This article is the eighteenth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2008 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction tomorrow night. We won't have time to interview everyone, so be sure to check out their descriptions online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent John McLaren

Senator Floyd Prozanski, an avid bike rider who represents parts of Lane and Douglas counties in the State Senate, helped guide three major bike safety bills to passage last year. He’s working on a fourth measure that would make vehicular homicide a crime.

“I log at least 6,000 miles per year, road riding and commuting. I have ridden bikes all my life…bike safety has always been important to me,” he says.

Prozanski is a prosecutor who has been a member of the Legislature for 12 years. His long-time interest in bike safety was brought tragically to the forefront two years ago when his friend Jane Higdon was struck and killed by a log truck while riding in Eugene.

The new laws he helped pass last year are:

The Unsafe Passing Bill (SB 108), which created the offense of "unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle,” requiring motorists to allow enough space when passing a cyclist so that the cyclist could fall into the road and still be passed safely;

The Vulnerable Roadway Users Bill (HB 3314) (introduced by Senator Burdick and the Judiciary Committee as well), which increased penalties on drivers who injure other "vulnerable users" of roads, including highway construction workers, pedestrians, cyclists, horseback riders and skaters;

The “Share the Road” License Plate Bill (SB 789), which created an Oregon license plate with the educational message, “Share the Road.” Drivers can buy the plates for an extra $10, with the proceeds going to the BTA and the Cycle Oregon Fund to increase bicycle education.

Last year, Prozanski introduced the Vehicular Homicide Bill (SB 1058), which would make a crime of vehicular homicide punishable by a maximum of five years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $125,000. The bill was created at the request of Jane Higdon’s husband and that of Mary O’Donnell, the wife of Timothy O’Donnell, who was killed by a car last year while riding on a country road near Cornelius. SB 1058 was initially sponsored by seven senators and eight representatives.

Together with Rep. Tobias Read, he brought it to the legislature on June 23, 2007, with only a week remaining in that session. It was too late to pass it during that session, but he’s working on another version for the next session. After hearings on the subject of bike fatalities, he expects to draft legislation to succeed SB 1058. And after his encouraging successes with last year’s bills, he’ll keep working with the BTA and others on bike and pedestrian safety improvements going forward.

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