Bike/ped bills in the 2012 Missouri General Assembly: Reflective vests, anti-distracted driving, and more
Submitted by Brent Hugh on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 12:21pm
These bills of interest for bicycling and walking have been introduced in the Missouri General Assembly for 2012.
Remember you can help move legislation like this forward, and make Missouri a better, safer place for biking and walking, by attending Bicycle and Pedestrian Day at the Capitol in Jefferson City April 2nd. At Capitol Day we will be talking with our legislators about all of these bills.
1. HB 1937, sponsored by Rep. John Cauthorn, requires all bicyclists on state roads and highways to wear a reflective vest. Unfortunately, this approach to bicycle safety will only decrease the amount of bicycling while making no improvement in safety. It is a non-standard requirement, not required in any other state or city in the U.S. and will be unenforceable. We would like to see the General Assembly take some steps that are best practices, tried, and proven to improve safety, such as bicyclist and motorist education, public outreach campaigns, law enforcement training and enforcement of existing laws according to best practices, and improving infrastructure--for instance, by adding shoulders to state highways.
How you can help:
Contact your own legislator (look up here). Let your legislator know that you support real, proven ways of improving bicyclist safety, but you oppose HB 1937, which will only discourage bicycling and bill be completely unenforceable.
2. SB 717, Sen Stouffer's Distracted Driving Bill, which MoBikeFed and other bicycle and pedestrian groups testified in favor of last month, has received "do pass" from the Senate Transportation Committee and is on the Senate informal calendar.
Senator Stouffer may also work to have this language introduced into one of the omnibus transportation bills.
The issue of distracted driving is right at the top of MoBikeFed's Legislative Platform, so this bill is a high priority for us.
How you can help:
Contact Senator Stouffer, let him know that distracted driving is an important issue for you, thank him for introducing SB 717 and encourage him to push for its adoption.
Senator Stouffer is chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, so he has a lot of power to move this bill forward. However, he also has many other priorities, so that will help most now is to let him know that this issue is important to you and will make a real difference.
Contact info for Senator Stouffer:
(573) 751-1507
FAX: (573) 751-9764
3. Senator Engler has introduced SB 805, a bill to increase penalties for drivers who fail to yield the right-of-way and cause injury or death.
Anyone who causes death in this manner will receive an automatic 6 month driver license suspension and be required to complete a driver improvement training class.
This, again, is very much in line with the priorities of the MoBikeFed Legislative Platform. We testified recently in support of SB 805 in the Senate Transportation Committee hearing.
How you can help:
- This bill has not yet passed out of committee, so contacting committee members and asking for their support of SB 805 will help a lot. Find contact information for Senate Transportation Committee members here.
- A call or email thanking Senator Engler for introducing this bill is also helpful:
(573) 751-3455
FAX: (573) 522-9318
EMail: kevin.engler@senate.mo.go
4. SB743 and HB1839, solving the bike rack/license plate conflict. Right now, if your bike rack covers or partially covers you automobile's license plate, you are in violation of Missouri law. A few bicyclists receive a ticket for this offense each year, and authorities have been offer no way to come into compliance with the law other than removing the bike rack. This law will allow, but not require, anyone who has this problem to purchase a third license plate at low cost. The third plate would be printed on tyvek type fabric, similar to Missouri's existing temporary license plates, and would be placed in the rear window of a vehicle when a bike rack or similar item obscures the regular rear plate.
How you can help:
A quick note or phone call letting the sponsors know that you support their effort to find a solution to this problem would help a lot:
Representative Caleb Jones:
5. Bob Watts Memorial Bike/Ped Path
Representative Jay Swearingen has introduced HB 1261, a bill to name the bike/ped path on the Heart of America Bridge after long time advocate and former MoBikeFed President Bob Watts. Find out more about Bob and his work for bicycle and pedestrian advocacy at the local, state, and national levels here.
Now Senator Luann Ridgeway has introduced a senat version of the same bill, SB 833. That has been combined with other similar bills into SB 767.
How you can help:
A quick note of thanks to House & Senate sponsors would help a lot:
House: Jay Swearingen
Phone: 573-751-2199
E-Mail: Jay.Swearingen@house.mo.gov
Senate: Luann Ridgeway
(573) 751-2547
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