Editor’s Note: This story, which was originally published 1:36 p.m. on Jan. 9, was updated at 11:10 a.m. on Jan. 12 to add that Sen. Ariana Kelly (D-Dist. 16) will be cross-filing a complementary bill in the senate.
A new bill sponsored by Del. Sara Love (D-Dist. 16) called The Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Memorial Act would impose the same penalties for hitting a cyclist in a bike lane as for hitting a pedestrian or cyclist in a crosswalk – up to two months in jail, alongside a fine of up to $2,000. Love plans to introduce the legislation in the upcoming Maryland General Assembly session, which starts Wednesday.
The bill is named after a Bethesda woman who was hit and killed by a flatbed truck while cycling home from a back-to-school event at her children’s elementary school in August 2022.
In October, the driver of the truck, Santos Reyes Martinez, pleaded guilty to a traffic offense for causing serious injury or death to a vulnerable individual while operating a motor vehicle and was fined $2,000 and sentenced to 150 hours of community service.
“The sentence was ridiculously lenient, given the gravity of what he had done, and it was because the law simply doesn’t provide protections for cyclists in bike lanes,” Daniel Langenkamp, Sarah’s husband, said in an interview with MoCo360 last week.
After meeting with Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, who proposed the change in the law, Daniel Langenkamp pursued finding a sponsor for this legislation. Love agreed to take it on.
“You can be thrown in jail if you kill somebody or hurt somebody in a crosswalk. And strangely, there just isn’t that kind of protection for bike lanes,” Langenkamp said.
Under Love’s bill, a vehicle must yield to a cyclist in a bike lane if the vehicle is about to enter or cross the bike lane.
“We have gone back and forth and back and forth [on whether it’s a strong enough penalty]. [And] everything is contingent on the circumstances,” Love said. “So there may be circumstances where that penalty is too much. There may be circumstances where it’s not enough. This is just one of many laws that could be applied. Based on the circumstances, involuntary manslaughter could apply.”
Love, who represents the Bethesda area and is the head of chair of the Maryland General Assembly’s Motor Vehicle and Transportation subcommittee, said it was a no-brainer – Sarah Langenkamp was her constituent, and she is passionate about cyclist and pedestrian safety.
“It was an absolute tragedy,” Love said of Sarah Langenkamp’s death. “I was talking to [Daniel Langenkamp] really empathizing with where he is and feeling the same sort of sense of lack of justice, because the penalty just didn’t feel right.”
Sen. Ariana Kelly (D-Dist. 16) will be cross-filing a complementary bill in the senate.
The bill has not been officially filed with the General Assembly yet since the session hasn’t begun, but Love submitted a copy of the draft legislation to MoCo360. The legislation would amend existing state law 21-209, which requires drivers to leave a “three-foot buffer” between a cyclist or pedestrian but does not require drivers to fully yield.
Langenkamp said he hopes that if the bill passes, it will make drivers think twice and be more cautious, particularly because of the chance of imprisonment.
“There’s no justice. It won’t bring her back, but it’ll make a difference by sending a signal to the community that bike lanes are protected spaces. They’re not just paint on the road,” Langenkamp said.
Across the county, sentiment for safer street laws is on the rise. According to state data, 15 pedestrians and one bicyclist were killed in Montgomery County in vehicle crashes in 2023. The Montgomery County Council passed the Pedestrian Master Plan in October, a first-of-its-kind document that provides the county government with policy recommendations for safer streets.
The council also passed the Safe Streets Act in September, which made infrastructure and policy changes to county roads, including eliminating right turn on red specific intersections designated by the county’s Department of Transportation, as well as adding new traffic control devices to downtown intersections and town center areas.
Beyond the General Assembly bill, Langenkamp continues to pursue federal legislation and work on cyclist safety advocacy several hours a week, in addition to his full-time day job and parenting his and Sarah’s two children. He also serves on the board of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. After organizing a couple successful advocacy bike rides to raise awareness for the need for safe street legislation, Langenkamp said he’s planning to host a national ride sometime in the spring.