Virginia Bicycling Federation

[Sean Yeager]

Following up on Bud's legislative updates, all of this and more (past updates, as well) is available at http://www.vabike.org/ 

We're all in this together, us racers and commuters and students and everything inbetween. We all use the same roads.

Even if you don't become a member, I urge everyone here to pay attention to the advocacy efforts being done and participate in the political process, especially in Jan/Feb during the VA General Assembly. We look at is as common sense legislation and yet it's always an uphill battle into 50mph headwinds. Every little bit helps, especially if you're a constituent of one of the constant "no" votes such as Sen Carrico out in Grayson Co. 

Sorry for filling your inboxes, 

Sean

[Sean Yeager]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Brantley Tyndall <brantley...@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, January 24, 2014
Subject: VAcycling: Virginia Bicycling Federation
To: Sean Yeager <csye...@gmail.com>
Cc: "vacy...@googlegroups.com" <vacy...@googlegroups.com>, MABRA-USCF <mabra...@googlegroups.com>

Thanks Sean (and Ruth and Frank) for sharing this information.  I may be the only VBF board member on the VACA listserv, and I'm one of the few on the board who races.

I've kept myself restrained from blasting these out to the list, but I do think it's important we're all active.  A few emails from constituents can do a lot to influence Delegates and Senators.  Something else to keep in mind is to contact them early in the process.  We've had a lot of success this year, but we still have some major pushes ahead of us, especially after "crossover", when bills that pass their original houses cross over to the other house to be voted on.  This is traditionally where our bills die, if they don't die in subcommittee at the very first phase.

I think we can all agree that 3-ft passing (one additional foot than in the current code, which is tiny compared to most states) and protection from vehicles following too closely can help protect us as we train on open roads (and in all other types of rides).  Dooring is a concern for many of us who have to ride out of the cities where we live to get to those open roads.  I'm happy to chat about the complexities of these bills (how 3ft passing is difficult, but not impossible, to enforce; how following too closely is largely only useful after a crash has occurred unless witnessed by an officer; and how following too closely's language has been improved upon last years to remove ambiguity that might lead to citing cyclists drafting each other), but all three of these bills are definite improvements.  The racing community puts more miles in on our roads than any other cycling demographic, except maybe extreme tourers, so we have the most to gain.

One great advantage of bicycle legislation is that it can be very nonpartisan.  Sometimes you will see legislators vote along political lines, but this is more due to individual legislators and political ties rather than the merit or content of the bills.

That said, we are at the stage where everyone should email their delegates and senators about these bills because we aren't dealing with small subcommittees.  When the full Senate and House vote, every district and constituent are represented.  After crossover, I have seen the houses be very critical of bills originating in the other body.  It's critical that Senators be pressured to support House bills, and vice versa.

The process takes just 5 minutes. For posterity, here is the link again: http://www.vabike.org/bike-legislation-2014/

1. Click Who's my Legislator Link
2. Fill in information
3. Click to contact both Delegate and Senator
4. Cite the specific bills you support (by number and common language title) and why.  Short explanation is fine.
5. SPECIFICALLY MENTION YOU ARE A CONSTITUENT and include your address.

Thanks for reading my long email.  I really don't think it could have been any shorter without missing something important.

--
Brantley Tyndall

- Bike Walk RVA

- RideRichmond
cell: (804) 625-8126

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