Michigan Bicycle legislation(long post)

This is from Mark Hagar, who organizes the Ride of Silence

FYI,

To those that have note seen this, we need your support / action.

Let your local Rep. State rep. Know. See below.

Mark
Mark Hagar
Ride of Silence, National Board Member, Mentor, Club Communications
Ride of Silence, MI Director, 2005-2009 Grand Rapids MI Organizer
http://www.rideofsilence.org
Mark.Hagar@rideofsilence.org
“Silence can be deafening”
616 987-9198 H
616 389-3552 C


------ Forwarded Message
From: "Bill Duemling" <lmb-office@lmb.org>
Reply-To: lmb-office@lmb.org
Date: Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:04:01 -0400
To: Multiple recipients of list lmb-news <lmb-news@lmb.org>
Subject: LMB-News: Bicycling Legislation - Your Action Needed

Dear Michigan Bicyclist,

The LMB is excited to share the following news about
recently introduced bicycling legislation. Please
contact your lawmaker on this important issue and
encourage your cycling friends to do the same.

Thanks in advance for helping us move these bills
forward!

-- John Lindenmayer
Associate Director
League of Michigan Bicyclists
jlindenmayer@LMB.org
http://www.LMB.org


**** Legislative Action Alert: ****

Tell your Legislator to Support HB 6299 and HB 6300,
make roads safer for cyclists.

Representatives Andy Coulouris (D-Saginaw) and
David Palsrok (R-Manistee) on June 29 introduced
House Bills 6299 and 6300, which enhance penalties
for moving violations causing physical injury or
death to bicyclists and other vulnerable roadway
users.

Senator Tom George (R-Kalamazoo) has committed to
introduce Senate companion bills with the same
language. (Check http://www.LMB.org/advocacycenter.htm)
for future information, including Senate bill
numbers and co-sponsors.)

A teen on a bike deserves the same protection as one
driving a tractor. These bills will make Michigan roadways
safer for bicyclists and all vulnerable users of our
taxpayer-funded road system.

**** Bill Excerpts: ****

(1) A "VULNERABLE ROADWAY USER" IS DEFINED AS A
PEDESTRIAN OR A PERSON OPERATING A NONMOTORIZED
TRANSPORTATION DEVICE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
A BICYCLE).

(2) A PERSON WHO COMMITS A MOVING VIOLATION AND AS A
RESULT CAUSES INJURY TO A VULNERABLE ROADWAY USER ON A
HIGHWAY WHO IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ACT IS GUILTY OF
A MISDEMEANOR PUNISHABLE BY IMPRISONMENT FOR NOT MORE
THAN 1 YEAR OR A FINE OF NOT MORE THAN $1,000.00, OR BOTH.

(3) A PERSON WHO COMMITS A MOVING VIOLATION AND AS A
RESULT CAUSES DEATH TO A VULNERABLE ROADWAY USER ON A
HIGHWAY WHO IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THIS ACT IS GUILTY
OF A FELONY PUNISHABLE BY IMPRISONMENT FOR NOT MORE
THAN 15 YEARS OR A FINE OF NOT MORE THAN $7,500.00,
OR BOTH.

Please write your Representative today and ask him or
her to support HB 6299 & 6300! A sample letter is
reproduced below. Also, please make sure to thank your
legislator if he/she is sponsoring or co-sponsoring one
of these bills, or commits to voting for it. Copy
LMB with any letter of support you receive.

**** Current Sponsors and Co-sponsors: ****

Andy Coulouris (D-Saginaw)(primary HB 6300)
David Palsrok (R-Manistee)(primary HB 6299)
George Cushingberry, Jr. (D-Detroit)
Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak)
Bill Huizenga (R-Zeeland)
Joe Hune (R-Hamburg)
Robert Jones (D-Kalamazoo)
Richard LeBlanc (D-Westland)
Gabe Leland (D-Detroit)
Mark Meadows (D-E. Lansing)
Andy Meisner (D-Ferndale)
Fred Miller (D-Mount Clemens)
Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor)

HB 6300 & 6299 have been referred to the House
Transportation Committee. Constituent letters to
Committee members are especially important right now..

