Legislation

There are two main bills MassBike is working on in the 2005-2006 Legislative session: The Bicyclists' Bill of Rights and Responsibilities and Safe Routes to School. Urge your legislators to do anything they can to get the bills onto the House and Senate floors. To find your legislators, click here.

The Safe Routes to School Bill (H. 2121) aims to provide funding and programmatic support for making it easier for children to walk and bicycle to school. Read the official text. The legislation passed the Transportation Committee and is currently in House Ways and Means. It is based on laws adopted in California and Texas. For more information on SRTS, click here.

The Bicyclist's Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (H. 1411) overhauls the rules applying to bicycles. (Read the complete text of bill as introduced.) The bill moved through the Public Safety Committee and is now in House Ways and Means. Changes this bill would make include:

• clarify that bicyclists have the same rights and responsibilities as other drivers, rather than merely saying that bicyclists have to follow the traffic rules
• clarify that motorists must wait until it is safe to pass bicyclists, and must not return to the right side until safely passed
• give bicyclists the right to ride side by side, where appropriate
• require people to wait until its safe before opening car doors into traffic
• require training courses on bicycle safety and laws for police officers
• recommend the posting of Share the Road signs where appropriate
• prevent the posting of bicycles prohibited signs, except on Interstate-type highways
• make the ticketing procedure for bicyclists the same as for motorists and increase the maximum fine from $20 to $50
• require motorists to follow existing law when turning right (move as far as practicable to the right before turning), rather than turning across the path of a bicyclist.

Make yourself heard on this legislation!
Click here to write a letter to the
editor or a letter to your legislator