BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 28|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 28
Author: Chu (D)
Amended: 4/22/15 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 11-0, 6/16/15
AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Bates, Gaines, Galgiani, Leyva,
McGuire, Mendoza, Roth, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: Bicycle safety: rear lights
SOURCE: Author
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 federal regulations require 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, pedal, rear, and side reflectors.
Existing state law places provisions on bicycles operated during
darkness. To be compliant, bicycles must have:
1)A front-facing white light visible from a distance of 300
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feet.
2)A rear-facing red reflector visible from a distance of 500
feet.
3)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.
4)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).
This bill authorizes a red reflector, a solid red light, or a
flashing red light as acceptable for the rear-facing visibility
requirement on bicycles.
Comments
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.
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
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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:
1)Low cost (can be implemented with current staff, perhaps with
training; limited costs for equipment, facilities, and
publicity).
2)High use (more than two-thirds of the states, or a substantial
majority of communities).
3)Medium effectiveness (likely to be effective based on balance
of evidence from high-quality evaluations or other sources).
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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
SUPPORT: (Verified6/29/15)
California Bicycle Coalition
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/29/15)
None received
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ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/14/15
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle,
Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina
Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez,
Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden,
Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Lopez, Low,
Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Melendez, Mullin,
Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea,
Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Linder, Medina
Prepared by:Christine Hochmuth / T. & H. / (916) 651-4121
7/1/15 16:37:24
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