Testimony: HB 511 – Vehicle Laws – Bicycles – Operations at Intersections

WABA supports HB 511, which would allow bicyclists to use the Bicycle Safety Yield.

You can view this document in PDF form here.

HB 511: Vehicle Laws - Bicycles - Operation at Intersections

House Environment and Transportation Committee
Washington Area Bicyclist Association – FAVORABLE

February 15, 2024

Chair Korman and Committee Members,

Roadway safety is a paramount transportation concern. HB 511 would make Maryland’s roadways safer for bicyclists. The Washington Area Bicyclist Association (WABA), an advocacy organization with 1,200 Maryland members, supports the bill.

Intersections are particularly dangerous for bicyclists. 54.5% of bicyclist injuries occur at intersections, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Bicyclists are at risk of being rear-ended when stationary, ‘right hooked’ by turning vehicles, or sideswiped by vehicles accelerating past them after a stop. Allowing a cyclist to proceed through a Stop sign without stopping, however yielding to pedestrians and to vehicles that have the intersection right of way – what proponents call Bicycle Safety Yield – will reduce these threats, creating safer intersections and easing traffic flow for all road users.

So far, eleven states and the District of Columbia have adopted Bicycle Safety Yield, including Delaware, where reported crashes at intersections involving bicycles dropped 23% in the 30 months after the change. Maryland should join them.

Opponents say that road laws designed for motor vehicles should apply to bicyclists. In Maryland, they currently do. But there’s a difference between a bike and a car or truck. Bicyclists are far more vulnerable than drivers. Allowing a bicyclist to keep rolling lessens the time they are exposed in an intersection and delaying other traffic. Bicycling becomes faster and more convenient, which in turn will encourage ridership. Drivers – and our environment, since biking is green – will share the benefit.

Finally, Bicycle Safety Yield has racial-justice implications. Failure to stop is currently grounds for a traffic citation, and we recognize the gaping racial disparities in traffic enforcement, including here in Maryland. The stats I will cite are from other areas, however. A 2015 report revealed that 73% of Tampa bicycle stops involved Black bicyclists, in a city that is only 26% Black. In Seattle, Black bicyclists were cited for helmet infractions 4 times as often as White bicyclists, prompting backlash and repeal of the longstanding law. Allowing bicycle safety stops – removing one potential pretext for police interaction – will mean safer and more welcoming streets for Maryland’s Black bicyclists.

WABA urges a Favorable HB 511 committee report and House of Delegates floor vote.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on this legislation.

Seth Grimes, seth.grimes@waba.org

More about Maryland Legislation

WABA develops and advocates for state legislation to make bicycling in Maryland safer and more accessible and for state funding to expand Maryland’s bicycle network, working directly with legislators and Maryland Dept. of Transportation (MDOT) leadership and as part of the Bike Maryland coalition. We also work on broader road-safety, transit, and environmental legislation and funding, typically as part of larger statewide coalitions. The annual Maryland legislative session runs from January to April, but our work developing legislation starts the preceding summer.

We’re thrilled that several bills we worked on or supported were enacted in 2024, directing an MDOT Vision Zero Coordinator and public review process; the Better Bus Service Act, allowing bus-lane enforcement cameras (with bikes allowed); authorizing stop-sign cameras near schools in Prince George's County; and the Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act, addressing penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane.

Our 2024 advocacy included unsuccessful efforts that we will likely pursue in future years. (It often takes years to pass a bill. ) These include a Great Maryland Trails Act, an E-bike Rebate and Voucher Program bill, and a bill addressing maintenance responsibility for sidewalks and bike paths along state roads. Another topic on our list for 2025 is contributory negligence, a prejudicial statute that says that if a crash victim is even only 1% at fault, then they are liable and may not recover (full) costs and damages from the party largely at fault.

More about Laws & Policy

WABA works with grassroots advocates at the local, county and state level to support laws and policies that make it easier and safer to walk, bike, and take transit. And we work to changes ones that make biking less safe, make it harder to build bike infrastructure, or that deprioritize the safety and convenience of people walking, biking, or taking transit.

In practice that means advocating for robust and transformative Vision Zero programs, enforceable Complete Streets policies, and funding for new infrastructure that supports biking, walking and transit.

Other regional legislative priorities include:

Reforming Contributory Negligence (passed in DC, in the works in Maryland and Virginia).
Getting rid of the Level of Service engineering standards in transportation decision-making.
Funding E-bike purchase rebates.

More about Advocacy

WABA fights for a region where biking, walking and transit are the best ways to get around.

We educate policymakers and organize grassroots advocates for to speak up for safer places to bike and walk; and for laws and policies that protect people who are walking and biking, reduce dangerous driving, and facilitate changes to the built environment.