Very important to try and get this one on the statute books……

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/3feet2Pass/

Have any of these petitions ever made a difference ?

perhaps if Chris Hoy were to deliver it.

MODS maybe this should be a sticky until expiry?

It is already in the highway code as guidance. This will make precisely zero difference.

So what happens to the drivers if they don't give us cyclists 3ft passing distance? How will it be regulated? Are we going to have the police watching every driver as they pass a cyclist? To be honest I dont think it will make any difference.

It's a great idea but in practice it will be impossible to enforce and like many other road regulations the majority of motorist will remain blissfully ignorant.

How about a petition against being tooted at for having the audacity to turn right?

a petition to take any cyclist who doesnt have a light on their bike away and crush it would decrease cyclists accidents more than this petition idea….

i travel 5 miles each day and i see at least 5 cyclists traveling on a busy 50 mph limit single carridge way road with no lighting at all at 7 am and 4.30pm ! (so dark)

Ridiculous.

edit: I would support Trailrat's idea of confiscating bikes from unlit cyclists though, simply for their own protection.

It is already in the highway code as guidance. This will make precisely zero difference.

the fact that if it became law rather than guidance would mean people could be prosecuted when observed by police.
surely you cant object to that

How would the police officer measure the distance? It is quite a precise distance so being cynical would this not be ripped apart by a defence lawyer? I'm all in favour of ways of getting more space for cyclists, but wonder how this would actually work in practice.

the fact that if it became law rather than guidance would mean people could be prosecuted when observed by police.
surely you cant object to that

Are you suggesting that someone passing me safely at a distance of 2'6" should be prosecuted?

I would object to that (and quite possibly volunteer as a defence witness on their behalf).

If the police cared…
Sorry to any cops reading this, and I'm sure if all things were equal and you weren't busy with 1000 other crimes you'd love to pull and book someone for driving carelessly/aggressively towards a cyclist, but my experience is that poor driving only gets lookad at when someone gets hurt or a car (not a bicycle) gets damaged.

Now, if the law gave us full protection and framed all traffic accidents which involved a motor vehicle and a bicycle as that motorists fault, as per the Netherlands, THAT would make a huge difference. Of course, if we were to follow the Dutch example, it would also mean that any cyclists caught crossing against the traffic lights or cycling unlit at night would face fines and possible confiscation orders…

MODS maybe this should be a sticky until expiry?

I call upon the MODS to delete this ill thought out nonsense without delay.

Whilst I agree with the intention and it is getting worse 'out there' I think we need to be clevererererer..
As stated above
highway code rule 163
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car" ie a whole lane width…

rule 213
"motorcyclists and cyclists may suddenly need to avoid uneven road surfaces and obstacles such as drain covers or oily, wet…….give them plenty of room and pay particular attention to any sudden change of direction they may make"

If you want to improve safety, petition for re-taking your driving test every 2 years, and make a RoSPA or IAM test compulsory…

Or carry a video camera on your helmet and a sign on your back saying CCTV….. it has made a very big difference to my commute!
🙂

Sorry, but that is a shit idea.

Ill thought out and **** dangerous.

We need a **** load more than 3ft.

To have a law at 3ft would bring drivers even closer than they get just now.

I'd be happy with 3 feet Goan, it's usually much less than that round here.

Druidh stopped at mine a few weeks back and he couldn't believe how close cars got or how dangerous much of the driving was.

Conversely, I was in Edinburgh not long back and couldn't believe what the cyclists got away with there and how tolerant the drivers were – some of the moves I saw cyclists pull in the city would get you intentionally run over round here.

Would it work both ways? Cyclists not to pass other vehicles (eg queuing traffic) unless there is a clear 3ft gap.

I agree with Goan, this is a shocking idea, if they were going to make a compulsory min distance it should be 2 metres, at least.I believe in some parts of Europe and even America (Colorado?) it already is.

My experience is that if you ride far enough into the road the vast majority of motorists will realise that they actually have to overtake you and will do it properly. Ride in the gutter and the vast majority will just assume they can squeeze through. It would be far more effective to educate cyclists rather than motorists as they are the ones with the vested interest.

agreed 3' not nearly enough.

This is a fairly stupid idea. Most drivers give me a lot more than 3 feet, and 3 feet really isn't a whole lot of room. This would mean that most drivers would then think they are giving cyclist far too much room so would generally drive closer than they do now.

