Arizona boasts some of the best weather in the United States. Most days are clear, warm and sunny and offer a great opportunity to go for a bike ride. Unfortunately, all that sunshine and good weather doesn’t do much to keep bicyclists protected from drivers who are careless or just unaware they are sharing the road with bicycles.

Now, members of the ‘Not One More Cyclist Foundation’ are pushing legislators to pass distracted driving laws and get drivers to focus on being more careful behind the wheel. The group points to a number of recent car vs bicyclist accidents as yet more reminders that when drivers fail to pay attention, people get hurt.

A distracted driving law in Arizona would not only protect bicyclists, it would also protect drivers by forcing them to focus on paying attention behind the wheel, instead of texting or talking on a cell phone.

In 2008, Sterling Baer and Dara Schulenberg founded the Not One More Cyclist Foundation, which works to educate the public on cyclist safety, pushes for legislation and helps families of injured cyclists hit on Arizona roads. According to the most recent state data available, 19 bicyclists were killed on Arizona roads in 2010.

Organizers tried to draw the attention of Arizona legislators to pass a bill to protect “vulnerable users” on the road, such as bicyclists and people in wheelchairs — basically, anyone who can encounter a motor vehicle.

“If we institute a distracted-driver law, there will be more awareness in the mind of people driving behind the wheel,” Baer said.