MassBike needs your help!

Please contact your elected officials and encourage them to co-sponsor three key bills this legislative session. Visit Find My Legislator to identify your Massachusetts Representative and Senator and to find their contact info and call or email them today using the script below. If you’re sending the script as an email, please use the subject “Please co-sponsor traffic safety bills” and cc [email protected] on your email!

Hi, my name is ______ and I am a constituent of Representative______/Senator _______ and am calling to ask for their support on 3 bills that the Vision Zero Coalition is advocating for that would make our roads safer and prevent traffic deaths: Hands-Free Driving, Automated Enforcement, and An Act to reduce traffic fatalities.

[Talk about why this issue matters to you: how you get around the City, where you ride a bike, how you or someone you know has been impacted by a crash, etc]

An Act to reduce traffic fatalities, SD847/HD1653, is the same bill the Senate passed last year. This bill would ensure basic, necessary traffic regulations to guarantee safety, such as lowering speed limits on state roads, setting a safe passing distance of at least three feet, and requiring state-owned and contracted trucks to install side guards and additional mirrors. Of the 17 cyclist fatalities in Boston and Cambridge over the past few years, 11 involved collisions with trucks. In the UK, a side guard requirement resulted in a 61% drop in cyclist fatalities and a 20% drop in pedestrian fatalities.

The Automated Enforcement Bill SD1461 would allow red light cameras and speed cameras to be placed in certain locations. Towns and cities could choose to opt in. Violations would include speeding, failure to stop for a school bus, failure to stop at a red light, and illegal turn on red. When enacted in other states, automated enforcement has reduced speeding and serious crashes. More than 400 U.S. communities in the U.S. use red light cameras, and more than 130 use cameras to enforce speed laws.

Finally, the hands free bill SD1383/HD1534. This bill nearly passed last session, and Governor Baker has already endorsed it again this session. An overwhelming 80% of Massachusetts’ registered voters support the passage of hands-free, and now is the time to finally get this done.

Do you know if we can count on Senator____/Representative_______  to co-sponsor any of these bills this session?

Thank you.

Make sure to sign off your email with your name and address so the senator or representative knows that you are a constituent!