And how would it be enforced? What if the driver passed a cyclists 3 feet and 1/32 of an inch away but the police stopped the driver cause they were sure the driver was only 2 foot 11 inches and 31/32 of inch from the cyclists. Where would the proof be?

Commuting can be bad enough without idiots wanting more daft laws to alienate us from other road users.

Cyclists just need to become more road wise and for some of them stop riding like **** idiots

Sorry won't be signing. I'm tired of new laws being introduced when existing ones already cover a situation yet aren't enforced.

What idiot thought of that petition?!
There's more than enough road laws at the moment, most of which aren't enforced (except speeding cos it's easy to bang cameras up all over the place).

Having a few police around to enforce existing laws (that includes the ones that apply to cyclists like not jumping red lights) might actually go some way towards making a difference, a pointless petition calling for a virtually unenforceable law is just going to be ignored (quite rightly too).

andyfb78 – Member
Whilst I agree with the intention and it is getting worse 'out there' I think we need to be clevererererer..

As stated above
highway code rule 163
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car" ie a whole lane width…

That's not what that rule means at all. If I'm overtaking a car, in a car, I don't leave a whole lane width between us. That would mean it would be impossible to overtake on a normal width road.

Nice theory. Never going to happen.

Online petitions are 100% rubbish.

How would the police officer measure the distance? It is quite a precise distance so being cynical would this not be ripped apart by a defence lawyer?

That is exactly what would happen.

Glen More,
No, read the code look at the photograph on the page.

It is not a lane width between each car, but that you should be in the other lane..It means imagine you are overtakign a car and pull out that far…
Surprised that really needs a response, otherwise all roads would have to be three lanes wide…..

No only would it be unworkable in terms of enforcement but it would do me more harm than good. i filter through stationary or slow moving traffic on both bicycle and motorcycle with only inches either side. I would be guilty of breaking this law and in all likelihood, we would be the ones to suffer from it.

andyfb78, isn't that what Glen said?

i travel 5 miles each day and i see at least 5 cyclists traveling on a busy 50 mph limit single carridge way road with no lighting at all at 7 am and 4.30pm !

But its not dark at 4:30pm

i travel 5 miles each day and i see at least 5 cyclists traveling on a busy 50 mph limit single carridge way road with no lighting at all at 7 am and 4.30pm !

Well if you can see them they don't really need lights do they 😉

andyfb78 – Member

Glen More,
No, read the code look at the photograph on the page.

It is not a lane width between each car, but that you should be in the other lane..It means imagine you are overtakign a car and pull out that far…
Surprised that really needs a response, otherwise all roads would have to be three lanes wide…..

I[/b] know what the Highway Code says, but from your post it appeared you didn't. Go back and read what you wrote again….

Bull.

By legal right, cyclists should be in the centre of the lane anyway, as any other vehicle should it not?

keeping left to allow other vehicles to pass easier is just politeness.

shhhhh. don't bring fact into a thread like this.

the fact that if it became law rather than guidance would mean people could be prosecuted when observed by police.

Mwah mwah mwah mwah
I ride in france and we HAVE a compulsory overtaking distance. That doesn't stop the "lets pass anyway no matter how close I come" behaviour. And if I was crazy enough to go to the police (hence being bullied/beaten/or worst) they would probably tell me to **** off.
I am with trailrat on this one. I can clearly see the new game being lets see how close of a cyclist I can go.

The weird thing is that at the moment,Britains existing road traffic law (as distinct from the highway code)is actually fairly cycling friendly- it just needs enforcement.

its dark at 4.30 around here .

i can see them cause im sporting a maxx D 😉

certainly makes the cars take notice of me at round abouts.

oh and there seems to be a fine line – like if i ride out in the outer 3/4s of the lane it causes no end of tooting and shouting at me despite me doing no wrong , if i ride in the 2nd and towards the 3rd quarter of my lane i get no abuse but they need there to be exactly the same no traffic in the other lane to over take me , and if i ride in the first quarter of the lane ill get my front wheel stuck in the sunken drains and cars will push my into the kerb. it seems to be psychological.

I also had another chap stop and tell me it was illegal for me to pass on the right hand side of cars on a bicycle and that i had to be on the left hand side.

didnt even form a quotient arguement for that one – just asked if he had ever ridden a motorcycle and if not he should try it sometime

never mind – change of office on monday and i get 2 and 3/4 miles of separate cycle path instead of 50mph single carridgeway