At our meeting with Representative Gemma, we proposed a combination of some changes to existing laws and wording for a completely new law based on the Orgeon Vulerable Roadway User legislation. These recommendations are what Representative Gemma will be presenting to the House Judiciary tomorrow instead of the original 3-foot legislation. If you plan to join us at the hearing tomorrow, I would suggest you read the following suggestions we presented:
Changes to existing RI Laws
31-19-2.1
31-19-4
31-19-10
31-19-15
31-19-18
For the most part, the changes to existing laws are minor edits to bring them more in line with the rest of Title 31 and to update them to match the reality of cycling today.
The big changes are included in the proposed vulnerable roadway user portion of the bill. Representative Gemma passed our recommendations by the legal teams and our understanding is the only change they’ve made, other than to reformat the suggestions in a bill format, was to reduce the maximum fine to $800. While I would love to see this fine stay at the level we proposed, it is still almost a 10 fold increase over any other fine you will see relating to an incident between a motorist and a cyclist. Even at this reduced level, I believe it still sends a message.