[*BCM*] Politics (Jim Leonard)

[Nadav Carmel]

FYI, we're working on a comprehensive re-design of MassBike.org, including
updating content.

And for anyone interested in specifics here's what the bike bill does,
specifically:

*Creates Chapter 6, Section 116D, requiring police training on bicycle law.

*Repeals Chapter 85, Section 11A, regarding bicycle registration.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/85-11a.htm

*Amends Chapter 85, Section 11B, regarding hand signaling ("signals need not
be made continuously, and shall not be made when both hands are needed for
the safe operation of the bicycle") and allows riding two abreast when it
doesn't impede cars from passing.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/85-11b.htm

*Replaces Chapter 85, Section 11C, enabling enforcement of bicycle law.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/85-11c.htm

*Amends Chapter 85, Section 11D, requiring bicycle renters to provide
hemlets.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/85-11d.htm

*Amends Chapter 89, Section 2, regarding safe passing.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/89-2.htm

*Amends Chapter 90, Section 14, regarding cars turning in front of bicycles
and making dooring a ticketable violation.
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-14.htm

*Again, the full text of the bill can be found here:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st01/st01414.htm

In all, "The key provisions of the bill are: police training on bicycle law;
clarification of how to safely pass a bicycle; clarification of how to
safely make turns in front of bicycles; “dooring” subject to ticket and
fine; riding two abreast permitted when it does not impede cars from
passing; improved enforcement of bicycle law for both motorists and
bicyclists; and additional legal protections for bicyclists who choose to
ride to the right of other traffic."

http://www.massbike.org/news/action_alert_100507.htm

To reiterate, please call your state legislators!

Thanks for helping us get this out there, Tom.

Nadav

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Revay [mailto:trevay at massbike.org]
Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 1:55 PM
To: Jim Leonard
Cc: Tom Revay; list at bostoncriticalmass.org; Massbike Info
Subject: Re: Politics (Jim Leonard)


Well, the people to contact about this update request would be ... the
MassBike staff.  I've cc'd David Watson, the Executive Director, and
maybe he can get that page updated.

Incidentally, it's only been in the last year and a half that the MB
office has maintained this website, and I'm not surprised their focus
isn't on tracking legislation.   However, they are pretty responsive to
email, so if you wanted to know the bill's status and possibly find a
link to it on the mass.gov website, that might be a good way to get it.

They're a lot more responsive about the website, too.  Before a couple
years ago, all updates were done solely by the guy who started the
website, some 13 years or so ago.  In its day, it was one of the first
bicycling oriented websites to appear, and over that time it accumulated
a tremendous amount of stuff -- lots of articles, links to traffic laws
in (almost) all the states, transcribed laws for some states (like
Massachusetts) that were slow to put them on-line, and loads of
resources other that were not ordinarily found on-line way back in the
90s -- really, it was pretty amazing how much they'd collected.

And it was tough to sift through all when it was redesigned.
Personally, I think they did a great job in the reorg.

......................Tom

Jim Leonard wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 10:07:52AM -0400, Tom Revay wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 5 Oct 2007 16:46:35 -0400, Jim Leonard <jim_bcm at xuth.net> wrote:
>>
>>> Because it was such a bitch for me to find, I'm posting a url for the
>>> full text of the bill (why isn't this listed on massbike's website?):
>>>
>>> http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/senate/185/st01/st01414.htm
>>>
>> It is! It's on the current front page (http://www.massbike.org/ ), at
>> the link, "Action Alert: Help Get Bicyclist Safety Bill Out of
Committee!".
>>
>
> According to massbike's webserver that page was created 7 minutes and 43
> seconds before I hit send on my email (assuming our clocks are relatively
> in synch).
>
> Can http://massbike.org/projects/legislation.htm get updated also?  It
> still refers to the 2005-2006 legislative session.
>
> --jim
>