March 25, 2013 Council of the District of Columbia Committee of the Environment, Public Works, and Transportation 1350

Pennsylvania Ave. NW Washington, DC 20004 RE: Testimony in SUPPORT of the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013

Members of the Committee: Thank you for the opportunity to testify in support of the proposed Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013. This set of common sense updates to DC law will make travel by bicycle safer and more convenient, and will provide much-needed legal protections for the growing number of bicyclists on the roadways. The bill includes a number of important changes. My testimony will focus on four key points: 1. Failure to Yield & Colliding Currently, the District has laws protecting pedestrians from those who fail to yield or collide with them, but provides little such protection to bicyclists, who are also vulnerable to such behaviors. MPD and DDOT have identified the right hook and left hook crash types as two of the most common crashes involving bicycles. Both crash types result from a motorists failure to yield the right of way to a bicyclist. This bill would make clear to all, including enforcement officials, that the failure to yield infraction protects not just motorists and pedestrians, but bicyclists as welland it includes appropriate penalties for violation. Where the situation actually results in a collision, this colliding with bicycle provision would provide clarity and an appropriate citation. These changes are significant improvements and, especially in the absence of enforcement of the three foot passing law already on the books, WABA strongly supports these provisions. 2. Safe Accommodation for Blocked Bicycle Lane or Path Included in the proposed bill is a provision that would require those proposing to block or close public bicycle facilities to provide a safe alternative during the period of blockage or closure. Every morning, many bicyclists ride down 14th Street NW, one of the citys major north-south routes and one with bike lanes for most of its length. But bicyclists must veer out into traffic, block after block, because contractors have closed the bike lane for extended periods of construction with no warning signs to provide notice and no safe pathway to replace the one taken. 14th Street is just one egregious example. The District has built an extensive network of bike lanes and cycle tracks which residents depend upon daily for transportation. Allowing construction companies to close these facilities without providing a safe alternative is unacceptable. This billimplemented with strong regulations--could correct this problem.

3. Bicyclist Use of Leading Pedestrian Interval Throughout the District, DDOT is installing traffic lights that include a Leading Pedestrian Interval (or LPI). This safety measure gives pedestrians a few seconds to enter an intersection before cars get the green light. The head start dramatically reduces the conflicts between pedestrians and turning cars across a crosswalk by making the pedestrians more visible. Bicyclists would benefit from the same head start to allow the bicyclist to move from alongside a vehicle to slightly in front of the vehicle within the drivers field of vision. Moving bicyclists into the motorists field of vision is especially important for avoiding right hook crashes from stopped intersections. In a few places, DDOT has begun to provide a physical solution to this issue called a bike box. But widespread implementation of bike boxes will take time, money, and space. Allowing bicyclists to use the LPI will allow the existing light timing to serve as a virtual bike box and improve bicyclist safety today. With 90% of all crashes happening at intersections, we believe this is a smart step to making intersections safer for bicyclists. 4. Driver Education on Sharing the Road This bill requires the DMV to ensure that motorists know how to safely share the road not just with other motorists, but also with bicyclists and pedestrians. Going beyond share the road signs and requiring that motorists be educated on how to share the road with bicyclists is an important step, which we strongly support. Educating roadway users is often a forgotten step as infrastructure is built and laws improvedand we appreciate that it is not forgotten here. We are grateful for the work that went into the bill and appreciative of the Chairs willingness to address these changes to improve bicycling in the District. We believe the policies outlined in the proposed bill will both add protections for those who bicycle today, and also encourage increased bicycling in the District. Thus, we whole-heartedly support the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act. More generally, we look forward to the continued implementation of the types of facilities designed to make bicycling a safe and practical mode of transportation for more District residents. As I have testified previously, this means continuing to install the protected cycletracks and build the trails that appeal to people who may not bike today, but may be willing to try tomorrow if safe and attractive infrastructure is made available. We hope, this year, to see significant progress on our trail network, as well as the installation of the M Street cycletrack and the design of our next cycletrack project. In a previous hearing the Chair mentioned the possibility of a Connecticut Avenue cycletrack, and we share your interest in seeing some of our major arterialsincluding our diagonal streetsconsidered for significant bicycling improvements. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today in support of this the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act, and on behalf of better bicycling in the District. Sincerely,

Shane Farthing Executive Director