Tag: Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

COALITION STATEMENT ON GOV. BAKER ADMINISTRATION’S ROAD SAFETY LEGISLATION

COALITION STATEMENT ON GOV. BAKER ADMINISTRATION’S ROAD SAFETY LEGISLATION

April 27, 2021

On April 26th, the Baker Administration announced a wide-ranging road safety bill, “An Act Relative to Improving Safety on the Roads of the Commonwealth.” The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition had no prior knowledge of this omnibus bill, nor did we have any direct engagement with the administration around its current formation and release. While there are elements of the bill that align with policies the Coalition has long advocated for, there are several pieces of the bill we find deeply troubling.

We are specifically concerned about the elements of the bill that rely on police enforcement and punitive measures that are known to have a disparate impact on Black and brown people. Vision Zero takes a “safe systems approach,” meaning we prioritize planning, engineering, and policy—not policing and punishment—to make streets safer.

The Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition is opposed to the proposed primary seat belt legislation. While we appreciate the fact that wearing seat belts saves lives in car crashes, the legislation as written relies on police officer-initiated enforcement on our roads, which increases the potential for profiling, harassment, and abuse of Black people and other marginalized groups. In Florida, Black drivers were twice as likely to be pulled over and ticketed for failure to wear a seat belt, according to a 2016 ACLU report.

In Massachusetts, we’re already seeing a racial disparity in how the state enforces a new law against distracted driving. In traffic stops for using a phone while driving between April and December last year, Black, Hispanic, and Asian people were more likely to be issued citations than white people for the same infraction.

We are also concerned about the impacts of the fines and jail time called for in Haley’s Law. As stated above, our Coalition prioritizes a “safe systems” approach to traffic safety rooted in prevention. Research has shown that increasing the severity of punishment is an ineffective deterrent to crime, and often worsens racial and economic disparities. We in no way want to minimize the pain of victims and their families; we too want to remove dangerous drivers from our roads, reduce crashes, and save lives. However, we encourage the administration to explore alternatives focused on prevention and restorative justice to end traffic violence.

There are components of the legislative package that do align with the Vision Zero Coalition’s policy priorities. Some are issues we worked on with the administration in the last legislative cycle, so we’re pleased to see the governor once again elevating them at the State House. They include:

  • Requiring a driver to maintain a 3-foot “safe passing distance” for people biking. Thirty-six other states have defined “safe distance” requirements.
  • Adding to crash reporting requirements information involving “a vulnerable user,” a term which would include pedestrians, bicyclists, public works or public safety personnel working in the right of way, and others.
  • Requiring all Commonwealth-owned and -operated vehicles over 10,000 pounds to have side guards, convex mirrors, and cross-over mirrors.

We also acknowledge that automated red-light camera enforcement was included in the Governor’s bill. However, we support a more robust automated enforcement bill (detailed below) that would go further in managing speed and reducing potential harm to low-income individuals and communities of color.

This session, the Coalition is working closely with partner organizations and members of the legislature to advance several bills that take a comprehensive, equitable, and data-driven approach to street safety. We are eager to work with the legislature and Gov. Baker to pass laws that will save lives and reduce crashes without increasing harmful interactions between people and police, including:

“An Act to reduce traffic fatalities” (HD.1888): an omnibus that bill would require additional mirrors, side guards, and backup cameras for certain trucks and other large vehicles, define vulnerable road users and set a safe passing distance at certain speeds, allow the default speed limit on state-owned roads to be lowered to 25 mph, and create a standardized crash report form for people walking and biking. This bill in particular includes important truck safety regulations and maintains the current law requiring a person biking to use either a rear red light or reflector, instead of adding a requirement to use both a rear red light and a rear reflector; the latter has been proven to lead to racial profiling in other states.

“An Act relative to automated enforcement” (HD.3705, HD.2452, SD.1962): would allow municipalities to opt in to installing cameras that would issue tickets for violations for speeding, failure to stop at a red light, failure to stop at a school bus stop arm, blocking the box, and parking or driving in a dedicated bus lane.

“An Act relative to work and family mobility during and subsequent to the COVID-19 emergency” (SD.273, HD.448): would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, which, in addition to being an important equity measure, has proven to increase safety in other states.

“An Act to End Debt-based Incarceration and Suspensions” (HD.2885,SD.2040): would end debt-based driver’s license suspensions, as part of a nationwide movement to stop the criminalization of poverty and break the cycle of debt. Every year, Massachusetts suspends tens of thousands of licenses for reasons unrelated to road safety. It’s time to end this.

“An Act relative to traffic and pedestrian stop data” (SD.1892): would require law enforcement agencies to collect and report on data from traffic enforcement stops, in order to analyze and address the prevalence of racial profiling.

