{"id":2663,"date":"2013-02-16T11:04:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T19:04:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wabikes.org\/?p=2663"},"modified":"2013-02-16T11:04:26","modified_gmt":"2013-02-16T19:04:26","slug":"neighborhood-safe-streets-bill-house-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wabikes.org\/index.php\/2013\/02\/16\/neighborhood-safe-streets-bill-house-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Neighborhood Safe Streets Bill Needs You in the House"},"content":{"rendered":"

Slow down.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stay safe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such a simple message\u2014and one we can\u2019t quit repeating if we\u2019re going to keep our\u00a0Neighborhood Safe Streets Bill\u00a0<\/strong><\/a>moving forward.<\/p>\n

If you feel as if you keep hearing from us on the same issue, you\u2019re right. Every bill that becomes a law has committee hearings and floor votes in House and Senate, with the governor\u2019s desk as the final stop. We\u2019ll make sure you know of each opportunity to\u00a0speak up for a bike-friendly Washington,\u00a0<\/strong>whether it’s supporting a good bill or trying to amend or kill a bad idea.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>HB 1045, the Neighborhood Safe Streets Bill,<\/strong>\u00a0should be coming to the floor of the House for a vote\u00a0Feb. 18 or 19.<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s time to ask your legislators to\u00a0vote yes<\/strong>\u00a0for\u00a0safer streets, less red tape, and cost savings for taxpayers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You\u2019re with us on this. Now what?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Contact your legislator.<\/strong>\u00a0Enter your mailing address on\u00a0the district finder form<\/a>\u00a0(choose Legislative, not Congressional) and follow the instructions on the site to reach a contact form.<\/p>\n

Choose your\u00a0state representatives<\/strong>\u00a0and ask for a YES vote on the floor for HB 1045.<\/p>\n

Reasons this bill contributes to better biking, better neighborhoods, and better government:<\/p>\n

HB 1045 is about local control, increasing government efficiency by cutting red tape and expense, and making neighborhood streets safer<\/strong>. This bill\u00a0does not<\/strong>\u00a0lower speed limits by itself; it simply gives cities and towns the option to lower speed limits to 20 miles per hour on\u00a0non\u00adarterial\u00a0<\/strong>streets without the current requirement for conducting a traffic and engineering study.<\/p>\n

HB 1045 has bipartisan support<\/strong>.\u00a0The Senate companion bill (SB 5066) just passed out of the Senate Transportation Committee with unanimous “do pass” support. In the previous biennium, this legislation passed out of the House 92-0 and 96-0. This is the year to get it done!<\/p>\n

HB 1045\u00a0can\u00a0save\u00a0cities and towns money by removing the\u00a0requirement for an engineering study<\/strong>. It\u2019s smart policy that removes unnecessary regulation over a 5 mph decrease (typically, the de facto non-arterial speed is 25\u00a0mph in\u00a0towns and cities). This change lets cities spend that money on actually making safety and traffic improvements instead of conducting another \u201cmake work\u201d study. Traffic and engineering studies cost $1,000-5,000 for cities with in-house staff and even more for cities that have to hire consultants to conduct the studies.<\/p>\n

The elderly are most vulnerable to collisions at speeds above 20 MPH.\u00a0<\/strong>As we look to create safe neighborhoods for our increasingly elderly population, slower streets are more forgiving to those whose mobility is affected by the highly individual process of aging. Design practices that explicitly recognize aging will better serve a growing segment of the nation\u2019s population. This is why AARP Washington is on the long list of supporting organizations.<\/p>\n

Safe, walkable streets are important for safety and livability, and they improve the quality of our schools\u2014<\/strong>so kids can walk and bike and so parents can feel safe sending their kids to school. This is why so many of our partners on Safe Routes to School support this bill.<\/p>\n

\n

This bill could be an especially helpful tool in the toolbox of cities and towns to reduce cut-through traffic on neighborhood streets.<\/strong>\u00a0An application of this legislation could be to reduce “cut-through traffic” off of arterials and onto non-arterial streets, which affects property values, safety, and livability in cities and towns across Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What else is cooking in the legislature?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll keep bird-dogging this bill along with the others on our bike advocacy priority list:<\/p>\n