in Salem) lead to better biking.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Each legislative session the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) puts together a package of bike bills that they take to Salem and try and make into new laws. To help them create this package and establish their priorities, they rely not only on their own legislative committee, but on feedback from members and from the public.
The BTA’s new point man for pushing these bike bills is Government Relations Director Karl Rohde. This morning, Rohde posted a call for ideas on the BTA blog.
I know there are a lot of ideas out there for new laws to make biking safer and more accessible to all Oregonians — so now’s your chance to be heard.
Some ideas I’ve heard so far include; a “stops-as-yields” law, adding more bike safety information to driver’s tests (something our neighbors in Washington are working on already), a vehicular manslaughter law, improved laws to deal with road rage/intimidation of vulnerable road users, find new funding mechanisms for bike facilities (last year we tried to fund velodromes by using State Lottery funds), reduce residential speed limits, etc…
What new laws should the BTA (and all of us) work on in 2009?
For more information on bike laws and how the legislative process works, visit the BTA’s legislation page. You can also review their 2007 legislative package and results here.