Families and advocates urge passage of 'Detourch Road Safety Act' to add motorcycle‑safety question to driver exam
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Summary
Family members of a crash victim and motorcycle advocates urged the Environment and Transportation Committee to approve SB 68, which would require at least one guaranteed motorcycle‑safety question on the MVA knowledge exam to increase driver awareness and reduce motorcycle crashes; witnesses cited statewide crash and fatality statistics.
Sen. Nick Charles presented SB 68, the Detourch Road Safety Act, and invited family members of a motorcycle crash victim to testify. The bill would require the Motor Vehicle Administration's knowledge exam question pool to include at least five motorcycle‑safety questions and guarantee that at least one such question appears on every exam.
"This bill is about education, awareness, and prevention. It's not about blame," Jennifer Floyd, founder of the Detourch Foundation and mother of a rider killed in 2024, told the committee as she described the personal toll of motorcycle fatalities and urged lawmakers to support SB 68.
Floyd and other witnesses cited crash data included in their testimony: "In Maryland alone, an average of 77 motorcycle riders and passengers are killed each year, and nearly 1,000 motorcyclists are injured annually," she said, presenting Maryland Department of Transportation crash data from 2019–2023 as context.
Motorcycle advocates and riders added personal accounts of collisions and urged a modest test‑content change as a low‑cost, high‑impact step to increase motorist awareness. Committee members praised the testimony and asked technical questions about wording and exam administration; sponsors said the change was intentionally narrow (one guaranteed question) and bipartisan in prior passage.
The committee did not take a recorded vote and asked sponsors to coordinate any technical language before a subsequent committee action.
