CBC has amended its bill to protect bicyclists and pedestrians by extending protections to all roadway users and toughening penalties.

Assembly Bill 1951, authored by San Francisco Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, would turn injury-causing traffic infractions into misdemeanors and increase existing penalties. The bill is the centerpiece of CBC's 2010 legislative agenda.

Ammiano amended the bill last week after the California District Attorneys Association promised to fight an earlier version of the bill that would have created a new class of traffic penalties specifically for injuring bicyclists, pedestrians and other road users who are particularly vulnerable in motor vehicle collisions. As amended, AB 1951 addresses all victims of injury-causing collisions, including other motorists.

Current state law treats rule-of-the-road violations such as failing to stop or yield as infractions. Base fines for infractions that cause injury or "great bodily injury" are $70 and $95 respectively.

AB 1951 would set the minimum base fine at $145, equal to the base fine for misdemeanor reckless driving without injury, and also impose a jail sentence.

By treating such offenses as misdemeanors, the bill would ensure that more injury collisions are reviewed in court, eliminating some problems caused by limited enforcement. Collisions that injure bicyclists, pedestrians and other vulnerable road users routinely go unpunished when law enforcement officers are unable to cite motorists due to insufficient information about the motorist's intent.

In 2009 a longtime Marin County bicyclist suffered a shattered clavicle, two broken ribs and other injuries requiring surgery when he was struck by a minivan whose uninsured driver didn't stop after hitting him. The motorist later turned herself in to local police, who found her at fault but did not cite her. The investigating officer told the victim he'd handled more than 100 bike-car collisions in Marin County without ever citing a motorist.

What the law says: California Vehicle Code Section 22450(a) requires a vehicle in an intersection marked by a stop sign to stop either at the white line crossing the lane - known as the "limit line" - or at the crosswalk at the near edge of the intersection. If there is no limit line or crosswalk, the vehicle must stop at the entrance to the intersection.

The rest of the story: Under California law, bicycles have the same responsibilities and rights as motor vehicles, including the responsibility to obey the laws that govern when and where vehicles must stop.

It appears to be something of an urban myth that bicycles don't have to stop at intersections where the limit line doesn't completely cross the lane. It's the stop sign, not the line on the pavement, that ultimately controls when and where a motor vehicle or bicycle must stop.

Bicyclists who fail to make a full stop at an intersection marked by a stop sign can be cited for doing so. Rolling past a stop sign can also be risky for the bicyclist and anyone else in the intersection, especially where cross traffic doesn't have a stop sign.

The takeaway: Where an intersection has a stop sign in the bicyclist's direction, the bicyclist must make a full stop.