Passing a Bicycle Passing Bill

[XLFD]

Sometimes lawmakers at any level will write a meaningless bill or pass a meaningless bit of legislation in order to make it look as if they are doing something meaningful, and alleviate some of the pressure they get from the public to do the right thing.  This happens concerning gun control issues after a particularly horrendous school shooting, this can happen with traffic issues following a horrific traffic accident.  We have already viewed what Grand Rapids created in order to qualify for grant dollars in Feelgood Phony Fixes for pedestrians.

On June 7, 2016, a pickup truck crashed into a group of cyclists in Cooper Township in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. Five cyclists were killed in the crash, and four were injured.  Two months later, the Kzoo city council passed a five foot passing distance ordinance for vehicles to give bicycles when passing.  Commissioners said the ordinance was more of a symbolic gesture and would not be strictly enforced.  The edict meant nothing.

Noticed at the time was 2015 MI House Bill 5003 which had been introduced to the Transportation & Infrastructure (T&I) Committee in the House back in October 2015, and as you can see, died that same month, even with the impetus of this terrible bike accident eight months later.   However, it had a rebirth on 2016 MI Senate Bill 1076 introduced that September and for all intents and purposes the same five foot passing distance law.  It passed that body with a 34-2 vote and was sent to the MI House that November where it died once again in T&I Committee.  We reviewed that bill before its untimely death in MI Senate Passes 5 Foot Safe Passing Bill for bicyclists as sounding good, but not sufficient.

At the same time the Senate developed a bill, so did the House.  In 2016 MI HB 5918 Rep. John Bizon introduced an almost identical bill that the Senate would pass to the House T&I Committee.  After it was read and reproduced, it was never heard of again, the third victim of the House T&I Committee.

Bizon would introduce it again in February 2017 as 2017 MI HB 4185 and it would linger undeveloped with the T&I Committee ever since.  The MI Senate would also introduce it in February as 2017 MI SB 0123 and 2017 SB 0170 where they would get a favorable nod in committee, both getting sent to the full senate in September where it has never came up again.  2017 HB 5003 was introduced in September nearly two years after the 2015 version with the same number.  It was the fifth victim of the House T&I Committee.

But amidst all the failures of the five foot passing rule, one managed to finally slip through HB 4265, introduced by Holly Hughes last February received new life from the T&I Committee 13 months later, when it was morphed into a 3 ft. passing distance measure with an analysis that seemed rather wishy-washy.

"The bill as passed from committee would mandate a 3-foot distance, but allow cars to pass at a safe distance and safe speed when that minimum distance is impracticable. Some argued that a distance of less than 3 feet could not be considered safe at any speed."

On the first day of spring, the full House finally got a chance to vote on this watered down version, and passed it 98-10.  It will eventually get passed back to the Senate, where they may eventually water it down even further, if possible.  If it does become a law, it will be as a symbolic gesture; it would not have any effect on bicycle safety and won't be enforced, just like the Kalamazoo ordinance, because it is structured exactly the same way.  

It doesn't matter what the distance is, 2 feet, 3 feet, 5 feet, more, such law will not be effective unless the law provides that the collision of a motor vehicle with a person operating a bicycle traveling in the same direction is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section.  That is, whenever a bicycle is hit from behind by a motorist, the motorist will be considered to have violated the law for passing a bicyclist safely. 

Our Michigan legislators at the state and local level never add this logical addendum to their bills and proposals, but bicycle passing laws are meaningless to road-users without it.  Locally, motorist Chris Lester would have been ticketed for striking Damon Boyce on Hansen Road.  The SUV driver who crashed into Devon Hansen in 2016 would have been ticketed for not properly allowing the bicyclist to turn left.  Cyclist William Matson would have gotten justice for being struck from behind while trying to turn left.  A young Russian bicyclist taken down from behind near the fairgrounds, may have got the negligent driver a ticket rather than nothing at all.

Too often, these victims of negligent motorists weren't able to present their case to the police and the prosecutors; with a strong bicycle passing bill, they wouldn't need to, the driver would have to show why he wasn't careless and at fault for driving into the bicyclist.