Event Article

Take Action for Bicyclists

From the League of American Bicyclists

The Transportation Appropriations bill is coming up for a vote which means representatives are attempting to add amendments that weaken federal funding for bicycling safety. 

We need you to take action TODAY to defeat:

  • The Self Amendment (#6), which would prohibit the Department of Transportation from using funding to advance equity initiatives in infrastructure investments. 
  • The Perry Amendment (#71), which would prohibit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from requiring vehicles to have technology that detects pedestrians and applies the brakes before hitting someone. 
  • The Massie Amendment (#20), which would defund efforts to implement technology that could reduce or eliminate drunk driving.

Click Here to contact your Representative.

The details 
Representative Keith Self (R-TX) has proposed to strike section 192, thereby prohibiting the use of Department of Transportation funds to implement and enforce the administration’s Equity Action Plan. The Equity Action Plan was established under executive order 13983 to "Advance Racial Equity and Support Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government". This includes the work of the Department of Transportation and all initiatives passed as part of the bi-partisan Infrastructure and Investment in Jobs Act. Advancing equity in transportation initiatives have been approved by Congress before and is already being implemented. Don’t allow this amendment to abolish future progress.

Representative Scott Perry (R-PA) has proposed to prohibit federal rulemaking that would finalize the first-ever Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard for the safety of people outside vehicles, and would require Automatic Emergency Braking systems that can detect and stop for people walking. With pedestrian and bicyclist deaths at 40-year-plus highs, we need to take every action that makes people safer. This technology is already required on cars in other countries and we deserve just as much access to this technology in the US.  

Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) has proposed to defund implementation of Sec. 24220 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which requires the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to create standards for technology that can passively detect driver impairment and keep drunk drivers off the road. Roughly 10,000 people are killed each year by impaired drivers and this amendment would stop work to address those deaths in its tracks before any proposal has been made.