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tomwald

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"Bike-safety bill had overwhelming support from e-mailers"

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/ … lists.html

Bike-safety bill had overwhelming support from e-mailers
By Jason Embry | Monday, July 13, 2009, 02:12 AM
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There's been plenty of talk about the key role that social conservatives and, to a lesser degree, suburban moderates, will play in next year's gubernatorial primary.

But what about cyclists?

Anger in the bicycle-riding community does not appear to have evaporated much since Gov. Rick Perry vetoed Senate Bill 488, legislation that would have created a safe-passing distance of at least three feet for vehicles trying to pass cyclists and other so-called vulnerable road users.

Leslie Luciano of Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin submitted a public-information request to Perry's office to see what the governor was hearing about the legislation leading up to the veto. She found that Perry's office received 185 e-mails supporting the legislation and 38 opposing it. And there were 1,060 phone calls for the legislation during the session, 45 calls against it.

She and others are determined to try to turn that anger into support for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March primary. Already, Luciano said, 3,000 people have lent their names to an online petition in which they pledged to take the Perry veto into consideration during next year's gubernatorial election.

Perry is a cyclist himself — last month, in fact, he broke his collarbone in a biking accident. But Luciano said he hasn't done much to reach out to cyclists in Texas, and he's pretty much blown any chance to do so with the veto.

""He has pretty much isolated himself from the cycling community," Luciano said. "He goes out to exercise, but he doesn't ride his bike to work, doesn't ride his bike to the store."

But even though they were outnumbered, some Texans encouraged Perry to veto the cycling legislation.

"If you sign the bill penalizing drivers that encounter bicyclists I will certainly vote for Kay," John Heath of Azle wrote to Perry. "These are not motorized vehicles and they choose to go into the middle of the street at their slow pace without concern to a motorized vehicle."

And here's a message that came in from Robert Ellis of Plano after the veto: "Thanks for vetoing the safe passing bill. I love passing close to cyclists who shouldn't be on roads with speed limits above 25 mph."

And Perry said in his veto message, "While I am in favor of measures that make our roads safer for everyone, this bill contradicts much of the current statute and places the liability and responsibility on the operator of a motor vehicle when encountering one of these vulnerable road users. In addition, 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."
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