More info on the upcoming City of Austin Texting Ban/Safe Passing Resolution, and what YOU can do...

Rob D'Amico of the League of Bicycle Voters just sent out a call to action regarding the upcoming City of Austin Texting Ban/Safe Passing ordinance being proposed in City Council. From the sounds of things the feedback being received by the city is staunchly anti-cyclist, so lets do something about that:

Hi guys....Riley said the emails the city is getting are decisively anti-cyclist in nature. Please consider posting the following:

Take Action!

As you may have read, the City is Council Thursday will consider a resolution directing staff to draft two new ordinances:

* A safe passing law requiring motorists to give bicyclists at least three feet of clearance when passing. (The ordinance will be based on Bike Texas's legislation passed in the session but vetoed by Gov. Perry, so it will likely include other vulnerable road users like pedestrians.)

* A ban on texting while driving (and riding a bike).

While the measures have support from the City Council overall, they are getting a lot of anti-bicyclist backlash from some citizens, so it's important that our elected officials hear from us about the necessity of these laws.

Please take a moment to e-mail the Mayor and City Council and let them know:

"I support the efforts of LOBV and the Street Smarts Task Force to put Austin in the leadership role for bicycle safety with the safe passing law and texting ban."

You may e-mail the mayor and all council members here with the COA form:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/groupemail.htm

Or you may find contact information for specific officials here:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council/default.htm

---

And a quick note about the texting ban. While some of you may poo-poo the idea, it's the wave of the future and it makes sense on many levels. On the Street Smarts Task Force we reviewed numerous bicycle/car crash reports, a large number of which included motorists distracted by cell phones. Texting is the most egregious of distractions. And we can't logically leave bicycles out of this law, since bicycles already are subject to the vast majority of other laws governing the operation of a vehicle.

Man Rob, you're always on top of it. For those of you wanting to know EXACTLY what will be covered in this ordinance, here's the text of the upcoming resolution, forwarded to me by Nadia Barrera with the CoA Bicycle Program:

RESOLUTION NO. XXX

WHEREAS, the Street Smarts Task Force included a diverse representation of stakeholders and met for over a year developing policy recommendations for the City Council; and

WHEREAS, many applicable recommendations were adopted in the 2009 Bicycle Master Plan; and

WHEREAS, some of the recommendations fall outside the purview of the 2009 Bicycle Master Plan because they relate to motorists and pedestrian safety; and

WHEREAS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute showed that text messaging while driving increases the risk of a crash or near crash by 20 times; and

WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Austin finds that it is in the interest of overall transportation safety that additional recommendations gain added public input and proceed through the boards and commission process; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AUSTIN:
The City Manager is directed to prepare ordinances to accomplish the following:
1.
Prohibiting the writing, sending or reading of text messages, instant messages, and emails, or viewing the internet, on a mobile phone or other portable electronic device while operating a motor vehicle or bicycle;
2.
Requiring a three-foot safe passing distance for vulnerable road users.
ADOPTED: , 2009 ATTEST: _____________________
Shirley A. Gentry
City Clerk

Doesn't sound too bad, and is actually all-inclusive in the sense that it covers texting in cars and on a bike. Sounds good to me, maybe it'll keep all of y'all from sending me messages asking where the hell Critical Mass is going. ;)

If anybody wants to show up and sign IN SUPPORT or AGAINST the resolution here's the info on the City Council meeting, forwarded to me by Eileen Schaubert (BAC/ACA/MJs/Awesome):

The passing ordinance is item 55 on the morning (10-2 slot) agenda this week (Thursday, August 27th). I'm not very familiar with how time schedules run for city council so I don't know when it will actually come up.

Here's the link to the agenda item:
http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/council_meetings/item_attachments.cfm?meeting...

Thanks for keeping us in the loop y'all.