[NMCycling] Has anyone seen this yet? 5 ft FOR PASSING BICYCLES, HB192

[Jennifer Buntz via Bike-racers]

There is currently a 5 feet to pass law on the books in Albuquerque and
this bill [House Bill 192
<https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/19%20Regular/bills/house/HB0192.pdf>]
does seek to expand it to the entire state.  The part that makes this bill
important is the provision that a motorist can cross a double yellow,
provided there is no oncoming traffic, to pass a cyclist with 5 feet of
space in between.  This is a key provision.

There is also a careless driving accountability bill [House Bill 109
<https://www.nmlegis.gov/Sessions/19%20Regular/bills/house/HB0109.pdf>] for
legislators' consideration during this session.  This bill provides for
stiffer penalty options when a driver who is driving *carelessly* (according
to the law) hits another road user (pedestrian, bicyclist or motorcyclist)
and causes great bodily harm or death.

Letting your elected officials know that you support these bills is an
important way to:

1) Help get them passed and signed by the governor, and
2) Move the needle toward safer streets and highways.

The website for the NM Legislature
<https://www.nmlegis.gov/Members/Find_My_Legislator> has tools to help you
contact your Representative and Senator.  Please do this.  Look up your
elected officials (using your home address) and let them know you support a
safer NM for all road users and these bills in particular.  It won't be
easy to get these bills through the legislative process and to the desk of
the governor due to the number of bills that have been introduced and the
time that will be spent hashing out how to spend the budget surplus NM has
this year.   That makes our participation in the process all the more
important; our voices can motivate our Representatives and Senators to vote
for these bills, move them along in committee, and get them to the
governor's desk.

Governor Lujan Grisham will also need to look at these bills favorably.   Let
her know you want her to! <https://www.governor.state.nm.us/Contact/>  The
5 feet to pass bill made it to Governor Martinez's desk, but she vetoed it,
so don't take this step for granted.

Pass this information on to everyone you know who would like New Mexico to
be a safer place for all road users!

Thanks!
Jennifer

On Tue, Jan 15, 2019 at 8:58 AM Brian Kreimendahl via Bike-racers <
bike-racers at mailman.swcp.com> wrote:

> HB 192 5-Feet To Pass Bicycles Bill information sheet:
>
> https://imgur.com/9oHPC9L
>
>
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