Don’t you just love a headline that promises more than it can deliver? 
But what I’m about to do is something of a thought experiment in second-person voice. I’m imagining the following scenario based on my own experiences as a driver (for more on how drivers think, I suggest reading the How We Drive blog and the book Traffic). Maybe you’ll recognize this in yourself and others. Maybe you won’t. Here goes:
You are driving around town today doing several errands. And, as usual, you’re feeling just a bit of time pressure. Who doesn’t in this busy world?
It’s a nice, clear day and the road is fairly open — a nice 4-lane secondary artery with a 35 mph speed limit. You know your time is valuable and important. And you can plainly see that traffic is light and and conditions are good. So going 40 mph seems entirely reasonable and justified to you. And, besides, other drivers are doing 40 or more.
At the first major intersection you encounter a slow-down — road construction combined with a notoriously slow light. And, to top it off, there’s been a minor fender bender. You have to wait through three changes of the light before you can pass through the intersection. And this has now delayed you by, oh, almost five minutes. As you proceed you feel perfectly justified wanting to go faster, needing to go faster, but you can’t because the delay at the light has now increased and slowed the traffic in your direction.
Up ahead you detect another slowdown. Drivers in the right lane — your lane! – are passing something that appears to be “impeding” traffic. Cars are beginning to pile up on your left. You look at your watch. You consider phoning the person at your first meeting to say you might be late. Then you see the bicyclist in your lane — riding close the gutter.
Normally, you do the right thing. You’d pull into (or mostly into) the left lane to pass. You remember that’s what the Missouri Driver’s Guide suggests. But, today fercrissakes, you’re REALLY busy. No one is letting you pull to the left.
Ah, but now you remember. Missouri has a “3-foot law.” That’s all the room you have to give that bicyclist. Five or more feet would be better. It would feel safer even to you, the driver. But Missouri bicycle advocates lobbied for this law. They must think three feet is safe.
So you make the squeeze.
That’s the problem with a “3-foot law.” There is no way under many conditions that three feet is enough room. Further, the Missouri Driver’s Guide quite clearly treats bicyclists as legitimate road users deserving of EXACTLY the same passing treatment as cars and motorcycles. In other words, give a full lane (if such exists) under ALL conditions.
The diver in the scenario above might make the squeeze anyway — law or no law.
But why would you ever want him to think that three feet is safe, that three feet is enough room, that three feet is all we want or all we deserve? This thinking will be the byproduct of this law if passed.
We deserve what the driver of any car gets.
Don’t be fooled. The proposed House Bill 1250 is not bicycle-friendly. This bill is a product of car culture for the comfort and convenience of drivers at the expense of bicyclists.
Comments 5
In Texas, the governor was (and continues to be) pilloried for vetoing a similar measure and was virtually accused of killing two cyclists hit ON THE SHOULDER in San Antonio afterwards. The level of hysteria about these bills is amazing considering that nationally, I don’t know of more than one or two prosecutions EVER. I think and hope that Andy’s engaging in needless worry that the bill would change motorist behavior in the slightest.
The REAL tragedy in such bills is that cyclist advocacy groups spend real effort trying to get them passed and actually twist facts to make them seem more valuable. Visit biketexas.org for an example. They hype such stuff THREE PLACES on their home page. You can sign the petition objecting to the veto there if you are so inclined. We DO need better advocates!
Posted 06 Dec 2009 at 2:35 pm ¶Steve… I may indeed be wrong about drivers changing their behavior. We won’t know until someone can do a study. Until that happens, I prefer to be somewhat alarmist because the change in behavior I’m predicting seems entirely reasonable to me given what I believe the average driver’s mental state to be (much like my own used to be).
Posted 06 Dec 2009 at 6:32 pm ¶I may be wrong here, but I think the value of any minimum passing law (be it 3 feet, 5 feet, or greater) is not what drivers will do in response to it. Let’s face it, most of us drive by instinct, and don’t know enough of the details in our traffic ordinances to know whether we’re making a legal pass of a cyclist or not. Perhaps such a law might include enough news coverage and education that some folks might pick up on it, but I’m not betting on it.
In my mind, the potential value of such an ordinance lies in the potential for enforcement and ticketing IF a cop happens to notice a close buzz and decides to do something about it or in the prosecution of an actual accident. Without education directed toward law enforcement and consistent enforcement, I don’t see a lot changing.
As for the law itself, I’m not particularly comfortable being passed at 3 feet. I can almost reach out and touch vehicles at that distance. I would, however, like clarity of some sort added to the existing law. It’s pretty vague, and in my mind darn near unenforceable. If that can change, we’ve made progress!
Posted 07 Dec 2009 at 1:28 pm ¶Tracy… I’m with you as long as the distance is realistic. Three feet just isn’t in many cases, as you know. So why not five or more? Or, better, why not what the Diver’s Guide suggests: a full lane.
I’d be very interested in your assessment of how cars are passing you now. Your commute is far different from mine. I think it would be enlightening.
Posted 07 Dec 2009 at 2:21 pm ¶Andy,
I’ve only had one close pass in what seems like forever, and it occurred the other morning out on Eastgate. I think I may have invited that one by riding too close to the edge of the pavement.
The bulk of my commuting these days is in the dark, where I’m lit up like a christmas tree and I typically command a position in the right tire track, moving to the center of the lane well before stop lights and signs. I think the lights make something of a statement that I belong there and deserve respect (at least that’s my theory).
Interestingly, I had one car pass me last night that got honked at because it gave me the entire lane as it passed, but forced an oncoming car to slow down (I guess the honk could have been at me, but I assumed it was directed toward the car going around me). The guy got it partly right…he gave me lots of clearance but failed to wait for a clear opportunity.
Posted 08 Dec 2009 at 8:03 am ¶