April 2024 - CalBike

Senate to Hear SAFER Streets Package

April 19, 2024/by Brian Smith

MEDIA ADVISORY for April 23, 2024

Contact: Jared Sanchez, CalBike, (714) 262-0921, Jared@CalBike.org

SAFER Streets Bills to Be Heard at Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday, April 23, 2024

SACRAMENTO – The Senate Transportation Committee will convene on April 23, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the SAFER California Streets package of bills. The hearing will take place at 1021 O Street, Room 1200, Sacramento State Capitol, and will be televised.

The Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets (SAFER California Streets) Package, comprising Senate Bills 960 and 961 authored by Senator Scott Wiener, aims to enhance safety and accessibility on California roads for all users.

The SAFER California Streets package will have the combined effect of creating safe passage for people biking, walking, and taking transit through infrastructure improvements and simple vehicle safety measures.

As traffic fatalities surge across the United States, particularly in California, amid a spike in reckless driving since the pandemic’s onset, the urgency for such measures is undeniable. According to a recent report by TRIP, a national transportation research group, California has witnessed a 22% increase in traffic fatalities from 2019 to 2022, compared to the national average of 19%. Shockingly, in 2022 alone, 4,400 Californians lost their lives in car crashes.

“Other nations are making progress to protect road users, while in the U.S., the problem grows steadily worse,” said Jared Sanchez, policy director for CalBike. “CalBike is proud to sponsor the SAFER California Streets bills because the continuing killing and maiming of vulnerable road users on California’s streets must end.”

The SAFER Streets Bills

SB 960: Complete Streets Bill
SB 960, The Complete Streets Bill of 2024, mandates Caltrans to incorporate safe infrastructure for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users when repaving state routes serving as local streets. The bill includes provisions for transit needs, facilitating the establishment of more bus-only state highway lanes and transit enhancements on local streets. The Complete Streets Bill requires Caltrans to establish objective goals and prioritize the implementation of comfortable, convenient, and connected facilities for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users.

SB 961: Safe Vehicles Save Lives Bill
SB 961 protects vulnerable road users by focusing on vehicle safety enhancements. This bill mandates the installation of truck side guards to protect cyclists and pedestrians from being pulled beneath the rear wheels of trucks during accidents. Side guards also prevent cars from running under trucks during crashes, significantly reducing fatalities.

Additionally, SB 961 requires speed governors or intelligent speed assistance (ISA) technology in all passenger cars sold in California from the 2032 model year onwards. ISA technology will warn a driver when the vehicle exceeds the speed limit through visual, sound, or haptic alerts and is expected to reduce fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists, aligning with the state’s Vision Zero goals. The EU has implemented a similar law, with ISA required on new cars starting this July.

These bills represent a comprehensive approach to tackling the pressing issue of road safety in California, addressing both infrastructure and vehicle safety concerns. The outcome of the Senate Transportation Committee hearing on April 23, 2024, holds the potential to catalyze transformative changes that will save lives and make California’s streets safer for all.

CalBike Backgrounders
Truck Side Guards : A Low-Cost Hack That Would Save Lives and Money
Slowing Cars to Save Lives
Hundreds Attend CalBike Complete Streets Campaign Launch with Senator Wiener

Injuries and Deaths Caused by Trucks without Side Guards
Bicyclist Hit by Big Rig on San Vicente at Santa Monica This Morning
Bicyclist dies in Long Beach hit-and-run crash with big rig, police say
Pedestrian Killed By Big-Rig Last Week Identified As Kentucky Woman
Male Pedestrian Dead is after Being Hit by a Big Rig on Highway 99 at Esplanade

Injuries and Deaths Caused by Speeding
Woman charged with manslaughter in Carlsbad crash that killed 3-bike rider
One of my dearest friends, Julia Elkin, was struck and killed by a car last month
Speeding driver hits, kills bicyclist in Hayward
Video Two Anaheim teenagers hospitalized after speeding car hits them on the sidewalk

CalBike Welcomes New Board Member, Isaac Gonzalez

April 16, 2024/by Laura McCamy

CalBike is pleased to welcome its newest board member, Isaac Gonzalez. A long-time advocate for safer streets in Sacramento, Gonzalez is a communications professional whose company, Diysl, provides campaign management services for political campaigns, nonprofits, and private businesses. He’s a past board member of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates and current Active Transportation Commissioner with the City of Sacramento. He also founded Slow Down Sacramento, a coalition of neighborhood groups working to make the city’s streets safer by reducing speeding.

“Joining the board of the California Bicycle Coalition, an organization I deeply admire for its unwavering commitment to transportation justice and equity, is a true honor,” Gonzalez said.

