Our group of advocates on the steps of the Pennsylvania State Capitol
On April 30, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, Families for Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia, and the Vision Zero Alliance will travel to the state Capitol to advocate for four pieces of legislation:
1) Painted curb protected bike lanes
2) Radar for local law enforcement
3) Limited use of cell phones while driving
4) Better protection for ‘vulnerable users’
You can read more about these bills here and here.
We plan to meet with state representatives and state senators who are co-sponsors and potential co-sponsors of these pieces of legislation and advocate for quick passage of these bills before the end of the state legislative session.
We need all the help we can get, and we’d like as many people to join us as possible! Think you can make it to the Capital that day?
If local radar is allowed, you will find it used ONLY where the posted limits are improperly set 8 to 16 mph below the safest points. WHY? Because those are the only places where the total revenue from the tickets issued will pay the costs of enforcement – to produce profits.
When speed limits are posted at the nearest 5 mph interval to the safest 85th percentile speeds, voluntary compliance is very high (minimum 85%) and there are not enough violators far enough above the posted limits to make enforcement either necessary or profitable.
James C. Walker, National Motorists Association
James, the 85% rule is outdated. We’re well beyond allowing “the speed at which drivers feel safe” to set our speed limits. The WHO recently said that wherever cars and people are likely to mix, the speed should be 30kph (20mph). I’ll settle for 25mph. There are dozens of roads around me where speed limits are soundly ignored by over 90% of drivers, but the local police can’t do much about it. Speeding kills more people than distracted driving. We can no longer protect drivers’ “right to speed”.