Texas Legislators Considering Several Road Safety Bills
The Texas Legislature, which meets every other year, is currently in session and is considering a number of road safety bills that would impact people in Denton and across the state.
Bill address topics including residential speed limits, which side of the road people may walk on, how much space a motorist should give a bicyclist when passing, and a “Texas Safety Stop” modeled after “Idaho Stop” laws.
Below are some key bills as well as how you can support them.
Safe Neighborhood Streets - SB 1663 & HB 2224
Safe Neighborhood Streets (SB 1663 and HB 2224) would make it easier and less expensive for Texas cities to lower speed limits on residential streets. Texas state law currently prohibits cities from lowering residential speed limits below 30 mph without costly traffic studies. Even if a city completes a traffic studies, they are prohibited from setting a speed limit lower than 25 mph on residential streets.
The bills, if passed, would remove the requirement for cities to complete a traffic or engineering study in order to lower speed limits on residential streets and would allow them to set residential speeds as low as 20 mph. These changes would only apply to two-lane, undivided residential streets, not collector roads, arterial roads or highways.
Small adjustments to speed limits can result in significant impacts to injury outcomes in a crash. According to a 2011 report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the risk of severe or fatal injury to a person struck by an automobile are 10 percent at an impact speed of 16 mph, 25 percent at 23 mph, 50 percent at 31 mph, 75 percent at 39 mph, and 90 percent at 46 mph.
Action
SB 1663 passed through the Texas Senate on April 17.
HB 2224 is scheduled for a possible House vote on Wednesday, April 19. If you want your representative to support this bill, reach out to them directly or save time by using a draft letter from Vision Zero Texas, a project of Farm & City.
Decriminalize Walking - HB 1277
Decriminalize Walking (HB 1277) would repeal the current law requiring pedestrians to walk on the left side of the roadway, facing oncoming traffic, when no sidewalk is present. According to a bill analysis, there is concern that “this offense is so prescriptive and obscure that many Texans are responsible for traveling in this manner without knowing that their conduct may constitute an offense.”
Repealing this requirement would allow pedestrians to travel on either side of the roadway when no adjacent sidewalk is provided. It would also reduce how often pedestrians need to cross the road in order to travel legally as sidewalks disappear and reappear along a roadway. Pedestrians would be able to travel on whichever side of the roadway they deem safest based on road conditions or where they are headed.
Action
HB 1277 was voted favorably out of the House Transportation Committee on March 29. It is scheduled for a possible vote on the House floor on Wednesday, April 19.
Texans who support this bill should contact their state representative by 8 AM on Wednesday, April 19 to ask them to vote in favor of this bill.
Safe Passing - HB 421
Safe Passing (HB 421) would define “safe passing distance” as three feet for people driving light duty trucks or smaller and six feet for commercial vehicles larger than a light duty truck.
Under current Texas state law, motorists are required to pass other road users “at a safe distance.” However, the law does not define what a safe distance is, leaving it open to interpretation.
What feels safe to someone in an automobile is not necessarily safe for a child or adult traveling outside the protective case of an automobile. Passing too closely can result in a crash either due to the motorist striking the person they’re passing or due wind created by the vehicle knocking the person over and, in some cases, sucking that person beneath the vehicle.
Several Texas cities, including Denton, already have safe passing ordinances on the books. Supporters of HB 421 argue that a statewide safe passing law would improve consistency and clarity for motorists in the state while also improving safety for people who live in communities without a safe passing ordinance.
A similar bill in 2009 won the support of both the Texas Senate and Texas House, passing through both legislative bodies and reaching the Governor’s desk, where former Governor Rick Perry chose to veto it.
At least 35 states have statewide safe passing laws, including neighboring states like Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arkansas, according to the League of American Bicyclists. Texas is one of only six U.S. states that do not specifically address motorists passing bicyclists, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
States in yellow are the only left without a specific law regarding motorists passing bicyclists. (Source: National Conference of State Legislatures)
Action
HB 421 is currently in the Texas House Transportation Committee. It received a hearing on April 12 and could receive a committee vote as soon as Wednesday, April 19.
If you are a constituent of a member of the Texas House Transportation Committee, contact them as soon as possible to ask them to support this bill. In DFW, those representatives are:
Jared Patterson (Part of Denton County, including NE of Loop 288, Aubrey, Krugerville, and parts of Sanger, Pilot Point, Cross Roads, Providence Village, Prosper, Frisco and The Colony)
Yvonne Davis (Dallas),
Ramon Romero Jr. (Part of Tarrant County)
Texas Safety Stop - SB 2506
More commonly known as the “Idaho Stop,” the Texas Safety Stop (SB 2506) would allow people riding bicycles to treat stop signs as yield signs and stop lights as stop signs, proceeding through the intersection only when it is safe to do so.
A legislative update from Bike Texas states that the benefits of this law include allowing “people on bikes to continue through clear, stop-sign-controlled intersections without losing valuable momentum and without fear of getting a ticket. At a stoplight, this law would allow bicycles to be more visible to drivers, and give people on bikes the breathing space to start moving while not surrounded by car traffic.”
According to a fact sheet from the U.S. National Highway Safety Administration, bicycle crashes involving injuries fell by 14.5 percent in the year following the adoption of Idaho’s stop-as-yield law for bicyclists. In the 30 months after Delaware adopted a similar law, there were 23 percent fewer crashes involving someone on a bicycle at stop sign intersections.
If the bill were to pass, people on bicycles would still be responsible for yielding right-of-way to cross traffic according to existing traffic rules for intersections controlled by a stop sign or traffic signal.
Action
SB 2506 is currently in the Texas Senate Transportation Committee awaiting to be scheduled on the committee’s agenda.
At this stage, constituents of senators on the Texas Senate Transportation Committee are encouraged to prepare to contact their senator soon to ask them to support this bill. In DFW, those senators are:
Tan Parker (Flower Mound),
Kelly Hancock (North Richland Hills),
Royce West (Dallas),
Phil King (Weatherford).
Bike Texas will issue action alerts to notify supporters when to contact their elected officials. To receive action alerts, sign up for Bike Texas’ newsletter.
A companion bill has not been filed in the Texas House thus far.
How to Learn More
For more updates and action alerts on these and other Texas road safety bills, follow:
