Missouri Bike/Ped Bill moving forward, legislators need your thanks and more encouragement

When I wrote the last alert about the Bike/Ped legislation making its way through the Missouri House and Senate, I was very hopeful about its chances. A day or two later I heard some very bad news about it--the Senate version of the bill, which had seemed virtually assured of passage, was suddenly dead in the water. The house bill had had a committee hearing (which is a very important step) but then didn't seem to be going any further. All in all, it seemed a very discouraging situation.

But your letters and phone calls to legislators seem to be having a good effect, because now, today, we have two pieces of VERY good news!

* The House version of the bill, HB 684, was approved by committee and given a DO PASS recommendation. This is a VERY big step. It is too late in the session for the bill to have a hope of passing the House on its own, but with a committee recommendation there is a VERY good chance that it could be added as an amendment to another bill.

Please write or give a quick call to these two representatives in particular, and thank them for helping the bill to move forward and encourage them to stay behind it, because the bill's provisions are very important for Missouri bicyclists and pedestrians:

Representative Robin Wright Jones (sponsor)
Phone: 573-751-6800
Fax: 573-526-2578
Email: rjones1@services.state.mo.us

Representative Larry Crawford (co-sponsor, committee chair)
Phone: 573-751-2134
Fax: 573-526-3994
Email: lcrawfor@services.state.mo.us

* Senator Jon Dolan has withdrawn SB 381 BUT has inserted the bike/ped language into some other bills that have a very high probability of passing (please don't ask me to explain the whys and wherefores of this, but the point is that he is actively working to have it passed and it still has a good chance!

Please take a moment to write or call these two Senators and thank them for the good work they are doing in moving the bike/ped provisions forward, because you feel that they are very important for creating a safe environment for walking and bicycling in Missouri:

Senator Jon Dolan (sponsor, chair of transportation committee)
Phone: (573) 751-4964
Fax: (573) 751-9754

Senator Joan Bray (sponsor of bike/ped specific parts of the bill)
Phone: (573) 751-2514
Fax: (573) 526-2612

Email (any) senator at http://www.senate.state.mo.us/email/mail_request.htm

Details about the proposed bill and reasons for the provisions are at

/2003_04_01_newsletterarchive.html

Key points of the bill are

* a prohibition on parking in or blocking a bike lane (bike lanes are not mentioned in current Missouri law),

* a standardized school zone speed limit of 20 MPH statewide,

* language requiring motorists to exercise "the highest degree of care" around pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists (this is the law in 43 other states but has never been statewide law in Missouri!), and

* increased penalties for drivers who negligently collide with and injure pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists