Traffic Laws Amended to Address Cyclist Safety and Shared Use of the Roads

I wrote a post last January about proposed changes to the state’s traffic laws to address bicyclist safety and shared use of the roads by motorists and bicyclists.  I am still smarting from the on-line comments and emails I received as a result. (Before you click on the link and join the chorus, I should clarify that I foolishly used a bit of literary license in that earlier post. I’m not actually hostile to cyclists who pass motor vehicles at a stop light.) Now that the legislature has amended the traffic laws to address these issues, I am reticently returning to the topic to describe those changes. But I’ve learned my lesson. The rest of this post will be strictly the facts. S.L. 2016-90 (H 959) enacts three significant amendments related to bicycling safety and sharing the road. 1. A bicycle operated at night must be equipped with a red rear light or the cyclist must wear a reflective vest. G.S. 20-129(e) already requires that bicycles ridden at night have a lighted front lamp visible from at least 300 feet and a reflex mirror or lamp on the back, visible from at least 200 feet.  Effective December 1, 2016, bicycles operated at night on a public street, public vehicular area, or public greenway must have: A lighted lamp on the front, visible from at least 300 feet in front of the bicycle; A reflex mirror on the rear; and A lighted lamp on the rear, visible from at least 300 feet [...]