Advocacy

Hello all—I need your help. Last week a friend of mine, Griffin Tichenor, was in Washington lobbying with The White Line Foundation. You may remember Griffin, as he was Lennie Antonelli’s roommate when he moved to Asheville. Five months ago, Lennie and Jake Hill were the two cyclists killed on Old Marshall Hwy when a motorist driving a haulage truck struck them. Griffin was lucky to have been hit but survived. He went from laughing with them on the Tuesday Night Ride to watching them die in a turn of seconds. Later last summer, two young women I rode with when I lived in DC were struck by a hit-and-run motorist. One of them was killed; the other seriously injured. 

Griffin was in DC lobbying to pass the Magnus White Cycling Safety Act (H.R.3649). If passed, this bill will require vehicle manufacturers to implement automatic emergency braking systems on all new vehicles. These systems are designed to detect cyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable road users. Already mandated in Europe, this technology is estimated to prevent 52% of fatal collisions and will only cost about $23/car. AEBs might have prevented these incidents from happening.

What can you do?

I ask that you reach out to your congressman to ask them to cosponsor and support this bill. Most members of Congress have websites that you can contact them through. In Asheville, our congressman is Chuck Edwards. Be personal, be direct, and tell your congressman what this bill means to you. Griffin has already met with Edwards personally so he is aware of the proposal, and if we are loud enough, he believes he will listen and help get this across the line.

Please don’t let their deaths be in vain. With all the incidents of close passing we’ve experienced this past year, this bill could save your life. It could save your partner’s life. It could save your best friend’s life.

If you’d like to know more, you can message me directly or visit the White Line Foundation website (https://www.thewhiteline.org). Please don’t hesitate to spread the word. This affects us all.

Thanks for reading and above all, please stay safe out there and I appreciate you joining the fight. 

Thank you John for making Club Members aware of this important piece of legislation. I truly hope and pray it can be enacted, and it would be foolish not to at the price mentioned!

Thank you Joe for such a succinct and positive message for us to use. doing a quick Google Search for "Find my representative" pointed me to the needed contacts and a quick copy and paste into their "contact Us" form got the work done in less than 5 minutes.

Done. Thanks, John.

Done.

By the way I believe you only need to write to your house representative as this is still just a house bill (although I suppose raising the issue with our senators doesn't hurt)

Thank you for organizing this campaign. Done.

One thing I should have mentioned and didn't is that if you are a member of a cycling club in another area, or know someone who is, please share with them and ask them to spread the word. The more voices talking about this, the better.