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Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Council votes Thursday on safe passing ordinance
UPDATE 2:59 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22
Austin City Council just passed the 3-foot safe passing ordinance.
Gov. Rick Perry vetoed a statewide Safe Passing Bill earlier this year, but Austin could adopt its own version of the law this week.
On Thursday, the Austin City Council will vote on an ordinance to require motorists to give 3 feet clearance when passing a bicyclist or other vulnerable road user, such as a motorcyclist, pedestrian, tow truck operator or emergency worker.
Cyclists (and non-cyclists) can register their support (or non-support) for the ordinance now at any of the kiosks in the atrium of Austin City Hall, 301 W. 2nd St. The ordinance is item number 30 on the agenda; it likely will be heard between 10 a.m. and noon Thursday.
“Just like the police officers feel safer and are safer because of the Move Over Bill, the Safe Passing Bill in time will make it safer for vulnerable road users,” says Robin Stallings, head of BikeTexas, a non-profit organization that supports all things cycling. “Right now, 1,000 vulnerable road users per year are killed in Texas. About 950 of those are split between pedestrians and motorcyclists. About 50 are bicyclists.”
Now, Stallings says, laws are vague, and few motorists who kill or injure cyclists are indicted. “If motorists can’t be prosecuted, then officers don’t want to write the tickets,” he says.
No charges were filed recently when a car hit a tandem bicycle from behind, killing two riders outside of San Antonio.
The law won’t protect cyclists who blast through stoplights or veer into oncoming traffic, either. If a vulnerable road user is breaking the law, that’s a defense for the motorist, Stallings says.
“This isn’t that the motorist has all the responsibility, but they have to take some responsibility, just like if you’re a gun owner you have to take responsibility to keep that gun away from children,” Stallings says. “If you’re going to drive a car, that’s a dangerous weapon if used improperly.”
“Bills like this remind us that we can become way too cavalier … we’re eating breakfast, texting, changing the radio station while we drive, and it’s just not OK to do that.”
The language in the Austin ordinance is nearly identical to language of the bill that passed almost unanimously in the Texas legislature, before Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it. “It’s a really solid piece of legislation that has been vetted through the most conservative legislators in the state,” Stallings says.
Perry’s reason for the veto? “An operator of a motor vehicle is already subject to penalties when he or she is at fault for causing a collision or operating recklessly, whether it is against a ‘vulnerable user’ or not,” he said in a statement.
The states of Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and Colorado all have passed similar bills requiring at least 3 feet of clearance.
“It’s unfortunate. I believe Gov. Perry was poorly advised when he vetoed this bill and it wasn’t in the best interest of Texans,” Stallings says.
Between now and the next legislative session, BikeTexas will push for safe passing ordinances in as many Texas cities as possible, in hopes of improving chances for passage of a statewide law during the 2011 Texas legislative session.
For more information, call BikeTexas at 512-476-7433 or mail@biketexas.org. Read the text of the Austin ordinance here.
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