“He has pretty much isolated himself from the cycling community.”
— Leslie Luciano, Bicycle Sport Shop, Austin, referring to Texas Gov. Rick Perry
The Austin American-Statesman carried an interesting update this morning on Gov. Rick Perry’s veto of Senate Bill 488, legislation that would have created a safe-passing distance of at least three feet for vehicles trying to pass cyclists and other “vulnerable road users.”
A passage from the story: “Leslie Luciano of Bicycle Sport Shop in Austin submitted a public-information request to Perry’s office to see what the governor was hearing about the legislation leading up to the veto. She found that Perry’s office received 185 e-mails supporting the legislation and 38 opposing it. And there were 1,060 phone calls for the legislation during the session, 45 calls against it.”
SB 488 emerged from the dysfunctional 81st biennial session of the Texas Legislature with bipartisan support and seemed to have widespread backing. But Perry vetoed it June 19. (See posts of June 8 and June 20.)
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