Two Bicyclists Killed By Motorists Since Safe Passing Law Vetoed, Activist Tells Governor, 'Their Blood Is On Your Hands'

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Bike safety advocates have been pissed at Governor Jerry Brown ever since he vetoed a safe passing law (SB 910), which would have required motorists to give bicyclists three feet of room while passing.

One advocate Ted Rogers at Biking in LA has written an open letter to the governor, requesting that he hold a summit with the bicyclists to discuss their grievances with him and to rethink the impact of his veto:

Come down to Los Angeles, and meet with cyclists such as myself. Explain more clearly why you chose to veto this bill, because the explanation you gave just doesn’t bear close examination. Then listen to us as we relate the dangers we face on a daily basis, and discuss solutions that could improve safety for all riders and encourage more people to choose to ride bikes, instead of further clogging our roadways.

Our mayor — the one who proposed what eventually became SB 910 — held a similar bike summit. And yes, he had to face a lot of angry bicyclists. But ended up building a much better relationship with the cycling community than would otherwise have been possible.

Since the governor's veto, two bicyclists have been hit by motorists and Rogers believes the vetoed bill could have played a role in preventing their deaths:

Maybe the drivers never saw the riders they hit. Or maybe they tried to squeeze by without giving the riders sufficient passing distance.

Chances are, we’ll never know. But many cyclists — myself included — believe their blood, and the blood of future victims, is on your hands as a result of your veto.

At the time of his veto, Brown said after talking to the CHP and Caltrans, he was worried about a provision that would require motorists who had to pass closer than three feet to slow down to 15 mph: "On streets with speed limits of 35 to 40 mph, slowing to 15mph to pass a bicycle could cause rear-end collisions. On other roads, a bicycle may travel at or near 15 mph, creating a long line of cars behind the cyclist."

That reaction baffled advocates and the bill's author Sen. Alan Lowenthal, who said the 15 mph was created to allow motorists to pass a cyclist at a close range safely. SF.Streetsblog said that Brown's worst fears about the law were not realized in the other states where it passed.

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By Emma G. Gallegos in News on October 16, 2011 12:00 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Shoot_ist

Sad to say that the cycling lobby cut their nose off to spite their face. Jennix needs to reread SB 910. It was originally proposed that there would be a 15 mph speed differential. However, Lowenthal's office changed it to a rigid 15 mph on the part of the motorist. If the cyclist is going 16, you can't pass. I'm an avid cyclist. I ride between 17 & 19 mph. If you can't give me 3 feet, you're stuck behind me for the forseeable future. As a cyclist, I don't want 300 cars stacked behind me with 300 pissed drivers. Gov. Brown's veto message makes it clear that the CHP and the AAA supported the 3-foot rule. No other state has enacted anything like the 15 mph rigid rule. It was the rigid 15 mph that burned the bill.

Eric Bruins

The law that was vetoed required all motor vehicles traveling over 15 mph to leave a 3-foot buffer between their vehicle and a bicyclist.

The 15 mph rigid "rule" is actually an exception. The alternative is to remove it and have a 3-foot rule with no exception, which means that if you can't give 3 feet of room you can't pass, period. The speed of the bicyclist is irrelevant. The provision the governor blamed when vetoing the bill was purely a benefit to motorists, which is why his veto message was unintelligible.

Shoot_ist

Sure, the 15 mph rule was an exception. The bill was originally crafted very well. (1) 3 feet. (2) Exception #1 - Permission to cross the double yellows when safe to do so (like on all the substandard width lanes lacing Napa Valley), and--as was suggested by AAA, (3) Exception #2 - passing at a speed that's reasonable and prudent. The bottom line is that the bicycle lobby wouldn't give on the 15 mph rule. If they had given in, California would have had the best 3-foot law bike in the nation and, probably from the standpoint of law enforcement, much more enforcable than either the 15 mph differential (as originally proposed) or the rigid 15 mph speed. Don't forget, that there's another year in the in the Legislative cycle. I'm guessing that we haven't seen the last of SB 910. Hopefully, we'll get a better version next year.

Danny Wade

When I read the same threadbare arguments against bikes from spoiled motorists online, sometimes I wish some slack-jawed halfwit in an SUV would spatter my brains all over their windshield so I don't have to see these lame comments. All it takes to safely share the road without getting delayed is a little skill and attention. It's not rocket science. From the whining, you'd think drivers were being asked to get out and push their cars.

Diane Palmer

ohhh, if only EVERYONE would drive a car and ride a bike safely, follow the laws, watch what the hell they're doing... AND respect the lives and safety of those around them *dreams*

filmobsessed

Los Angeles is a very far flung city. Of course using a vehicle will always be the main mode of transportation. Cyclists are in the minority. Avoiding their slowness on the roadways may cause more accidents. Basically all they do is F up traffic.

bike LA

Bicycle's F up traffic? Then how come my freeway commute is so shitty? Dude, bikes relieve traffic congestion, what causes traffic is too many drivers. Lets face it, if you choose to drive somewhere then don't complain about the traffic that you are part of.

filmobsessed

The freeway commute is shitty because lots of people here don't know how to drive i.e. don't know what a fast lane is, don't know how to merge unless there 3 car lengths of open space, don't bother looking in their rearview mirror for people coming up behind them before switching lanes, just to name a few.

Goodgulf

Yeah, so cars also f the commute up. What's your point?

wackyxaky

Governor Brown's veto statement really was stunningly uninformed. The provision for slowing down was put in to help drivers in difficult or dangerous situations. It is not a universal requirement and only comes into play in very specific circumstances where there is not room to pass.

On that note, there is a law requiring the reduction of speed or increased passing space for emergency/police vehicles on the side of the road... Even greater restrictions than a mere 3 feet. How come that doesn't make everyone crash?

jennix

BongBong might want to put the PipePipe down.

The fact is that motorists who kill cyclists are rarely charged with ANYTHING. In fact, the de facto position of most law enforcement agencies is to cite the victim because motorists are never to blame.

BongBong

Nonsense. Drivers in L.A. are terrible regardless of what the law says. The fact is, "hit and run" is illegal, killing someone is not legal and any non-fatal accidents or collisions are covered by current laws. This activist is wrong.

Arthur Hansen

I don't think you can legislate all accidents away and bicyclists *can* travel at about 15 MPH. So Brown's reasoning isn't nearly as suspect as the activists are making it.

jennix

You guys need to read the legislation. Brown didn't. The issue at hand is the phraseology used, specifically that any vehicle passing a cyclist would have been required to pass with 3 feet of clearance *OR* slow to WITHIN 15mph of the cyclist's speed.

To assert that cars would have to slow to 15mph to pass a cyclist just shows poor reading comprehension skills, and apparently that's a trait shared by Brown's advisors from the CHP and the AAA. So before you bound on all of us, how about you do a tad of research.

filmobsessed

And how exactly are motorists supposed to judge how fast someone is cycling?? Ridiculous. I've seen plenty of bicyclists blow through stop signs & disregard other traffic laws. It's not always the motorist's fault.

Alex de Cordoba

filmobsessed chooses to ignore the topic and fall back on a tried and true retort to any demand from cyclists for improved safety. The holy grail of a stop sign is a powerful emotional trigger that never fails to distract from the topic at hand.