Families for Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia members visited with the lead sponsor of SB565, Senator Larry Farnese (D-1) on April 30th.
The single biggest roadblock to safe streets and Vision Zero in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania is an outdated section of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code.
Section 3354 of Title 75 requires that cars park 12 inches from a curb on state roads, thus making it difficult for PennDOT to spend any funds that would create a parked car-protected bike lane. Bills were introduced in 2017 to fixed the vehicle code, and although the House bill approved it unanimously, the bill failed to move in the Senate before the end of 2018.
In 2019, the process has started over again. Representative David Maloney, a Republican from Berks County, re-introduced the bill (HB792) in March and Senator Larry Farnese, a Democrat from Philadelphia, re-introduced his bill (SB565) in April.
Sarah met up with State Representative David Maloney on May 13th for a rainy Bike To Work Day ride and to strategize on how to move his parking protected bike lane bill forward.
The Bicycle Coalition and BikePGH have joined forces to try and get legislation passed to fix this problem. You can help keep the pressure up! Join the 500 others who have sent an email to 15 key state senators and representatives who sit on transportation committees and ask them to take up one of these two bills up for a vote. We developed this action alert with Bike PGH, as this issue is of statewide importance. Send your email today!
But emails are only part of the campaign.
On April 30th, members of Families for Safe Streets Greater Philadelphia spent the day in Harrisburg visiting 40 different offices to talk about a number of bills that will help Vision Zero, but most importantly, HB792 and SB565 and the need to move one of these bills so that passage could occur before the summer break in June.
Earlier this week, we trekked out to Harrisburg again to participate in the “Executive Ride” to celebrate Bike to Work Day and to ask legislators to move the bill for a committee vote. BCGP Executive Director Sarah Clark Stuart met with Representative David Maloney, PennDOT Secretary Leslie Richards and legislative staff to strategize on how to get one of the bills up for a vote.