Legislation for Better Bicycling in Ohio
OBF'S BETTER OHIO BICYCLING BILL OF 2006
Our bill for better bicycling in Ohio, House Bill 389, was signed into Ohio law by Gov. Taft on June 17, 2006, and went into effect.
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OBF'S 3 FOOT PASSING LAW
Your OBF educated the Ohio General Assembly for 8 years, testifying for 4 OBF bills during that time to require that Ohio motorists give bicyclists three feet of passing clearance. Finally, our OBF bill was approved by the Ohio Senate Transportation Committee after OBF testimony, passed the full Ohio Senate, and was signed into law by Governor Kasich in 2016. In 2017 the OBF bill became law:
1. Ohio motorists must now leave 3 feet of passing clearance when passing bicyclists.
2. Ohio bicyclists may proceed at an intersection after stopping and yielding right-of-way when the device meant to move a traffic light from red to green does not detect the bicyclist.
OBF Chair Chuck Smith discussed OBF's hard work to bring about the 3 Foot Law in three interviews:
http://www.ohioraamshow.com/search?q=Federation
“Share the Road” Auto License Plate
The OBF-sponsored “Share the Road” auto license plate is available now. Ask about it when you next visit your Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles Deputy Registrar's office.
On Wednesday, December 22, 2004 Governor Bob Taft signed our Share the Road license plate into law as part of House Bill 406. Thus, four years of effort by the OBF ended in success. The plate will act as a moving billboard to promote “sharing the roads” of Ohio.
Ohio Bicycling Street Smarts
The Ohio Bicycle Federation played a key role in the 2002 publication by the Ohio Department of Public Safety of Ohio Bicycling Street Smarts. The booklet incorporates Street Smarts: Riding Confidently, Legally, and Safely by John S. Allen plus sections of the Ohio Revised Code pertaining to cycling.
During our March, 2001 Bicycling Awareness Day, OBF Chair Chuck Smith asked Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Connor if the State of Ohio could publish an Ohio Bicycling Street Smarts similar to one in Pennsylvania. The Ohio Department of Public Safety under Ms. O'Connor's leadership subsequently distributed over 100,000 copies of the booklet. (You can see the commercial version of Bicycling Street Smarts at
Allen's web site.)
Helping Steve Selz win his “Impeding Traffic” Case
On July 16, 1999 Steve Selz was pulled over by a Trotwood Police patrol car and issued a ticket for impeding traffic. The Montgomery County Court found Selz guilty.
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With the OBF's assistance and resources, the case went to appeal where it was
favorably resolved.
There are two articles of interest written about the case. One, by Fred Oswald, is an insightful
account and commentary taken from his article “Right to the Road” about similar cases around the nation.
The other was written by cycling Attorney Steven M. Magas named
The Selz Case Revisited, which we are privileged to reproduce here.
Participating in revising the Uniform Vehicle Code
Chuck Smith represented the OBF on the Bicycle Task Force of the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Laws and Ordinances (NCUTLO) in the late 1990's. He and others on the committee were successful in making important changes favoring bicycling.
The website for that effort is no longer available, having been removed by 2011. Before being removed, we made Adobe PDF copies of the pages, available here as a
single document in approximately the original page order. Note that links on the pages appear but are non-functional.
The
final changes as they appeared on the original NCUTLO site and which includes the OBF changes to the Uniform Vehicle Code (UVC).
The approved changes from
January 6, 2001.
The approved changes from
January 11, 2000.
Working to keep Ohio's roads open to cyclists
On November 11, 2000, the OBF made a formal inquiry to the State of Ohio regarding the prohibition of bicycles on ten specific Ohio roads. ODOT Director Gordon Proctor
responded to our inquiry on December 7, 2000, promising that these roads would be reopened to Ohio bicyclists.
In Action!
Mike Abrams' Radio Interview
Mike Abrams' interview aired on Saturday, June 19, 2006 on station WCUE, 1150 AM, in Cuyahoga Falls. The station covers the Akron/Canton and Cleveland areas.
NPR Interviews OBF Board Members
Bill Cohen of Ohio Public Radio interviewed three OBF Board Members and the RTA representative during the March 19, 2002, annual Bicycling Awareness Day at the Ohio State Capitol. (Web page no longer available.)