“Through my initiative, Slow Down Sacramento, I’ve witnessed firsthand the impact of targeted action in communities facing social and economic challenges. I’m eager to bring this perspective to CalBike, supporting its mission to advocate for policy changes and promote safer, more accessible transportation options at both the local and statewide levels.”
Isaac Gonzalez, CalBike Board Member

CalBike’s board is crucial to achieving our mission. “I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Isaac’s work firsthand for the past decade, and I’m thrilled to have him join us,” said Kendra Ramsey, CalBike’s Executive Director. “His passion and his experience are a terrific addition to our tight-knit and effective board of directors.”

CalBike at the National Bike Summit

April 15, 2024/by Kendra Ramsey

As I prepared for my first California Bicycle Summit since becoming CalBike’s executive director, I had the wonderful experience of going to the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. I got to experience the city’s bicycle infrastructure on a tour, heard inspiring speakers, and helped present an award to retiring Oregon Representative Earl Blumenauer.

Learning from D.C. innovations

Our nation’s capital is a biking city, and it’s done numerous things to make getting around by bike safe, convenient, and comfortable.

First, the city-wide speed limit is 20 mph unless otherwise marked. Speed is a major factor in road fatalities, and a 20 mph limit is a sensible safety measure I’d like to see more of in California. CalBike advocated for a law making it easier for our cities to lower speed limits, but we still have work to do at the state level to enable local safety improvements.

The bike tour I took included advisory bike lanes, a shared-travel lane marking that creates space for bikes on roads too narrow for separate bikeways and requires all users to work together to share the road. The ones in D.C. — in a residential neighborhood not far from the well-known monuments — seemed to work well.

We also rode the separated bikeway in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue. While that concept has not worked on Valencia Street in San Francisco, it created a separated bicycle thruway that was fast and fun.

A growing movement for speed governors

This July, the EU will require intelligent speed assistance (ISA), also called speed limiters or speed governors, on all new cars sold in member countries. ISA alerts drivers, through sound or vibration, when their vehicle exceeds the speed limit, and it’s a growing movement in the U.S. D.C. passed a law requiring ISA for drivers with multiple speeding tickets. Ventura County installed ISA on municipal vehicles. As a speaker at a session on tackling the problem of traffic violence noted, at 40 mph, there is no crosswalk marking bold enough to get a car driver to stop.

CalBike is sponsoring the Safe Vehicles Save Lives Bill (SB 961), which would require ISA on new cars sold in California starting in 2027. It was exciting to feel momentum for this sensible safety feature building at the National Bike Summit.

Awarding a career bike champion

Representative Earl Blumenauer is one of the fiercest bicycle advocates in Washington. He founded and co-chairs the Congressional Bike Caucus and has been championing funding for active transportation for three decades.

I was honored to join in presenting Blumenauer with a lifetime “bikepartisanship” award from the League of American Bicyclists, in my role as president of the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals. The event included inspiring speeches by elected officials and others, including this comment from Massachusetts Representative Ed Markey that summed it all up: “Enough is enough. Complete Streets save lives.”

Looking forward to the California Bicycle Summit

I attended many more fantastic sessions at the National Bike Summit, including a panel on best practices for effectively working with government agencies and success stories from local advocates. The lobby day was a powerful experience; there’s nothing like meeting face-to-face to get your message across to elected officials.

I’m excited to join another group of passionate and dedicated advocates, planners, elected officials, and bike professionals this Thursday at the California Bicycle Summit. When we brainstorm together, we lay strong foundations for change. I hope to see you there.

Mayors Make Crucial Connections for Bike Riders at California Bicycle Summit

April 11, 2024/by Kendra Ramsey

Attendees at the California Bicycle Summit, April 18-19, 2024, in San Diego, fall into many categories and job descriptions. One notable type of participant is mayors. Three current or former California mayors will speak on panels, and more will be attending the conference.

Mayors play a crucial role in the fight for safe streets. Residents often reflexively object to changes that affect travel lanes and parking on local streets. When elected officials cave to the loudest voices in the room, advocates must work even harder to achieve liveable, human-scale community streets. However, a mayor willing to weather initial opposition and support a new bikeway, transit-only lane, or protected intersection can help push these changes through. And forward-looking politicians may reap the benefits of solid support for Complete Streets as people grow to love them once they are in place.

Here are some of the mayoral insights we’ll have at the Summit next week.

Rey León, Mayor of Huron

Huron Mayor Rey León (also executive director of The LEAP Institute) was instrumental in his small Central Valley community winning a Clean Mobility Options grant from the California Air Resources Board to create a municipal bike-share program. He’ll join a panel on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. to discuss a significant financial hurdle to implementing community-led bike-share: insurance costs. “Rey León is the most effective mayor I’ve ever met personally and a strong bike champion,” said CalBike executive director Kendra Ramsey. You’ll want to hear what he has to say.

