Some follow up as to the nature of the bill. Found this on
Update: I spoke to his legislative assistant this afternoon, and she explained that the bill was part of a legislative package that had been requested by Charlottesville. There was, apparently, a cyclist-caused fatality there last year, and the charge of “reckless cycling” was one of the recommendations of the bike safety task force set up in response to it. Sen. Deeds office doesn’t view it as anti-cyclist, but as a way to hold cyclist responsible without the full force of a reckless driving charge. In fact, Sen. Deeds himself replied (via Twitter) that “Idea is control short of reckless driving.” I’m still not personally certain that this bill is necessary, but I’m comfortable that Sen. Deeds isn’t out to make life harder for cyclists. I’ll be looking into the origin of the recommendation and update here.
Linear Mode
