Three bills (somewhat miraculously) passed in both the state Assembly and Senate! But Governor Hochul hasn’t touched them in weeks…

Three bills, all part of the Crash Victims Rights and Safety Act that the statewide Safe Streets Coalition, which GObike is part of, lobbied for all winter and spring, are approaching the finish line but aren’t there yet.

They’re quite a big deal in terms of pushing forward on safety.

One increases state reimbursement to cities and towns that design and implement Complete Streets by an additional 7.5%, 87.5% in total, leaving those municipalities with few excuses about not improving safety on their most dangerous roads. That should open the floodgates  on more projects like Niagara Street to be designed and executed.

Another finally forces those who want a drive license to actually study and answer questions about how cars must legally share the road with cyclists and how they should yield to both cyclists and pedestrians. Sounds like common sense but if you never took Driver’s Ed, no one ever told you these things.

The last of the three would allow municipalities to control their speed limits instead of allowing Albany too. So cities and towns can drop speed limits down to 25 wherever they’d like now, not just in school zones. That doesn’t necessarily mean a city or town would drop their speed limit universally, but could identify the worst stretches of the worst roads, and start there.

Please write a quick email to Governor Hochul. You can copy and paste the message below if you’d like or write your own, but please do name those bills specifically so there’s no confusion whatsoever. 
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Dear Governor Hochul, I support policies that foster peoples’ ability to walk, bike, and roll, because this helps give everyone access to safe, healthy, and sustainable transportation. I urge you to move quickly and sign without delay the following bills now before you:

  • A1007-A/S2021-A – which would allow upstate municipalities to lower the area-wide speed limit to 25 mph
  • A3987/S7427 – which would increase state funding to municipalities for including biking and walking infrastructure on streets
  • A5084-A/S1078-B which would require more bicycle and pedestrian-friendly content in the DMV Pre-Licensing course

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CONTACT FORM.

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Thank you all. Together, we can press our local and state politicians into recognizing the massive public health crisis that is skyrocketing injury and death rates in traffic, and convince them to legislate, fund, design and build our way into safer communities.

We hope to see you on Sunday August 14 for SkyRide, where our theme is “Building a New Buffalo Legacy” to celebrate the progress we’ve made on streets like Niagara, The Shoreline Trail etc, and the growing momentum of projects in the suburbs, in rural, WNY, and of biking in general. Register today at skyridebuffalo.org.