BILL ANALYSIS Ó SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING Senator Jim Beall, Chair 2015 - 2016 Regular Bill No: AB 28 Hearing Date: 6/16/2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Author: |Chu | |----------+------------------------------------------------------| |Version: |4/22/2015 | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes | ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Consultant|Christine Hochmuth | |: | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUBJECT: Bicycle safety: rear lights DIGEST: This bill authorizes the use of a solid or flashing red light in place of a red reflector on the rear of a bicycle being operated during darkness. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Places provisions on bicycles operated during darkness. To be compliant, bicycles must have: a) A front-facing white light visible from a distance of 300 feet. b) A rear-facing red reflector visible from a distance of 500 feet. c) A white or yellow reflector on each pedal, shoe, or ankle visible from the front and rear of the bicycle from a distance of 200 feet. d) A white or yellow reflector on each side forward of the center of the bicycle and a white or red reflector on each side to the rear of the center (unless the tires themselves are reflectorized). 1)Under federal regulations, requires all bicycles sold in the U.S. to be equipped with reflective devices to permit recognition and identification under illumination from motor vehicle headlamps. These reflective devices include front, AB 28 (Chu) Page 2 of ? pedal, rear, and side reflectors. This bill authorizes a red reflector, a solid red light, or a flashing red light as acceptable for the rear-facing visibility requirement. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose of the bill. A recent report from the Governor's Highway Safety Association found that bicyclist fatalities increased 16% nationwide between 2010 and 2012. California had the highest number of fatalities in any state during that time period, at 338. The report additionally noted that in 2012, nearly 27% of bicyclist deaths nationwide happened at night, between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. The author states that the purpose of this bill is to encourage bicyclists to be as visible as possible at night, and they believe that allowing the replacement of a red reflector with a red light works towards that end. 2)Countermeasures that work. Improving bicyclist conspicuity is intended to provide motorists more opportunity to see and avoid collisions with bicyclists. A common contributing factor for crashes involving bicyclists in the roadway is the failure of the driver to notice the bicyclist, particularly at night. New bicycles must be sold with reflectors meeting the Consumer Product Safety Commission requirements. The reflectors may improve a bicycle's night-time visibility; however, they are passive and must be illuminated by motor vehicle lights approaching from behind. Active bicycle lighting (lighting that is powered by electricity and that must be turned on before it starts working) can be critical for the detection of bicyclists in the path of a motor vehicle, because the bicyclist may be outside the vehicle's headlight beam until the last moment. A 2013 report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration scored active lighting as: a) Low cost (can be implemented with current staff, perhaps with training; limited costs for equipment, facilities, and publicity). b) High use (more than two-thirds of the states, or a substantial majority of communities). c) Medium effectiveness (likely to be effective based on AB 28 (Chu) Page 3 of ? balance of evidence from high-quality evaluations or other sources). 1)Batteries not included. A potential safety hazard could arise if bicycle operators completely remove their rear reflectors in exchange for lights. The fail-safe mechanism of the red reflector as a last line of defense would no longer be available. Active light failure could occur due to loss of battery power, theft of the device, or failure of the operator to turn on the light, and the bicyclist would be left vulnerable in darkness. Assembly votes: Floor: 78-0 Appr: 17-0 Trans: 16-0 RELATED Legislation: AB 478 (Wolk, Chapter 232, Statutes of 2007) - added sidewalks and bikeways to the facilities upon which bicycle visibility equipment during darkness is required. Previously only bicycle operation during darkness upon a highway was subject to the visibility requirements. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes POSITIONS: (Communicated to the committee before noon on Wednesday, June 10, 2015.) SUPPORT: California Bicycle Coalition OPPOSITION: None received -- END -- AB 28 (Chu) Page 4 of ?