New bill in Virginia would allow motorcyclists and cyclists to run red lights
Last Thursday, a Transportation subcommittee of the Virginia House of Representatives voted to approve a law that would allow drivers of motorcycles, mopeds, or bicycles to proceed through a red light under certain circumstances. The bill, HB1981, was introduced originally by Del. Tag Greason of Loudoun.
The bill proposes to add a section to existing legislation that regulates traffic lights and establishes penalties for violations of traffic signals. The bill as currently written, would allow the drivers of motorcycles, mopeds, or bicycles to proceed through an intersection on a steady red light, but only if the driver obeys four conditions:
- The driver must first come to a full stop at the intersection and wait through two complete cycles of the traffic light;
- The driver must exercise due care;
- The driver must treat the stoplight as if it were a stop sign; and
- The driver must determine that it is safe to proceed.
The bill offers a response to drivers whose vehicles do not weigh enough to trigger a stoplight to switch to green, and thus spend an unreasonable amount of time waiting at red lights. A very similar bill, HB572, was proposed last year, also by Tag Greason, but ultimately did not receive approval of the Transportation committee. Eight other states have similar laws in place. The current bill, HB1981, since obtaining approval of the Transportation subcommittee, will now advance to a vote in the full Transportation committee.
Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Kevin Duffan
BUCKFIRE & BUCKFIRE, P.C. is a Michigan personal injury law firm and is not representing any of the parties mentioned in this article at the time of the posting of the article. The information contained in this article is from online news sources and any perceived misstatements should be attributed to those sources as we did not complete any investigation of the accident. If you believe that the information is inaccurate and would like it changed or would like this post completely removed from the site, please let us know and we will do our best to promptly accommodate your request. We are very sensitive to these requests.
If you were involved in this accident or a similar accident and have questions about your legal rights and options, it is important that you contact a reputable law firm. Please make sure that any Michigan law firm that you contact has significant experience in handling these types of accident and injury cases and has an excellent track record of successful settlements and jury verdicts. We also suggest that the attorney you contact provides you with a free initial consultation.
Posted January 24th 2011 to Michigan Motorcycle Accident News,Motorcycle Accidents
Comments Off Permalink | Trackback |
Print This Post
|
Email This Post