New Virginia bill would permit cyclists to treat stop sign as yield

If HB2262/SB1263 passes, Virginia can be added to the list of states implementing the Idaho Stop. Called the Bicycle Safety Act, the bill would also require drivers to fully change lanes to pass bicyclists, and eliminate the requirement that cyclists ride single file. The Senate version has already passed out of the Transportation Committee:

Given some drivers’ distaste for cyclists, the most controversial component of the bill will likely be allowing people on bikes to treat stop signs as yields as long as they do so “with due care.”  Tyndall considers it a critical safety measure. “The ‘safety stop’ is the law of the land in six states now,” he said. “Delaware did a 30 month-long study before and after their law changed and found cyclist injuries at intersections dropped 23 percent. Idaho saw a 14.5 percent reduction in bike crashes. It mitigates the chances of being rear-ended [by a car].” Unlike the pioneering “Idaho stop,” Virginia’s “safety stop” still requires cyclists obey red lights just like any other vehicle on the road. Durham hopes passing the bill will allow localities to redirect limited police resources to more important issues.

State Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond — the Senate patron of the legislation — doesn’t expect any bumps along the road to passage. “I haven’t heard anything negative about it, and I don’t expect any opposition,” he said. “I don’t see why there would be any angst with bicyclists treating a stop sign as a yield sign. Who could object to changing lanes to pass? I don’t see a problem with letting people ride two abreast.”

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Way too much parking at Denver RTD station-area properties

There is way too much parking at Denver RTD “transit” oriented developments. That is the conclusion of a new report:

In late 2019 and early 2020, the Regional Transportation District (RTD) of Metro Denver, Colorado, surveyed property managers, counted parking supply and demand, and analyzed findings from 86 station-area developments. Per RTD’s analysis of peak parking demand, market-rate properties provide 40 percent more parking than residents use, and income-restricted properties provide 50 percent more parking than residents use.

Providing an excessive amount of parking at station-area properties across Metro Denver affects residents’ welfare and the economic vitality of the region, which the State of Colorado enabled RTD to promote. As parking increases development costs, developers pass on costs to residents – particularly low-income residents – in the forms of higher rent, fewer units, and reduced services. In aggregate, increased costs for unnecessary parking contribute to a higher cost of living across Metro Denver, which recently experienced the second greatest rate of gentrification in the country. From the perspective of the transit agency, which particularly benefits from the patronage of low-income passengers, fewer income-restricted units near existing service threatens the agency’s fiscal solvency and satisfaction of its mandate.

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Trump was not the only one to throw out the pandemic playbook

How it started:

ALBANY — County officials who have for years been planning for a mass vaccination said they are seeing that training and preparation — much of it funded by millions of dollars in federal grants — pushed aside as the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has retained control of the state’s coronavirus vaccination program, including having hospitals rather than local health departments administer the doses.

Interviews with multiple county officials over the past week confirm that many are unclear why the governor’s administration has not activated the county-by-county system, a plan that included recent practice sessions in which members of the public received regular flu vaccines at drive-thru sites.

How it’s going:

New York governor Andrew Cuomo has threatened to fine hospitals up to $100,000 if they don’t speed up coronavirus vaccinations. Speaking at a news conference, Mr Cuomo the state’s hospitals will be slapped with the fines if they haven’t used their full allocations by the end of this week, and if will face further fines if they don’t distribute future vaccinations within seven days.

“I don’t want the vaccine in a fridge or a freezer, I want it in somebody’s arm,” he said. “If you’re not performing this function, it does raise questions about the operating efficiency of the hospital.”

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New California law allows DUI drivers to have convictions erased from their record

Many drunk and drugged out drivers are notorious repeat offenders. But with a AB 3234, a new law that has gone into effect, previous misdemeanor convictions for DUI can be removed from a driver’s record — as if it had never occurred:

AB 3234,  taking effect on January 1, 2021, allows for diversion in almost all misdemeanor cases, including DUI, vehicular manslaughter, elder abuse, child abuse, assault, hate crimes, carrying a concealed firearm, possession of a firearm in a school zone, criminal threats, and dissuading a witness.  Upon completion of diversion, as defined by the judge, the case shall be dismissed and the crime deemed to never have occurred. Under AB 3234, a judge in the superior court in which a misdemeanor is being prosecuted can offer misdemeanor diversion to a defendant over the objection of a prosecuting attorney.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has argued that the law may cost the state Federal highway safety funds. The Federal FAST Act requires states receiving funding to enact and enforce a repeat intoxicated driver law (23 CFR 1275.4).

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