By KENNEDY GRIFFIN

(Boston, MA) Governor Baker signed several bills into law Monday including three related to traffic safety, tax title expense, and fire safety.

After several revisions, Bill H.5103 was one of the bills Governor Baker signed on January 2nd. This bill aims to reduce traffic related fatalities by adding new requirements for back-up cameras, mirrors, and lateral protective devices. It also defines the term “vulnerable user” as:

“a pedestrian, including a person engaged in work upon a way or upon utility facilities along a way or engaged in the provision of emergency services within the way; (ii) a person operating a bicycle, handcycle, tricycle, skateboard, roller skates, in-line skates, non-motorized scooter, wheelchair, electric personal assistive mobility device, horse, horse-drawn carriage, motorized bicycle, motorized scooter, or other micromobility device, or a farm tractor or similar vehicle designed primarily for farm use; or (iii) other such categories that the registrar may designate by regulation.”

The bill relative to tax title expense allows municipalities to add all incurred legal fees to the tax title account of the land. And Bill H.2517 related to fire safety clarifies sprinkler system requirements and requires work on sprinkler systems to be performed by licensed professionals. 

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Massachusetts legislature passed a Road Safety bill Tuesday and will be headed to Governor Baker’s desk next.

The Bill has undergone many revisions in over a decade. In a version that was sent back to legislature by Governor Baker in September, the requirement for passing distance between vehicles and other roadway users was based on speed: three feet of distance if traveling at 30 miles per hour, four feet if going 40 miles per hour, etc.

In the most recent version, a set four-foot requirement was landed on for vehicles to remain away from bicyclists, pedestrians, and other roadway users outside of vehicles.

Also included in the bill is a requirement for cyclists to use rear red lights at night for visibility. Lawmakers replaced the piece allowing municipalities to set speed limits of 25 miles per hour on state-owned roads and added instead a pathway for cities and towns to ask the state for permission to change the speed limits.