START
Our Champions: an Assemblymember from urban Los Angeles and a Representative of a primarily small-town Massachusetts district are fighting for safe streets and biking in similar ways.

California’s 43rd Assemblymember and Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman wrote the revolutionary legislation that ended parking minimums near transit in the state of Califlornia. If that weren’t enough, her “Omnibike” law addresses a number of California bicycle laws to improve safety and save lives, requiring cars to change lanes when possible to pass cyclists, permitting cyclists to go when a walk sign is on at intersections, prohibiting local municipalities from requiring bike registration, and permitting e-bike riders to use city bike paths.

On the opposite coast, Massachusetts’ 1st District Representative Lindsay Sabadosa’s Act to Reduce Traffic Fatalities requires that motorists leave a safe distance when passing vulnerable road users, requires MassDOT to develop a reporting system for crashes involving vulnerable road users, lets towns and cities establish a 25 mph speed limit on state-owned roads, and requires any large vehicle owned or leased by the state to have a set of safety devices. Sabadosa’s 148/H.286 facilitates and expands conversion of abandoned rail lines into public trails for use as pedestrian walkways and bicycle paths.

Galen Mook, Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition’s Executive Director, hosts this conversation with Laura Friedman and Lindsay Sabadosa.

46:05 on.soundcloud.com/Jyie4
Joys of Summer: Galen Mook and Laura Gray, AKA DJ Two Wheels, gather “bike joys” at last summer’s Boston Bike Party. Plus: Galen shares a bike joy from his recent trip to Nova Scotia.

53:15 on.soundcloud.com/1ehzR
Bike Styling: Taylor Nichols at Purcy’s Bikes in Amsterdam.

Editing by Kevin Burton.
Closing Song, “Bike,” by Mal Webb.
Interstitial music, “Just Moving,” by Don Ward.
Visit BikeTalk.org to be involved.