In Arizona, a driver who hits and kills a cyclist faces a $1,000 fine. It's the same in South Carolina. In Louisiana, it's $250.
Those states along with 17 others have safe passing laws. The Lone Star State does not and has no set penalty.
Now that three people, including a San Antonio couple, were struck and killed within a week of each other while bicycling legally, cyclists again are asking what can be done so all road users can travel safely.
Scores of cyclists and pedestrians are killed every year in Texas on the roads and few drivers are prosecuted. Even as governments spend millions on campaigns and projects to encourage people to cycle and walk, those road users still feel unsafe on highways dominated by cars and trucks.
Tonight, many of them will be voicing their concerns about safety at a Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting.
The MPO, which has a Bicycle Mobility Advisory Committee, is a regional agency charged with conducting a continuous planning process to improve transportation systems.
Texas was a signature away from having a safe passing bill. The House and the Senate overwhelmingly passed it in June. It would have been one of the toughest in the country. Gov. Rick Perry vetoed it.
The legislation's aim was to protect and raise awareness of “vulnerable road users,” including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and others, by requiring drivers to give a minimum of three feet of space when passing.
“While I am in favor of measures that make our roads safer for everyone,” Perry said at the time of his veto, “this bill contradicts much of the current statute and places the liability and responsibility on the operator of a motor vehicle when encountering one of these vulnerable road users.”
That veto outraged and confused the bill's supporters, who argued that the point of the law was to make drivers aware they have to share the road. It's more than mere courtesy, they argued. The consequence of drivers hitting or even grazing a vulnerable road user is likely death or serious injury.
“It does make the cyclist wonder: ‘Does anyone care?'” said Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving, who sponsored the legislation. “We know that cyclists and motorcyclists and tow truck drivers are more vulnerable and by passing this law you are acknowledging that. ... I think people forget cyclists have a right to our roadway.”
The veto turned personal for Harper-Brown in August, when her granddaughter and a friend were injured after being run off the road while bicycling with Harper-Brown's son.
Harper-Brown said she saw no point in pursuing charges. She said the driver reportedly didn't see the cyclists.
Harper-Brown said victims and their families often feel victimized again when they learn the legal system doesn't automatically consider what happened to them a crime.
While no charges have been filed in two recent bike crashes, they remain under investigation. On Oct. 2, Gregory Bruehler, 42, and his 36-year-old wife, Alexandra Bruehler, died after being hit on Texas 16 outside Helotes. Larry McQuien, 55, a vice president at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, was struck and died Sept. 26 on the Interstate 20 service road near Fort Worth.
If the drivers had been drinking, distracted by a cell phone or fled the scene, there would be precedent for prosecutors to quickly bring charges.
But investigators in both cases said it was unclear why the drivers veered into the cyclists, hitting them from behind in broad daylight. The cyclists were on the right side of open roads that are popular bicycle routes and were wearing helmets.
