The legislator who considered a bill to tax bicycles to pay for roads last year shares common ground with the cycling community on one thing for sure: safety.

State Sen. Ray Scott, a Republican from Grand Junction, said Thursday he’s putting together a Share the Road Safety Summit in Fruita on July 17, in partnership with the Colorado State Patrol, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office and others. The summit will begin 7 p.m. at Victory Life Church.

He said his district has had a lot of collisions involving bikes and vehicles, so it’s time to convene those with an interest in the issue to talk about safer ways to share the road.

“Lately we’ve seen a troubling uptick in the number of motorist-cyclist collisions, leading to terrible injuries and death, which sometimes resulted from bad behavior on both sides,” Scott said in a statement. “It’s my hope that we can help minimize these kinds of accidents and conflicts going forward, by better educating drivers and cyclists about how they can safely share the roads.”

He added, “Everyone has a responsibility to understand and follow the rules of the road if motorists and cyclists are going to safely and happily coexist, and my hope is that this event will help lessen the likelihood of future tragedies by reducing confusion about what the rules are. I encourage not just organized interest groups, but the general public to participate in this meeting, since we all share an interest in improving community safety.”

Among the recent fatalities reported on the Western Slope: