Take Action: Bike Bills to Be Voted on Next Monday

We sent this email to our Virginia supporters this afternoon. If you’re a Virginia resident, take action now to show your support for the following bills, which will be voted on on Monday. At 7 a.m. next Monday morning (Jan. 20), the Virginia House of Representatives’ Transportation subcommittee will vote on four bills relevant to people who ride bikes in the Commonwealth. We need you to take action immediately by telling your representative that you support the following bills. It is critical that you reach out to your representative today or over the weekend, because the session is early on Monday morning. Take action now here. The bills to be voted on are:

• HB82: Driver of any other vehicle following too closely: Requires drivers of any vehicle to not follow more closely than reasonable any other vehicle, including bicyclists
• HB811: Driver of motor vehicle following too closely: Requires drivers of motor vehicles to not follow more closely than reasonable any other vehicle, including bicylists (will likely be conformed with HB82, above)
• HB277: Pedestrians; crossing highways: Clarifies the duties of vehicles to stop to allow pedestrians and bicyclists to cross highways at marked crosswalks
• HB320: Reckless driving; passing other vehicles at intersections: Seeks to amend the legal reckless driving statute by prohibiting a person from overtaking or passing another vehicle stopped at amarked or unmarked crosswalk at an intersection when a pedestrian or bicyclist is present

You can see the full docket for the Transportation subcommittee here. For more information about bills to watch this year, see our blog. If you’re a constituent of Del. LeMunyon, it is especially important that you reach out to him and ask him to support these bills. Del. LeMunyon is the sole Northern Virginia representative on the Transportation subcommittee. Thank you for acting on such short notice to make Virginia safer and better for bicyclists. Contact your representative here.