Comments on: Indiana Senate Bill 553 “Bicycles and Traffic Safety”

By: Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:53:59 +0000

The bill is slowly moving through the Senate. It has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation, & Veterans Affairs. The bill also now has a second sponsor, Sen. Travis Holdman, a Republican who’s District lies between Fort Wayne and Muncie. This the bill now has bipartisan support.

The bill will be heard tomorrow, February 10. Two members of the Bike Michiana Coalition’s Legislative Team (Tim Maher and myself) are going down to Indy for the hearing, where we will meet Nancy Tibbett, who is Executive Director of the Indiana Bicycle Coalition. Tim and Nancy will each have about 5 minutes to speak on behalf of the bill.

The chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Transportation, & Veterans Affairs is Senator Wyss; Sen. Holdman is a member of that committee.

By: rod

rod — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 03:15:23 +0000

I use Lincolnway from Mishawaka, to Elkhart during the better weather days, usually around 5:45am.
Just an extra bit of pavement on either side would improve that busy route for a lot of cycle-commuters.

By: Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:33:11 +0000

Jeffrey. Thanks for your comment. The current passing law says “at a safe distance”. We’re suggesting that the distance should be not only safe, but “at least 3 feet”. While 6 feet would be better, the team felt that such a provision would never make it through the legislature. We felt that half a loaf is better than none. Three feet is also consistent with several other states who have passed similar legislation.

By: Jeffrey Haas

Jeffrey Haas — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 01:56:01 +0000

I find it hard to believe that giving 3 feet of clearance is considered adequate. Strap one of the legislator’s on a bike and drive by at 50mph 3 feet off their left shoulder and see if that changes it. It should be more like 6 feet in my opinion.

By: Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:29:18 +0000

This is a follow-up to my comment of Jan 21. In that post, I said there were two problems with the wording in the bill as it was officially filed. We have contacted Sen. Broden’s Legislative Assistant and brought the problems to his attention. We expect him to file an amendment correcting these problems in the near future.

By: Alison Stankrauff

Alison Stankrauff — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:30:43 +0000

From all that I’m seeing, these look to be all quite positive changes – moves in the right direction – for all of Michiana… Can’t wait to get biking out again…

By: Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 19:10:41 +0000

Thanks for the link Adam. We were in a bit of a rush to get the bill filed by the deadline, and did not see the final wording until after it was filed. We know of two problems that we need to address:
1. There is some double negative wording in the section about bike lanes and sidewalk riding that needs to be fixed.
2. The penalities are not at all correct. Our intent was to make the penalities stiffer for harassing cyclists, but we ended up with something quite confusing to me. We are still trying to figure it out.
If you have time to respond on the Richmond site, I would appreciate it. Thanks again.

By: Adam Bee

Adam Bee — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:33:21 +0000

Here's what Richmond trial attorney Thomas Kemp had to say: http://groups.google.com/group/bike-richmond/browse_thread/thread/100cd09e69fdfd6e?hl=en I don't know if he's right, but he raises a few points that I hadn't thought of and which we may want to address before the bill gets much further.

By: Paul Taylor

Paul Taylor — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:23:41 +0000

For those of you who may want to follow this bill, this may be a good link:
http://www.in.gov/apps/lsa/session/billwatch/billinfo?year=2009&session=1&request=getBill&doctype=SB&docno=0553