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All,<br>
<br>
Fresh from the General Assembly:<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">HB 1981,
our bill to allow motorcyclists to treat a red light as a stop
sign when the sensor fails to recognize the motorcycle has
passed the Senate with
amendment by a unanimous vote. This is great news for every
motorcyclist
who has been stranded at a red light. The important language of
the bill
is below. The Senate amendment is in italics. As you can see
the
amendment does not change the purpose of the bill:</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000000" face="Times New
Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000000" face="Times New
Roman">B. Notwithstanding any other provision
of law, if a driver of a motorcycle or moped or a<b><u> bicycle
rider</u></b> approaches an
intersection that is controlled by a traffic light, the driver
or rider may
proceed through the intersection on a steady red light only if
the driver or
rider (i) comes to a full and complete stop at the intersection
for two
complete cycles of the traffic light or for two minutes,
whichever is shorter,
(ii) exercises due care as provided by law, (iii) otherwise
treats the traffic
control device as a stop sign, and (iv) determines that it is
safe to proceed <i>and (v) yields the right of way to the
driver of any
vehicle approaching on such other highway from either
direction.</i></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" color="#000000" face="Times New
Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">The bill
will now go back to the House of Delegates so that it can be
conformed by the House adopting that language. After that it
will go to
the Governor for his signature. After that, barring a veto by
the
Governor who has always been a good friend to Virginia
Motorcyclists, this will
be the law in Virginia
as of July 1, 2011.</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I want to
thank everyone who worked so hard on this bill. A
special thanks to our Patron Delegate Thomas “Tag” Greason.
He worked tirelessly for this bill. If you would like to send
him a word
of thanks his contact information is below:</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/a7b082ef6ed01eac85256c0d00515644/38f56ad356c4724e85257535005773d0?OpenDocument">http://dela.state.va.us/dela/MemBios.nsf/a7b082ef6ed01eac85256c0d00515644/38f56ad356c4724e85257535005773d0?OpenDocument</a></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">I also
want to thank our brothers and sisters from ABATE of South
Carolina.
They allowed us to borrow their language and gave us some great
advice from the
lessons they learned in getting their bill passed a few years
back. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">As always
if anyone has any questions or comments concerning this email
please feel free to contact me. </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">Matt Danielson</font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" face="Arial">McGrath &
Danielson</font></p>
<font size="2" face="Arial">Tom McGrath's Motorcycle Law Group</font><br>
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