Note: I'm currently on a family trip and not working normal hours. Email and message responses will be delayed and story and posting volumes here and on our social media accounts will not be at their usual levels until I return to Portland August 12th. Thanks for your patience and understanding. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
BTA legislative committee chair Doug Parrow.(Photo © J. Maus) The BTA’s Board Chair Mary Roberts sent out a letter via email today with updates on “major initiatives” they’re working on. Here are a few bits from the letter that caught my eye: Preparing for the 2011 Legislative Session The legislature will be making critical decisions … Read more
Next week at the Capitol Building in Salem, the Senate and House Interim Judiciary Committees will hold a joint hearing. Part of the informational meeting will include “invited testimony” on the concept of Vehicular Homicide. Invited to be at the hearing are Bicycle Transportation Alliance board member Doug Parrow will be there, as will Portland … Read more
Mary O’Donnell, shown hereat a press conference for the bill last June, lost her husband due to a careless driver.(Photos © J. Maus) At a work session of the House Judiciary Committee in Salem today, the BTA’s Vehicular Homicide Bill (HB 3399) was withdrawn from the agenda, thereby terminating its chances to become law this … Read more
Inside the House Transportation Committee.(Photos © J. Maus) As the clock ticks in Salem on the 2009 legislative session, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) and other bike advocates are making last ditch efforts to make Oregon’s laws more friendly to bikes. Today in Salem, work sessions (different from public hearings in that no testimony is … Read more
Scott Bricker speaking at the Oregon Bike Summit today.(Photo © J. Maus) Speaking at the opening session of the Oregon Bike Summit today, Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) Executive Director Scott Bricker gave a rundown of their existing priority bills in the 2009 legislative session. With the door officially closed on Idaho Stops (interesting report about … Read more
Tim O’Donnell’s widow, Mary O’Donnell, had these buttons made for the hearing. Last Friday, just two days after he relieved former BTA lobbyist Karl Rohde from his duties, executive director Scott Bricker was down in Salem filling his former role as the organization’s chief lobbyist. Bricker presented the BTA’s position on their proposed Vehicular Homicide … Read more
A dream deferred.(Photo © J. Maus) Oregon placed fourth in a new ranking of Bike Friendly States that was released tonight by the League of American Bicyclists. Washington took top honors, followed by Wisconsin and then Arizona. At the bottom of the list were Alabama and Georgia, with West Virginia coming in last. Yesterday, I … Read more
Mary O’Donnell at this morning’s press conference.(Photos © J. Maus) At a press conference this morning held at a law firm in downtown Portland, Mary O’Donnell — whose husband Tim was killed while riding his bike — told reporters and news cameras that her push for a vehicular homicide law is “definitely what he would … Read more
“Tim and I would have been married 50 years this April but I celebrated this anniversary by myself because a dangerous driver ran him down on his bike.” — Mary O’Donnell The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) announced yesterday that they will pursue a vehicular homicide law in the 2009 session of the Oregon State Legislature. … Read more
I was surprised last week when Senator Floyd Prozanski introduced a vehicular homicide bill (SB 1058) with just a week left in the session. Knowing how long it takes to push a bill through the system, it was obvious the bill had no chance of passing. So what was the point? I wondered the same … Read more
The bill was introduced ata rally in Salem yesterday.(Photo: Rep. Jerry Krummel) At a rally in Salem yesterday to bring attention to bike safety bills, Representative Tobias Read and Senator Floyd Prozanski introduced Senate Bill 1058. The bill would create the crime of vehicular homicide and make it punishable by a maximum of five years … Read more
[Commissioner Adams (L) and PDOT’s Mark Lear (R) at a Share the Road event last January] Traffic safety specialists at PDOT are working with Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams, the Portland City Council, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, and the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition to beef up their legal toolkit with new laws that will make it easier … Read more