Minimum Safe passing Distance (Petition)

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Permalink Reply by Bob Moore on July 1, 2011 at 5:35pm

I wish this petition and the Amy Gillet campaign would stress that the minimum safe distance should be speed related. One metre at 100 km/h is not a safe minimum! 60 cm or so will do on a 40 K road

The other point against a mimimum distance is that it is impossible or impracticable  to measure- how would you decide if it was 50 cm or 100 cm?

Still, there is a need to educate motorists on safe overtaking of cyclists, and enforce the existing laws.

 

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Permalink Reply by sit ubu sit on July 1, 2011 at 6:28pm

As I've said before, I'd prefer to see the current law being enforced and the driving public informed before the introduction of yet more legislation which is less effective in protecting VRUs - it's illegal to overtake another vehicle in the same lane (the overtaking vehicle must move completely in to the other lane for the manouvre), and for some reason the majority of car drivers seem to believe that solid dividing lines don't apply around cyclists. See rules 133, 134 & 144 from around page 150 in this.

The Amy Gillet "a metre matters" campaign, although worthwhile if it ensures cars at least give consideration to passing distances (rule 144 from memory), still legitimises illegal overtaking by inferring you can remain in the same lane. 144(b) infers that when overtaking, the overtaking driver must overtake in an adjacent lane by virtue of the fact it says they must not return to the lane until it is sufficiently in front of the vehicle it overtook, so as to avoid a collision. If it's not safe for a car to overtake a bike by changing in to the other lane, then it's not safe to do it remaining in straddling two lanes (as a general rule - a lane that is 6m wide, I might consider an exception).

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Permalink Reply by Kylie on July 2, 2011 at 1:28pm

I agree, I'm not that keen to sign that petition.  The line "...and yet breach no law" is incorrect in my view.

 

On a wider view, I'm also not keen on over-regulation.  I'd like (long term) for people to understand how to drive around bicycles, not just to do it because the rule says to.  I applaud people trying to make a difference, but this one isn't for me.

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Permalink Reply by Martin Geliot on July 2, 2011 at 1:33pm

++

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Permalink Reply by Ben Carr on July 2, 2011 at 12:33pm

Signed it and passed it on to 8 other people. I'm astounded at the amount of drivers that will overtake me dangerously (less than a metre accelerating furiously) in the left lane, then stop to reverse park or make a hard left hand turn forcing me to brake. Any attention on stopping this dangerous stupidity is worth while.

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