House passes bill requiring student drivers to take course on pedestrian, bicyclist safety

A bill making it mandatory for student drivers to take a class on “vulnerable road users," such as bicyclists, is heading to the governor’s desk.

Wednesday night, the House passed Senate Bill 73 on a 45-2 vote. Reps. John Block, R-Alamogordo, and Angelita Mejia, R-Dexter, opposed the measure. The vote came less than a week after the Senate passed the measure in a 25-16 vote.

SB 73 would require student drivers to take three hours of training on driving with “vulnerable road users,” which include bicyclists, pedestrians, people providing emergency roadside services and motorcyclists. Currently, students are required to take 30 classroom hours, according to the state.

"Being the father of a son who rides a motorcycle, people just don’t pay attention," House Minority Whip Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo, said during Wednesday's bill discussion. "So I appreciate what this bill is trying to accomplish. And to honor my son, I support this bill."

SB 73 will only apply to new drivers. It would not create new requirements for current license holders, said Sen. Heather Berghmans, D-Albuquerque, the main bill sponsor.

“That both sides saw the importance of even doing this small step and the idea the governor gave this bill a message during a budget session is really telling … and hopefully, next session we’ll be able to do more,” said Melinda Montoya, mother of bicyclist advocate Kayla VanLandingham, who was killed in July after being hit by a car in Northeast Albuquerque on her way home.

Montoya said VanLandingham would have been "really stoked" with the bill's passage.

"I think she'd be really proud of what she started and what's going to continue to follow," she said.

Montoya said she wasn’t surprised by the bipartisan support.

“I feel like a lot of people have been touched in some way by what happens on our roads,” she said. “(They may have) lost their own children, their parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents. … We all recognize that there needs to be a cultural shift in how we drive just because of the sheer aggression, the speed. … The culture is not good and I think (they recognize that).”

BikeABQ President Patrick Martin said it's "really important that vulnerable road users are taken seriously as people who are on the roads and so it's heartening to see them formally included in the driver's education curriculum."

The next steps, Montoya said, will be to look at what gaps there are and see what other places are doing "to reduce vulnerable road user and even motorist deaths."

“And so, I think my job going forward is to continue to work toward this and partner with people that want change," she said.

Gregory R.C. Hasman is a general assignment reporter and the Road Warrior. He can be reached at ghasman@abqjournal.com or 505-823-3820.