Some big items happening in April – Safe Passing jersey, Oahu Pedestrian Plan, King St PBL Cleanup, and lots of action as the Legislature nears completion. Read on for full details and sign up for Bike Advocacy Team email list to make sure you’re getting the latest.
Safe Passing 3 Foot Jersey
Thanks to a giant advocacy push Safe Passing 3 Foot became law in July 2018 (HRS 291c-43). As part our efforts to build awareness about the law, we created a 3 Foot Safe Passing Law jersey. Check out our Facebook video :). The jersey will be first available for sale at the Haleiwa Metric Century packet pickup 4/26 and 4/27. Get yours and help us build awareness about the 3 Foot law and make our streets safer!
Oahu Pedestrian Plan meeting 4/24
The City Department of Transportation Services is developing Oahu’s first Pedestrian Plan – this will include a prioritized list of sidewalk and crossing improvements to make Oahu more pedestrian friendly. There is a lot of overlap between bicycle and pedestrian safety and the plan should make our streets safer for everyone, plus we’re all pedestrians at some point – so please come to the public meeting 4/24 to help shape the plan! April 24, Wednesday, 6:00pm Aloha Tower Marketplace, Multi-Purpose Room 3. Full details on the City’s website.
King St PBL Clean Up 4/10
The King St Protected Bike Lane provides a safe way for cyclists to travel in a busy part of Honolulu. April is volunteer month and since the King St PBL’s implementation HBL with your help has been volunteering to take care of it. So please join us for a volunteer cleanup to get it looking as beautiful as it should be! April 10th Wednesday 4:00pm for the King Street bike lane clean up. We will be working to repair the curbing and delineators. Bring some gloves and come join HBL in the clean up! Click here to sign up.
Updates as the Legislature Nears the Finish Line
The Hawaii State Legislature is nearing the end of the 2019 session and we’re still working hard on two key bills. HB757 would make Vision Zero the policy of the State and require all counties to adopt their own Vision Zero policies – beyond being a goal, this would prioritize safety first and the needed actions to make our street safer for everyone. SB663 would establish a Red Light Safety Cameras committee to come up with recommendations for the Legislature to act on next year – this is short of the Red Light Safety camera implementation that was in the original bill and what we’ve been advocating for, but it is at least a step in the right direction towards making our intersections safer. Finally, HB857, which initially proposed to ban bicycling on the Civic Center Path and thanks to an outpouring of testimony was changed to provide funding to widen the path, has died, but at the 3/18/19 hearing the Department of Land and Natural Resources testified that they will complete a plan to improve the area for bicycling and walking and come back next legislative session with a specific request to fund and build the path improvements.
