TALKING POINTS – HB 784
(Version #1: 1/20/12)
1) Bill Objectives: This
bill would require drivers of motor vehicles to exercise “due care” to avoid
colliding with pedestrians and persons propelling human-powered vehicles, even
when the driver has the right of way. If
enacted, this “due care” requirement should reduce the numbers of fatalities
and serious injuries to pedestrians and bicyclists by helping to educate motorists that they
have a legal duty to avoid colliding with pedestrians and bicyclists whenever
feasible. This bill would also help improve justice for pedestrians and bicyclists who are
injured or killed by a driver who could have avoided the collision if he or she
had devoted full time and attention to the task of driving.
2) Bill Summary: This bill would add a new section (§ 46.2-923.1. Drivers to exercise due
care.) to the Code of Virginia, to better
conform the Code of Virginia to the Uniform Vehicle Code and to the traffic
codes of all but three other states.
3) Virginia Transportation Research Council Study: The need for
this legislation was uncovered in a 2007 survey of state pedestrian and bicycle
laws [ http://vtrc.virginiadot.org/PROJDetails.aspx?Id=376 ] conducted by VDOT’s Virginia
Transportation Research Council (since renamed the Virginia Center for
Transportation Innovation and Research) in Charlottesville. The
resulting study report, entitled "Safe
travel for Virginia's non-motorized road users: a comprehensive review of
pedestrian and bicycle laws in Virginia and the United States" [ http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/08-r5.pdf
] , noted on page
54 (and also in the Abstract) that Virginia is one of just four states missing
an important "due care" provision which is stated in the Uniform
Vehicle Code as follows:
Statutes That Are in the Uniform Vehicle Code
But Not in the Code of Virginia
UVC 11-504—Drivers to exercise due care.
"Notwithstanding other provisions of this chapter or the provisions
of any local ordinance, every driver of a vehicle shall exercise due care to
avoid colliding with any pedestrian or any person propelling a human powered
vehicle and shall give an audible signal when necessary, and shall exercise
proper precaution upon observing any child or any obviously confused,
incapacitated or intoxicated person."
The VTRC report also provided the following commentary:
"Although both drivers and pedestrians have a common law duty to use
due care, [209] the provision as a whole would be strengthened by a statutorily
enumerated duty to use due care. When assessing liability, a “due care”
provision makes it clear that a driver cannot avoid liability simply because he
or she had the right of way. Pedestrians are admonished not to “carelessly or maliciously
interfere with the orderly passage of vehicles,”[210] not to “enter or cross an
intersection in disregard of approaching traffic,”[211] and not to “step into a
highway . . . at any point between intersections where [their] presence would
be obscured from the vision of drivers,”[212] yet drivers are not cautioned to
use reasonable care not to strike a pedestrian. Considering that in an
accident, the pedestrian is likely to suffer the greatest injury, it makes sense
to caution drivers to use due care all the time, not only when “entering, crossing,
or turning
at intersections.”[213]"
4) Traffic Law Conformity: This bill closely
replicates § 11-504 of the
Uniform Vehicle Code. As documented on
pp. 102-105 of the VTRC report, Virginia
is one of only four states (with MA, SD, and WI) that does not statutorily
require drivers to exercise due care at all times to avoid colliding with
pedestrians and bicyclists. (This
comparison omits Michigan, which lacks statewide traffic laws altogether.)
5) Only Motorists, Not Non-Motorized Drivers, Would Be
Required to Exercise Due Care: By using the term “every driver of a motor vehicle”, instead of “every
driver of a vehicle”, the proposed due care requirement, as drafted, would not apply to bicyclists or to drivers
of animal-drawn vehicles. The Virginia
Bicycling Federation did not intentionally request this divergence from
the Uniform Vehicle Code and is not opposed to having the due care
requirement apply to “every driver of a vehicle”. Bicyclists and animal-drawn vehicles do
occasionally cause serious injury and even death to pedestrians and (other) bicyclists,
and non-motorized drivers should not escape liability when they collide with
pedestrians and other bicyclists due to their own failure to exercise
reasonable care.
6) Relationship to Past Legislation: No similar
legislation was introduced in recent years and possibly ever before in Virginia
7) Pedestrian and Bicyclist Injuries and
Fatalities: In recent years, Virginia has averaged more
than 2,400 pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and 94 pedestrian and bicyclist
fatalities annually in reported traffic crashes. Many,
if not most, of these collisions could have been avoided and the severity of
injuries could have been lessened if the drivers involved had devoted their
full time and attention to the task of driving. Besides helping to reduce the incidence and
severity of pedestrian and bicyclist crashes, passage of this bill would help ensure
that a negligent driver is at least charged with a traffic infraction which
should expedite victim and estate compensation via an insurance claim and/or
civil suit.
8) Driver Education:
If this change is adopted, DMV’s Virginia Drivers Manual, the state
Drivers Test, Virginia drivers education curricula, and other traffic safety
materials can acknowledge it, thus educating drivers of their legal duty to
avoid colliding with pedestrians and bicyclists at all times, even when the
driver has the right of way and the pedestrian or bicyclist is a “child or an
obviously confused, incapacitated, or intoxicated person.”
9)
Bicycle-Friendly State Criterion: The League of American Bicyclists evaluates state
bicycling statutes as a criterion for ranking the bicycle friendliness of the
50 states. Passage of this bill would help improve Virginia’s ranking in the future
which would help attract more out-of-state visitors who enjoy bicycling and/or
walking to visit and spend money in Virginia.
###