“An Act to regulate face surveillance” (HD.3228, SD.2134): would establish meaningful restrictions on racially biased face surveillance. Last year’s police reform bill included some modest steps toward this goal, but it didn’t go nearly far enough to safeguard our freedoms from this expanding technology.

“An Act relative to traffic stops and racial profiling” (SD.1867): would create a method of automated enforcement for certain traffic laws and remove them from being the reason for a primary traffic stop, and create a task force to review further advances to address racial profiling in traffic enforcement.

Help us keep up the momentum for road safety legislation – contact your state rep/senator today

Help us keep up the momentum for road safety legislation – contact your state rep/senator today

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Last Friday was the deadline for the MA State Legislature to file legislation for the 2021-2022 session. Many important pieces of traffic safety legislation were filed. Will you help us keep the momentum going by asking your legislator to cosponsor important Vision Zero legislation?

This Friday, February 26th is the first deadline for legislators to cosponsor, and we need your help to ensure these bills have as many cosponsors as possible. Send an email to your state legislators (see script provided below). Be sure to cc info@visionzerocoalition.org so we can track which legislators have been contacted.

Learn more about all of the MA Vision Zero Coalition’s policy priorities here.

Thank you for taking action with us! Together we can make Massachusetts streets safer.

Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition
http://www.visionzerocoalition.org

SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR EMAIL OR PHONE CALL

To: Your State Senator and Representative (if you don’t know who they are, click here)

CC: info@visionzerocoalition.org

Recommended email subject: Please co-sponsor traffic safety bills

Sample script:

Dear [your legislator],

I am writing to ask for your support on three bills the MA Vision Zero Coalition is advocating for that would make our roads safer and prevent traffic deaths: An Act to reduce traffic fatalities, An Act relative to automated enforcement, and An Act relative to work and family mobility.

[Talk about why this issue matters to you: how you get around the city, how you or someone you know has been impacted by a crash, etc]

An Act to reduce traffic fatalities (HD1888) is an improved version of the bill that was passed by the Senate last sessionThis omnibus bill would require additional mirrors, side guards, and backup cameras for certain trucks and other large vehicles, define vulnerable road users and set a safe passing distance at certain speeds, allow the default speed limit on state-owned roads to be lowered to to 25 mph, and create a standardized crash report form for people walking and biking. This bill in particular includes important truck safety regulations and and maintains the current law requiring a person biking to use either a rear red light or reflector, instead of adding a requirement to use both a rear red light and a rear reflector; the latter has been proven to lead to racial profiling in other states.

An Act relative to automated enforcement (SD1962/HD3705 and HD2452), which the Senate came very close to passing last session, would allow municipalities to opt in to installing cameras that would issue tickets for violations for speeding, failure to stop at a red light, failure to stop at a school bus stop arm, blocking the box, and parking or driving in a dedicated bus lane. When enacted in other states, automated enforcement has reduced speeding and serious crashes. More than 400 communities in the U.S. use red light cameras, and more than 130 use cameras to enforce speed laws.

An Act relative to work and family mobility during and subsequent to the COVID-19 emergency (SD273/HD448), which has been filed in previous sessions, would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses, which, in addition to improving equity, has proven to increase safety in other states.

Can we count on you to cosponsor these bills this session?

Thank you for your consideration.

[full name
street address
city/town, state, zip
phone:
email: ]

Great Day of Action for Road Safety on Beacon Hill

Great Day of Action for Road Safety on Beacon Hill

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us at the Statehouse for the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition’s Road Safety Day of Action! Thank you to Governor Baker & Lt. Governor Polito for also filing legislation focused on road safety and getting the conversation started.

A packed room heard from Governor Baker, Text Less Live More, Children’s Hospital, AAA, SADD, and co-sponsors of three important bills:

  1. The Hands-Free Bill(s)

    • Chairman Wagner & Representative Donato are sponsoring HD1534
    • Chairman Straus is sponsoring HD1420
    • Representative Provost is sponsoring HD1346
    • Senator Montigny is sponsoring SD1383
    • Senators Creem & Brownsberger are sponsoring SD897
  2. Automated Enforcement Bill

    • Senator William Brownsberger is sponsoring SD1461
  3. An Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities

    • Senator William Brownsberger is sponsoring SD847
    • Representative Hecht and Representative Rogers are sponsoring HD1653
WalkBoston Executive Director Wendy Landman explains an aspect of the bill.

