Contrary to what many people think, being a bike/ped advocate means I’m in the policy business. In fact (and unfortunately), there is very little actual bicycle riding involved in my day-to-day work. There is still navigation involved, not of maps, but rather, the alphabet soup of acronyms involved in the work we do. We often have to translate the acronym-speak associated with policy to help Nebraskans understand how they can support us in making biking and walking safer and more accessible.
The goal with this effort is to fortify Nebraska’s statute for judges to have more options when sentencing drivers guilty of especially dangerous speeding or when involved in a crash injuring or killing a vulnerable road user.
This blog post is no different.
You are going to start seeing and hearing the term ‘VRU’, which stands for Vulnerable Road User. If you are a person who bikes or walks around your community, you likely understand and identify with the concept of being vulnerable on the road.
However, there are many others who fall into this category that you perhaps have not considered, including:
- Road construction and utility employees
- Emergency service providers
- Persons occupying the shoulder due to vehicular issues, repairs, or towing
- Law enforcement making a traffic stop
- A person riding or walking an animal;
- A person lawfully operating farm/ag equipment or horse-drawn carriage,
- A person using wheelchair or electric personal mobility device
- A person with a visual impairment and accompanying service animals
When we say, "Everyone deserves to be safe on our roads," it certainly pertains to all the examples above. Unfortunately, we've seen an increase in fatal crashes involving people biking, and their families are often not provided the justice they deserve.
Last year, state Senator Kathleen Kauth of Omaha introduced a bill in the Unicam changing motor vehicle homicide from a misdemeanor to a felony and increasing fines for citations of speeding 35 mph over the posted speed limit. This bill did not make it out of committee, but Senator Kauth expressed an interest in revamping the language and bringing it back for this next session. To help strengthen her bill, we approached her with the idea of adding a statutory definition of ‘Vulnerable Road User’ to her bill, in addition to the other changes she welcomed.
Generally, Bike Walk Nebraska believes that enforcement measures aren’t the most effective way to make biking and walking safer.
The goal with this effort is to fortify Nebraska’s statute for judges to have more options when sentencing drivers guilty of especially dangerous speeding or when involved in a crash injuring or killing a vulnerable road user.
Generally, Bike Walk Nebraska believes that enforcement measures aren’t the most effective way to make biking and walking safer. This is why we have taken a neutral stance on bills that would change distracted driving from a secondary offense to a primary offense. By focusing our efforts to make sure our judicial system works for the families of vulnerable road users killed on our roadways and people seriously injured when biking and walking we can pave a more equitable path forward.
You’ll hear more from us about the specifics about this bill throughout the fall. We’ll also be doing a deep dive into the topic at our upcoming Bike Walk Nebraska Summit. I hope you’ll join us.
