The New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition has asked us to contact you and request your assistance TODAY. Please invest two minutes of your time for safer cycling in New Jersey. Two of safe passing bills that have been sitting in New Jersey legislature have been posted to committee and are on the agenda for a hearing in Trenton this Thursday, May 15 before the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities committee. A1600, the Move Over bill provides protection for all vulnerable road users. It mimics the existing Move Over law for police and emergency personnel, making it an easy law for these first responders to interpret and enforce. A1577 requires motorists operating vehicles to maintain minimum three foot safety distance when overtaking bicycles. The New Jersey Bike & Walk Coalition will have seven people testifying at this hearing in favor of the Move Over and Safe Passing bills. Your message to Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, chairman of the Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee, will support their efforts to get these bills out of committee. To contact Assemblyman Wisniewski: Copy the link below into your browser to visit his legislator profile, njleg.state.nj.us/members/BIO.asp?Leg=160 Then click Contact Your Legislator to get to the messaging form. You can use the text below, or compose your own. Thank you! Dear Assemblyman Wisniewski, I am writing to you in your role as chairman of the Transportation and Independent Authorities Committee. New Jersey has the nations second worst pedestrian and bicycle fatality rate as a percentage of all road users, and has had this dreadful distinction since 2008. It is imperative that we enact laws that will address this horrible statistic. Fully 27% of all fatalities on New Jersey roadways occur to people who were not in a motorized vehicle. That number is 69% higher than the national average of 14%. The New Jersey legislature is drastically overdue in addressing this dire situation. The League of American Bicyclists released their annual Bicycle Friendly State ranking on May 1, and New Jersey dropped five places, to number 12, in the rankings. This is the states lowest ranking since the program began in 2008. The League cited the lack of laws protecting our vulnerable road users as the main reason for why the state fell so dramatically in the rankings. You have the opportunity to change that. Please pass A1600, the Move Over bill, as it provides protection for all vulnerable road users. It mimics the existing Move Over law for police and emergency personnel, making it an easy law for these first responders to interpret and enforce. Please also support A1577, the three foot bill. Both of these bills will allow the state Department of Transportation, the Division of Highway Traffic Safety, the Division of Motor Vehicles and other agencies and organizations to conduct safety campaigns on state roads, further legitimizing bicyclists right to the roadway and situations where other vulnerable road users will be sharing the road. New Jersey has an award winning Complete Streets policy which ensures that design of our roadways takes into consideration all users of the road and provides accommodations for these users to the extent possible. The Move Over bill and the Safe Passing bill further that initiative in situations where safe infrastructure components, such as separated bike lanes, are not possible. The Coalition works to enact and implement these Complete Streets policies in townships and counties, and will also work to promote education and enforcement of this law to ensure that all road users are aware of it and that it becomes an effective tool in reducing injuries and fatalities on our roadways.
Posted on: Thu, 15 May 2014 15:11:10 +0000
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