Meghan Sahli-Wells, former mayor of Culver City

Meghan Sahli-Wells earned the title of Biking Mayor by steering her community’s first bicycle and pedestrian master plan, creating a local Safe Routes to School program, and bringing CicLAvia to Culver City. She will speak on the panel “Seniors Challenging Climate Change through Active and Public Transportation” on Thursday at 11:45 a.m. The panel will discuss the role of active transportation in combating climate change and how to meet the needs of the growing number of seniors who want to get around by bike.

Alex Fisch, former Mayor of Culver City

Alex Fisch, another former Culver City council member and mayor and now a Special Assistant Attorney General, will speak Friday at 9:00 a.m. on a groundbreaking quick-build project completed during his tenure as mayor. The panel will highlight the impact of elections on our built environment: Culver City removed the much-hailed project and added a car lane after Fisch left office.

Registration closes at midnight on April 12. We hope you’ll join us for these and many other fantastic sessions at this year’s Summit.

California Must Seize the Opportunity to Quickly Build Better Bikeways

April 4, 2024/by Jared Sanchez

On April 8, 2024, the Assembly Transportation Committee will hold the first hearing on Assemblymember Laura Friedman’s Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill, AB 2290. CalBike is a sponsor of this critical legislation, which will make our streets safer for people who bike, walk, and roll.

The bill includes three critical changes to how we design our infrastructure:

Class III bikeways, which usually consist of sharrows with no protection for bike riders, can’t be included in projects funded by the Active Transportation Program (ATP) unless the street is designed to limit car speeds to 20 mph or less, or the project will achieve that speed.
It requires that local projects funded by the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program (RMRA) include the construction of a planned bikeway when completing a pavement project on a street where local plans show community support for a bikeway to exist.
The bill creates a Quick Build Pilot Program at Caltrans for quickly adding safety features to protect people traveling those routes by bike. Many local agencies have successfully used quick build to improve bikeways without years of delay; it’s an excellent addition to the toolkit for Complete Streets on state routes.

The Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill builds on Assemblymember Friedman’s 2022 OmniBike Bill, AB 1909, which implemented changes to the vehicle code to protect people on bikes, including requiring car drivers to change lanes to pass bike riders where possible, ending local bicycle license requirements, and expanding bikeway access for e-bikes. The OmniBike Bill has led to significant changes, and we think the Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill will have an equally great impact.

Update: Transportation Committee supports Quicker and Better Bikeways Bill

Thanks to those of you who contacted your assemblymember on the Transportation Committee. The committee passed AB 2290, with supporting testimony from CalBike consultant Jeanie Ward-Waller. View her testimony. Or watch the whole hearing, below.

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California Bicycle Summit: Local Impacts of State Legislation

April 2, 2024/by Kendra Ramsey

CalBike and our allies in and out of the legislature have passed landmark state legislation to make our streets safer. However, the ultimate effects of state policies can depend on local awareness and implementation. At the California Bicycle Summit, to be held April 18-19, 2024, in San Diego, several sessions will examine the impacts of past and pending state legislation on local programs and infrastructure.

Deploying new tech to solve an old problem

As long as California has Class II bike lanes delineated only by paint, vehicle drivers will illegally park in them. However, thanks to a bill by Assemblymember Christopher Ward, signed into law in 2023, municipalities have a new tool to keep bike lanes clear: photo enforcement. A breakout panel at 10:30 am on Friday will show how new tools, combined with authorizing legislation, give communities the power to issue parking citations using cameras mounted on city vehicles. Assemblymember Ward will be on hand to talk about the new law; he’ll be joined by representatives from the City of Santa Monica and Hayden AI, which manufactures devices that can be used in enforcement.

Barriers to bicycling

CalBike opposed a 2021 bill that places a high insurance burden on shared micromobility operators. We succeeded in limiting the amount and excluding bike share from the requirements. However, insurance remains an obstacle, particularly for nonprofit programs funded through CARB’s Clean Mobility Options grants. A panel at 11:45 am on Thursday will explore how California’s fraught insurance market negatively affects bike and scooter sharing, and what we can do about it.

Complete Streets: back and better than ever

CalBike’s policy director, Jared Sanchez, and consultant Jeanie Ward-Waller will lead a discussion on a crucial piece of active transportation legislation on Friday morning at 9:00 am. Senator Scott Wiener, with sponsorship and support from CalBike and allies, has presented Complete Streets bills in the past, most recently in 2019. The current bill relates only to streets maintained by Caltrans, but state routes bisect many communities, serving as rural main streets and critical urban thoroughfares. Requiring Caltrans to build infrastructure that serves people biking, walking, and taking public transit, as well as people driving cars, will make local communities safer.

This is just a sampling of the sessions on state action and local results. Register today to join the discussion. Advance registration closes Friday, April 12 at 11:59 pm, and a limited number of walk-up tickets will be available.