He's seen a light

...if not THE light.

My friend Kirk had a nice chat with David Osborne the other day, mostly centered on the latters HB255, mentioned here previously. It seems that Mr. Osborne had encountered a cyclist, who was making a u-turn on the back side of a blind curve, and barely had enough room to avoid a collision with the cyclist. There was a child in a trailer attached to the bike.

The two of them, Mr Osborne and our mystery cyclist, exchanged a few words at the scene. Apparently the cyclist expressed that it was legal for her to be on the state road (although the wisdom of making a u-turn that close to a blind curve is debatable). Mr. Osborne claimed to have contacted the two larger bike clubs in the area for clarification, and got no response (I can vouch for the education@louisvillebicycleclub.org not getting anything from him...). He went to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, and got no results (they would say "enact a law..."). So he (or his staff) wrote the bill as presented.

Mr. Osborne heard from several cyclists--local and national--who expressed shock that he wasn't being mindful of KRS himself. Reading the Kentucky Driver's Manual, one will find several admonitions regarding looking ten to fifteen seconds ahead, not driving any faster than your visibility allows (including slowing for curves, in case there is a stalled vehicle just out of sight...), and so on.

I forwarded him a link to Copenhagenize blog entry regarding the Sacred Bull loose in the china shop (or shoppe). While there are valid criticisms of the entry, it does serve to make a point for politicians with their limited ability to focus on one topic for long.

The upshot is that Mr. Osborne has no plans to carry forward with this poorly-written bill. My only problem with this is that it's still there for some other misguided lawmaker to revisit at some later time--blaming the victims yet again for something that would be the motorist's fault.