KA-Motion Commotion

Submitted by Rachel on Sat, 03/31/2012 - 06:45

In this issue:
1. FLATS founders receive MoBikeFed Award
2. Mandatory reflective vest, distracted driving, increased penalties
3. National Bike Summit

1. On Monday the Missouri Bicycle and Pedestrian Federation will honor the founders of the Forest Lake Area Trail System (FLATS), Royce Kallerud and Dan Martin, with a Distinguished Service Award. Other recipients this year include MoDOT director Kevin Keith. In 2010, Kirksville's Tom Zoumaras, one of the founders of MoBikeFed, received a Distinguished Service Award.

2. Monday is MoBikeFed's Bicycle and Pedestrian Day at the Capitol. Dozens of Missouri bicyclists and pedestrians gather in Jefferson City to advocate for bike/walk-friendly legislation and against bike/walk-unfriendly legislation. Examples of previous years efforts: we successfully lobbied for a Safe Passing Distance law (requires motorists to allow a safe distance between themselves and the cyclist when passing), the Dead Red law (allows bicyclists and motorists to "run" a red light that won't change), and a Passing on Solid Yellow (allows motorists to pass slow moving traffic like bicyclists and tractors in no-passing zones).

This year, we are fighting HB 1937, Mandatory Reflective Road Vest, which is a thinly veiled attempt to ban cyclists from highways.
We support:
SB 717, the distracted driving bill,
SB 805, increased penalties for motorists who fail to yield the right of way and cause injury or death,
SB 743/ HB 1839, creates an alternative display if your license plate is obscured by your bike rack, and
HB 1261, Bob Watts Memorial Bike Path. Bob Watts was a long time advocate and former MoBikeFed president.

3. Last week was the National Bike Summit. Over 800 bicyclists, including 12 from the Missouri delegation, converged on DC during the height of the cherry blossoms to fight the attacks on bike/ped funding. The Missouri delegation met with senators' staff as well as the senators themselves, and with transportation staff of Representative Luetkemeyer.

The Senate did restore Safe Routes to School, Transportation Enhancements, and Recreational Trails Program in their two-year transportation bill. The House bill has too little support to be viable, but the House will not vote on the Senate version at this point. However, both the House and the Senate passed a 90-day extension which gives them more time to pass a real bill.

Missouri's own Eric Rogers, vice-president of MoBikeFed, was named Advocate of the Year by the Alliance for Biking and Walking!