{"id":10726,"date":"2022-01-24T11:38:32","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T18:38:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/?p=10726"},"modified":"2022-01-22T11:32:11","modified_gmt":"2022-01-22T18:32:11","slug":"lane-splitting-distracted-driving-legislation-possible-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/lane-splitting-distracted-driving-legislation-possible-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Lane-Splitting, Distracted Driving Legislation Possible This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Bikes coming down Pikes Peak.<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

I’ve gotten a couple legislative updates recently from Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison. He says it is possible that there may be movement this year on lane-splitting and also on the long-delayed distracted driving bill.<\/p>\n

Forbidding the use of cell phones, except in hands-off mode, is an idea that has gained in support over the years, and it looked like the time was at hand just before Covid hit and the work of the Colorado Legislature got pared back to the bare essentials. Two years ago the Senate Transportation and Energy committee moved the bill ahead unanimously but then things went haywire.<\/p>\n

According to Stump, General Motors has now decided to put its weight behind such measures:<\/p>\n

Lastly, I received the following from Susan Dane, the person spearheading the distracted driving bill the past few years:<\/p>\n

It appears General Motors is interested in supporting distracted driving legislation in Colorado. I\u2019ve learned that they have provided support in other states related to this type of legislation. I\u2019m working to set up an initial conversation with their people to see what this may look like. Don\u2019t know where this may go, but it\u2019s hopeful to hear that a major player like GM could get involved. I\u2019ll let you know how things go.<\/p>\n

She couldn\u2019t get a sponsor for a bill last year but it looks like something might happen this year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So we’ll see what comes of this.<\/p>\n

As for lane-splitting, here is Stump’s bullet-point list of the status:<\/p>\n

Hooked up with professional lobbyist \u2013 Sundari Kraft with Ascent Strategies LLC. Signed contract (required by law) for help PRO BONO!
\n Advantages: good connections with Legislators; more knowledgeable about bill process; great advocate but still considers ABATE to be subject matter expert.
\n Might \u201cpiggyback\u201d on highway safety bills being submitted by Reps. Garnett or Larson.
\n Met with her to give basic \u201cparameters\u201d about a possible bill and ABATE\u2019s concerns. Gave my personal guidelines (Similar to Oregon\u2019s proposal, which I think has a chance of passing):
\n Permitted on multi-laned highways with speed limit of 55 or higher
\n Traffic stopped or moving in the same direction at 10 mph or less
\n Travel up to 10 mph faster than traffic
\nNOTE: I don\u2019t think lane filtering would have a chance of passing and these parameters might work, which would allow motorcyclists to lane-split on the interstates when it\u2019s 100 degrees out and traffic is backed up. But remember, it\u2019s not mandatory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As for creating a separate definition and category for autocycles<\/a>, Stump noted that the bill is scheduled for committee hearing on February 1.<\/p>\n

The big news is that bills are being scheduled in committees and HB22-1043 (Motorcycle and Autocycle Definitions) is scheduled for Tuesday, 2\/1 at 1:30 pm, in LSB-A. That\u2019s the building across 14th street from the Capitol (SE corner of 14th & Sherman). If you haven\u2019t emailed the 12 members of the H-T&LG Committee yet, please do so in the next week. Here\u2019s the list of members for your convenience:<\/p>\n

Tony Exum Sr. (Chair) — tony.exum.house@state.co.us
\nMatt Gray (Vice-chair) — matt@matthewgray.us
\nAndrew Boesenecker — andrew.boesenecker.house@state.co.us
\nMarc Catlin — marc.catlin.house@state.co.us
\nMeg Froelich — meg.froelich.house@state.co.us
\nEdie Hooton — edie.hooton.house@state.co.us
\nAndres Pico — andres.pico.house@state.co.us
\nJanice Rich — janice.rich.house@state.co.us
\nTom Sullivan — tom.sullivan.house@state.co.us
\nDonald Valdez — donald.valdez.house@state.co.us
\nTonya Van Berber — Tonya.Van.Beber.house@state.co.us
\nKevin Van Winkle — kevin.vanwinkle.house@state.co.us<\/p>\n

It\u2019s really important that you contact them, so they know this is important to Colorado motorcyclists and we\u2019re really concerned that autocycles have their own category for the purpose of maintaining accurate accident and fatality data. Thanking you in advance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s it for now. Updates to come.<\/p>\n

Biker Quote for Today<\/h3>\n

You might be a Yuppie biker if you drink cappuccino instead of beer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve gotten a couple legislative updates recently from Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison. He says it is possible that there may be movement this year on lane-splitting and also on the long-delayed distracted driving bill. Forbidding the use of cell phones, except in hands-off mode, is an idea that has gained in support over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,168],"tags":[1209,1208,725,138],"class_list":["post-10726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biker-issues","category-motorcycle-legislation","tag-colorado-legislature","tag-definition-of-autocycle","tag-distracted-driving","tag-lane-splitting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10726"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10731,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10726\/revisions\/10731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclecolorado.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}