the common criticisms [...]

By Keith Laing The Hill The $260 billion transportation bill released [at the end of January] by House Republicans to spur highway construction in the United States would make roads in the country less safe, AAA argued a day after the GOP announced the legislation. The proposal from House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John [...]

The American Highway Users Alliance is a nonprofit advocacy organization serving as the united voice of the transportation community focused exclusively on advancing public policies that improve roadway safety, expand freedom of mobility and increase highway system performance.  It represents motorists, RV enthusiasts, truckers, bus companies, motorcyclists, and a broad cross-section of businesses that depend [...]

Cross-posted from pennlive.com – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett Thursday signed into law a requirementthat motorists when passing a bicyclist allow at least four feet of space between their vehicle and the bicycle. The law makes it legal for a driver to cross a double yellow line into an opposing lane of traffic, when necessary to [...]

Senate Bill 120 passed the House unanimously on Tuesday, January 17th. Having already passed the Senate on June 30th last year – also unanimous – it was then signed by Governor Markell this week (week of Jan. 30). “This new law clears up any questions people may have had about whether cyclists can ride on [...]

By Andy Clark, LAB – Pedestrian injuries spike; Senate committee considers an amendment for the safety of all road users Last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released traffic fatality and injury numbers for 2010. Overall, the trend in headed in the right direction. The number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities – 32,885 [...]

*** Tell the Senate that bikes have a right to the road *** The draft of the Senate’s transportation authorization bill, S. 1813 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, includes language that would introduce a mandatory sidepath law on roads in our National Parks and other Federal lands. It requires cyclists on [...]

Featured in Baltimore Spokes – It amazes me how much slack is afforded to motorists, and when there is a crack down on “safety”, it seems that it is just the cyclists and pedestrians that are targeted. Motorists going 10 mph above the speed limit is perfectly fine, motorists coming to a complete stop in [...]

Senator Tom Coburn, (R) of Oklahoma, is planning to ask Congress to eliminate the federal Transportation Enhancements program – the primary source for nearly all dedicated federal bike and pedestrian funding. His proposal will likely come up for a vote in a matter of days.This Amendment would strip Enhancements from SAFETEA-LU, and might affect Delaware’s [...]

By Amy Wilburn, Chair, Delaware Bicycle Council On Monday 7/25/2011, Governor Markell signed SB 38, Delaware’s “three foot passing” bill. With the signing of this bill, Delaware becomes the nineteenth state to have a passing law to protect cyclists. The law not only provides additional legal protection, it provides an important educational opportunity.Delaware’s law reads [...]

USA Today — Motorists who even threaten a bicyclist by yelling at them could be held as criminals or potentially face a lawsuit before charges are filed under a law being enacted in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council made it a crime to threaten cyclists physically and verbally. Yes, that means you can’t [...]

In what may be another “first” for the First State, Senate Bill 120 passed the Senate unanimously on June 30, and now awaits House approval in January 2012. This bill would confirm that bicycles may legally operate when proceeding straight in right-turn-only lanes, as well as when operated upon the paved shoulders of Delaware’s roads [...]

*** Major victory for bicycle safety and protection in Delaware ***  By Amy Wilburn, Chair, Delaware Bicycle Council  On Tuesday June 28, 2011, the Delaware House unanimously passed SB 38, the state’s “three foot passing” law.  The bill now moves to Governor Jack Markell, a cyclist and supporter of green transportation, to be signed into [...]

T4A — The May 5th release of the bipartisan Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011 is an affirmative step toward ensuring the safety and convenience of America’s streets — for everyone. H.R. 1780, sponsored by Democratic Representative Doris Matsui of California and Republican Represenatative Steve LaTourette of Ohio, would require state transportation officials to [...]

Delaware’s Delegation for the 2011 National Bike Summit is rearing to go to Capitol Hill on Thursday, March 10th. They are (L to R): Ceci McCormick, White Clay Bicycle Club (WCBC)John McCormick, Past President, WCBCBeverly Suarez-Beard, Bike DelawareFrank Warnock, PR Chair, Bike Delaware Amy Wilburn, Chair, Delaware Bicycle Council (DBC). The 5 will be meeting [...]

Utah News — Despite opposition from car insurance companies, a House committee endorsed a bill Tuesday that would allow bicyclists to treat stop signs as if they were yield signs. Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, said HB155 would make roads safer and would reflect what cyclists already do. She said allowing cyclists to merely slow [...]

A huge amount of progress has taken place in a relatively short period of time. Delaware is clobbering other states left and right; a cell phone/texting ban, a vulnerable road users law, bike lanes across a major bridge span, a statewide Complete Streets policy officially in effect as of July, etc – these successes are [...]

From LAB. On August 12, Delaware’s Governor Markell signed SB 269 into law. The bill, modeled after an Oregon law, enhances the penalty for drivers convicted of careless or inattentive driving who cause serious physical injury to cyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. The new law includes sentencing guidelines such as: *  Completion of [...]

Gov. Markell will be signing SB 269 into law on Thursday August 12th at 12:00 PM at Paper Mill Park, Polly Drummond and Paper Mill Roads in Pike Creek. SB 269 amends the careless or inattentive driving law by enhancing the penalty for a careless or inattentive driver who contributes to the serious physical injury [...]

Only hands-free talking on a cell phone will be legal in Delaware starting Jan. 2. Forget texting or checking your calendar while at the wheel, too. Gov. Jack Markell started the clock Tuesday morning for the 180-day waiting period, when he signed the law making Delaware the eighth state to ban hand-held mobile phone use [...]

Right now Congress is working on the Livable Communities Act, which would help communities like these all across America plan for and create better and more affordable places to live, work, and raise families. The bill would provide more than $4 billion in resources for local governments to shape their development through smart planning for [...]

Long-delayed legislation to ban the use of hand-held cell phones while driving passed the House on June 22 and is on its way to Gov. Jack Markell for his signature. The 34-6 House vote brings to a close several years of unsuccessful attempts to prohibit talking on a cell phone without using a hands-free device. [...]

The Delaware House of Representatives is making serious progress on the side of bicycle (and motorist) safety. Passage of House Bill 229, outlawing the use of cell phones when driving, by the overwhelming margin of 33-5, is a proud moment for all road users. We hope the Senate is prepared to keep Delaware on the [...]

The climate and clean energy legislation unveiled in the Senate on May 18 puts a strong emphasis on planning for and investing in clean transportation options. We applaud the authors of The American Power Act, John Kerry and Joe Lieberman, along with CLEAN-TEA co-sponsors lead by Tom Carper. Together they advanced this critical piece of [...]

April 24 marked the 1 year anniversary of Governor Markell’s signing of Executive Order 6, bringing us a statewide Complete Streets policy. Cyclists throughout Delaware have been writing us, wondering when we will start seeing the first green shoots of this historic milestone. First and foremost, it is important to note the executive order, signed [...]