**** Transportation Committee Members: ****

Hoon-Yung Hopgood, Committee Chair, (D-Westlake, Taylor)
Martin J. Griffin (D), Majority Vice-Chair, 64th District
Frank Accavitti Jr. (D-South Park, Eastpointe)
Steve Bieda (D-Warren)
Marie Donigan (D-Royal Oak) *
Kate Ebli (D-Monroe)
Gabe Leland (D-Detroit) *
Jeff Mayes (D-Bay City)
Fred Miller (D-Mount Clemens) *
Coleman A. Young II (D-Detroit)
Philip LaJoy, Minority Vice-Chair (R-Canton)
Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba)
Neal Nitz (R-Baroda)
Phil Pavlov (R-St Clair Township)
Tom Pearce (R-Rockford)
John Stahl (R-North Branch)
Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy)


* Committee members already co-sponsoring HB 6300 & 6299

Find full bills and legislator addresses at:
http://www.LMB.org/advocacycenter.htm
or call the LMB office at 1-888-642-4537.

**** Sample Letter: ****

The Honorable ________________________

[Address]

[Date]

Dear [Representative] _____________________,

As a citizen of your district, I urge you to support
HB 6299 and 6300, which enhance penalties for moving
violations causing physical injury or death to bicyclists
and other vulnerable roadway users. These bills will
make the penalties for injuring or killing a bicyclist
the same as those enacted in 2001 for drivers who injure
or kill people operating (typically slow-moving) farm
vehicles.

Rising energy prices and concerns about health, fitness
and the environment have put more people on bicycles and
more bikes on the road. They must no longer be treated
as eccentrics, annoyances to drivers, or second-class
citizens. They are our brothers and sisters, our parents
and our children.

More and more, people will need to use bikes to get from
home to school and work. They are entitled to safe use
of Michigan roads. They too deserve a "brake".

A driver convicted of seriously injuring or killing a
bicyclist can serve as little as days or months. Too
many motorists consider cyclists "fair game" for
intimidation, harassment, endangerment and outright
vehicular assault.

This bill will give judges and prosecutors more tools
for controlling aggressive or reckless drivers. Specific
penalties for injuring or killing a bicyclist will deter
drivers from endangering bicyclists and other
vulnerable roadway users.

Thank you for seriously considering this issue. Please
tell me that you will support HB 6299 and 6300 to save
lives. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

[Your Name,

Your Address,

Your Telephone #]

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I really have a problem with this trend of highway users (motorcyclists, apparently farmers, and now bicyclists) asking to be singled out in the law.

This bill does what I've been urging for years - makes traffic homicide a strict liability offense like every other traffic law on the books - but why limit it to bicyclists?

I don't think the legislation is limited to bicycles, but I'm pretty sure that bicycle enthusiasts were responsible for it getting to the forefront. The part of Michigan where I live can be pretty unfriendly to bicycle riders. There is a lot of poverty here, and you see more kids and "down and out" people riding than other types of riders. Lots of men with dui's and people who can't afford cars. It's very rural in my particular community, and there are getting to be more of us on the road.
I also drive a school bus, and I see a lot of people making HUGE driving errors. It's like I have a bird's eye view of what's going on with drivers because I'm on the road so much. I don't think the bill would ever be publicized enough to have the general public adopt more careful habits, but it would give judges more options.

Well okay, not bicyclists only, but "nonmotorized" highway users.

Why shouldn't it be a strict liability offense when a car driver kills a motorcyclist - or a passenger in a school bus?

My area in Ohio sounds pretty similar to your part of Michigan. Florida - well, forget about it, you may as well paint a target on your jersey. Anything that gives "nonmotorized" highway users special privileges would only p!ss off whatever drivers heard about it.

It goes along with the vehicular cyclist concept, too - we shouldn't expect special privileges - we should have equal rights and equal duties.

ETA: actually, the point of this law isn't to give judges more options, it's to give juries (or judges as finders of fact) FEWER options. It's the mens rea that's usually the sticking point in a vehicular homicide conviction - the hook that lets them acquit. This bill removes that.

One thing I have found fascinating about being editor of the Hub (the newsletter of the Missouri Bicycle Federation) is how much I get to learn about legislation. I didn't really have a good grasp of the intricacies of moving bills and resolutions and such through the system. Well, I still don't have a good grasp, but maybe a tenuous one?

In the upcoming issue, there is a Legislative Roundup article, which is our longest article and I simply could not pare it down any further. Also I'm on the email list for the Board of Directors, and I hear a lot about local regulations and policies and how they are trying to change that, as well as on the state level.