SENATE BILL REPORT

                   HB 2333

              As Reported By Senate Committee On:

               Transportation, February 22, 2000

Title:  An act relating to rights and duties of bicyclists.

Brief Description:  Clarifying rights and responsibilities of bicyclists.

Sponsors:  Representatives Schual‑Berke, Dickerson, Carlson, Hurst and D. Sommers.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:  Transportation:  2/22/2000 [DP].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION

Majority Report:  Do pass.

  Signed by Senators Haugen, Chair; Gardner, Vice Chair; Goings, Vice Chair; Costa, Eide, Jacobsen, Morton, Oke, Patterson, Prentice, Sheahan and Swecker.

Staff:  Michelle Chase (786-7305)

Background:  Currently, no statute identifies the legal status of bicyclists when they are on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk.  In June 1999, the Washington Supreme Court found that the protection afforded pedestrians in crosswalks, marked or unmarked, was extended to bicyclists when they are within a crosswalk.  There is also no law that provides guidance to law enforcement when confronting a bicycle rider who is impaired by alcohol or drugs.

Summary of Bill:  The rights and duties of bicyclists are affected in two ways.  First, the holding in Pudmaroff v. Allen, 138 Wn.2d 55 (1999), is codified.  Bicyclists in a crosswalk have all the rights and duties of pedestrians; drivers of vehicles must yield the right-of-way.  Similarly, bicyclists also have all the rights and duties of pedestrians on sidewalks.  However, bicyclists must yield the right-of-way to pedestrians when they are in crosswalks or on sidewalks.

Second, law enforcement officers may transport bicyclists impaired by alcohol or any drug to a safe place or release the rider to a competent person.  If assistance is refused by the rider, no lawsuit may later be brought against a governmental agency for acts resulting from the refusal.  Procedures are identified under which an officer may impound an impaired rider's bicycle.

Appropriation:  None.

Fiscal Note:  Not requested.

Effective Date:  Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:  This bill conforms statutory law to how the courts have construed existing law and provides guidelines for how law enforcement may deal with intoxicated cyclists.

Testimony Against:  None.

Testified:  Rep. Shay Schual-Berke, prime sponsor (pro).