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Deleted member 26715
Guest
Yes it is, if a car cannot pass you within 3ft, 1.5M, then how can it be acceptable that cyclists are able to ride up the inside therefore making the car driver into a law breaker.
1.5 metres ?
- Thread starter gavroche
- Start date
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jarlrmai
Veteran
Yup enshrined distances are a bad thing
1.5 meters by a Yaris at 20 mph no problem.
1.5 meters by an articulated lorry at 60 mph would probably feel a bit scary.
1.5 meters would be used by anti-cycling groups to try and make a point about filtering now being illegal.
1.5 meters is a great un-provable legal defense.
Close passes depends on your route and time of journey in my experience, my commute takes me through a small town one way system generally I'll get 1 a day generally people trying to get in front with oncoming traffic on roads with parked cars that are just wide enough that taking the lane doesn't matter and riding by the curb just makes it worse. I get both close passes from behind and drivers forcing me out of the way when there are parked cars on both sides yet i'm fully inside my lane and outside of the door zone.
It's also worth remembering that "hardened" cyclists get immune to passes that newbies would find scary thus we might think it less of a problem however it is a major factor limiting the growth of cycling.
1.5 meters by a Yaris at 20 mph no problem.
1.5 meters by an articulated lorry at 60 mph would probably feel a bit scary.
1.5 meters would be used by anti-cycling groups to try and make a point about filtering now being illegal.
1.5 meters is a great un-provable legal defense.
Close passes depends on your route and time of journey in my experience, my commute takes me through a small town one way system generally I'll get 1 a day generally people trying to get in front with oncoming traffic on roads with parked cars that are just wide enough that taking the lane doesn't matter and riding by the curb just makes it worse. I get both close passes from behind and drivers forcing me out of the way when there are parked cars on both sides yet i'm fully inside my lane and outside of the door zone.
It's also worth remembering that "hardened" cyclists get immune to passes that newbies would find scary thus we might think it less of a problem however it is a major factor limiting the growth of cycling.
It's the risk or perceived risk though isn't it? A car passing a cyclist at 70mph within 3ft of the cyclists elbow is much different to a cyclist filtering at a snails pace inches off stationary wing mirrors surely.
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Deleted member 26715
Guest
No, if the law is 1.5M then the law is 1.5M there can be no discussion on it, if you are on a cycle lane & passing the inside of a stationery/queuing car then one of you is breaking the law.
classic33
Leg End Member
It can be done, but it's going to require a bigger change in attitudes on all sides. One man in Ireland started it up here, and now it's worked it's way to the UK.
One of the big advantages of cycling in heavy stationary/slow moving traffic, is the ability to pass most of it. The freedom to do that shouldn't be taken away, nor should we be made use only off-road routes. But a fixed distance needs to be given.
I've said if a vehicle passes me, and I can touch it "it's too close". That's 30 inch at the furthest possible (Outstretched arm), I checked after posting.
One of the big advantages of cycling in heavy stationary/slow moving traffic, is the ability to pass most of it. The freedom to do that shouldn't be taken away, nor should we be made use only off-road routes. But a fixed distance needs to be given.
I've said if a vehicle passes me, and I can touch it "it's too close". That's 30 inch at the furthest possible (Outstretched arm), I checked after posting.
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Deleted member 26715
Guest
I'm all for it, but just don't see how it can work, I think driver education is the answer, because as everyone is saying 30" at 10mph is different to 30" at 60mph, also from a Fiat 500 & a 40 ton HGV.
Yes, I've often wondered what's the safest distance for me to overtake a Fiat 500
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I don't see why it has to be as cut and shut as that. If the law is that a car has to pass a vulnerable road user at a distance of 1.5m, I don't see what each vulnerable road user would then have to pass a car at 1.5m. Would it then mean someone walking between static traffic to cross a road wouldn't be able to be within 1.5 of a car bumper? Would cars going opposite directions to each other need to be 1.5m apart? Would a parent pushing a pram past a parked car need to be 1.5m away from it?
Jody
Stubborn git
I got buzzed in the Peak District a few weeks ago by a Porsche. He was probably a little over 1.5m but me and my friend reckon he was doing well in excess of 100-120mph. That really wasn't a nice feeling at all.
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Deleted member 26715
Guest
That is my whole point, if the law is 1.5M then it would apply in all situations, some completely inadvertently, some which would not be hazardous at all, but all potentially illegal
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
Because the 2ton car is stationary, not passing you within inches at 60+mph... It's absolutely not the same thing, nor comparable
I can't see why the law can't specify if a car/van/truck/lorry is passing a vulnerable road user i.e. bike/ped/horse, then they must leave a gap of 1.5m when passing. The law doesn't have to apply to the vulnerable road user passing a car or such as the risk of potential harm is no where near as great, or would be as deadly.
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Deleted member 26715
Guest
Okay so you're doing 12MPH on a cycleway at the side of a road, there's a car that wants to overtake you, because of the traffic he/she is doing 15MPH by your definition this is not dangerous, yet if this is enacted they would still have to leave 1.5M
T.M.H.N.E.T
Rainbows aren't just for world champions
- Location
- Northern Ireland
That's not what I said
glasgowcyclist
Charming but somewhat feckless
- Location
- Scotland
There is no such law.