The morning was organized by the Massachusetts Vision Zero Coalition (WalkBoston, Safe Roads Alliance, MassBike, LivableStreets Alliance, Boston Cyclists Union, Transportation for Massachusetts & more) & Text Less Live More. After info packets were distributed, people were off to meet with their legislators and talk about why these efforts would make MA roads safer in their own communities. Thank you to everyone who came together today to work towards safer streets, and thank you to all of the legislators and staff that attended and listened throughout the day!


Were you unable to make it to Beacon Hill, but want to get involved with WalkBoston’s efforts?

Senate Passes Bill to Improve Traffic Safety & Protect Vulnerable Road Users

Senate Passes Bill to Improve Traffic Safety & Protect Vulnerable Road Users

BOSTON — The Massachusetts State Senate voted Thursday to pass legislation that aims to create safer streets for all road users. Developed in collaboration with a coalition of bicycle, pedestrian and transportation advocates, S.2570, An Act to reduce traffic fatalities, includes several measures to improve road safety, lessen the severity of crashes, and standardize the collection and analysis of crash data.

The bill classifies several groups, including pedestrians, utility workers, first responders and cyclists, as “vulnerable road users,” and requires motor vehicles to apply a “safe passing distance” of at least three feet when traveling 30 miles per hour or less with an additional foot of clearance required for every 10 miles per hour over 30 miles per hour. Current law only requires motor vehicle operators to pass at “a safe distance and at a reasonable and proper speed.” The bill would further require a vehicle that is overtaking a vulnerable road user to use all or part of the adjacent lane, crossing the center line if necessary, when it cannot pass at a safe distance in the same lane and only when it is safe to do so.

“We need to keep working year after year to achieve a future in which traffic fatalities get as close as possible to zero,” said Senator William N. Brownsberger (D-Belmont), lead sponsor of the bill in the Senate. “This bill will help us move in the right direction.”

“This legislation updates basic protections for pedestrians, cyclists and others who may be on the road, and is a common-sense policy to ensure safer roadways for pedestrians and drivers alike” said Senate President Harriette L. Chandler (D-Worcester). “I am very happy the Senate has passed this legislation.”

“This bill takes an important step in encouraging the use of multimodal transportation to relieve the congestion and reduce our state’s carbon footprint,” said Senator Joseph A. Boncore (D-Winthrop), who serves as the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Transportation, which advanced the legislative measure forward with a favorable recommendation earlier this year. “Ensuring that pedestrians and cyclists have more protections on shared roads is vital to that end.”

The bill would require certain large vehicles newly purchased, leased or operated pursuant to a contract with the Commonwealth to be equipped with lateral protective devices to eliminate a vehicle’s high ground clearance and the extraordinary risk posed to vulnerable road users, who are susceptible to slipping underneath large vehicles during accidents. Such large vehicles would also be required to utilize convex and cross-over mirrors to increase a driver’s ability to see around their vehicle. These provisions would apply to vehicles purchased or leased by the Commonwealth after January 1, 2019 and to vehicles operating pursuant to leases entered into January 1, 2020.

MassBike congratulates the Senate on the passage of An Act to reduce traffic fatalities,” said Galen Mook, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition. “We have seen too many unnecessary and completely preventable fatalities on our roads, and MassBike believes this legislation provides distinct safety elements for cyclists across the Commonwealth, including defining that vehicles must pass cyclists at ‘a safe distance’ of at least three feet, and requiring sideguards on large vehicles to protect vulnerable road users from the dreaded ‘right hook.’ MassBike is grateful for the collaborative work of Senator Brownsberger and all of the advocacy organizations, and we thank everyone for the continued persistence to protect all cyclists and pedestrians across the state. Though we have not yet finished our work, this bill goes a long way toward the goal of zero deaths on our streets.”

The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security would be required to develop a standardized analysis tool to report crashes and incidents involving a vulnerable road user and maintain a publicly accessible database of such reports to help inform further efforts to reduce traffic fatalities.

WalkBoston is thrilled that the Senate has passed An act to reduce traffic fatalities, which includes elements to immediately improve the safety of pedestrians, bicyclists and all vulnerable road users across the Commonwealth,” said Wendy Landman, Executive Director of WalkBoston. “The data collection and analysis requirement will help communities focus their road safety efforts on the places that need it the most.”

The bill would establish a 25 mile per hour speed limit on an unposted area of state highway or parkway inside a thickly settled or business district within a city or town that has accepted the 25 mile per hour local option, as lower vehicle speeds reduce the severity of crashes. While current law requires persons riding bicycles at night to use a front white light, this bill would also require use of both a red rear light and a red rear reflector when riding at night to improve the visibility of bicyclists.

The bill now moves to the House of Representatives for further consideration.

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Originally posted by Senator Brownsberger’s Office