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Minutes for HB2088 - Committee on Transportation
Short Title
Creating the negligent driving violation.
Minutes Content for Wed, Feb 6, 2019
Staff briefed the Committee on the contents of HB2088 and answered questions.
The Chairman recognized Andy Fry, (Attachment 6) who said he was a League Certified Instructor of safe bicycle riding techniques with the League of American Bicyclists. He said negligent driving has become a concern at the local level. He said several cities have added similar language to this bill but once the bicyclists travel outside that municipality into the county or to another community they ride at risk from a negligent driver hitting them because they were not focused solely on driving.
The next proponent was Richard Alexander. (Attachment 7) According to Mr. Alexander, even with flashing red lights on his backpack and a red horizontal light bar on the rear-facing radar unit on the seat post, a car traveling in the same direction struck the rear of his bicycle. He said the worst part of his experience being that riding is no longer as enjoyable as in the past - where he once felt comfortable now he feels anxiety when riding. He said there was no traffic citation issued to the driver of the car.
Bill Lucero spoke next. (Attachment 8) He told about a friend of his whose wife was killed while she was riding her bicycle. She was struck by a reckless driver of a truck that apparently took no evasive action. He said she was riding13 inches inside the white line on the side of the roadway. The driver of the truck was arrested and charged with second degree murder which was plead down to involuntary vehicular homicide. He was granted full probation and a 60 day jail sentence. He was subsequently arrested a couple more times.
The next proponent was Ed Klumpp (Attachment 9) who said their associations support HB2088 because failing to give full time and attention to driving was the top contributor to traffic crashes in Kansas. He provided statistics saying from 2012 through 2016, 456 traffic fatalities involved distracted driving in addition to the crashes where distracted driving occurred but was not identified. He said this bill emulates a local city ordinance that has been upheld in the Kansas Appellate Courts and will help officers to address the continuing problem of distracted driving.
Teresa Taylor was the next proponent. (Attachment 10) She said in their 2015 report the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributed 94 percent of serious crashes to driver factors. She said in crashes in which the driver's errors were the cause, almost half were due to recognition error, including driver inattention, distractions and inadequate surveillance. She said there are distractions in excess from music, conversations with passengers and more so that in the matter of just a moment the driver's attention may be pulled away from other things such as a bicyclist in the lane ahead or a pedestrian.
The last proponent was Greg Smith.(Attachment 11) He said the Johnson County Sheriff's Office supports HB2088. He said traffic law enforcement has a positive influence on crime reduction and that the language in this bill mirrors language that has been appealed and held to be constitutional and that it makes sense to support court tested language.
The Chairman drew the Committee's attention to written testimony submitted in support of HB2088:
Alan Kailer, President, Bike Walk Wichita, Inc. (Attachment 12)
Catherine Walberg, Topeka Citizen (Attachment 13)
Shawn Steward, representing AAA of Kansas (Attachment 14)
Steve Christenberry, representing ABATE (Attachment 15)
Eric Rogers, Executive Director,BikeWalk KC (Attachment 16)
The Chairman also drew the Committee's attention to neutral written testimony submitted by Eric B. Smith, Deputy General Counsel, League of KS Municipalities. (Attachment 17)
Chairman Proehl asked if there were any other proponents, neutrals or opponents. There were none so the Chairman closed the hearing on HB2088.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Chairman announced that the next meeting would be tomorrow, February 7, 2019. At that time the Committee will hear a presentation by the Kansas Highway Patrol and Jill Shelley, Legislative Researcher, will provide a review of the Transportation Task Force Report.
ADJOURN
There being no further business before the Committee the meeting was adjourned.
