Cycling Advocacy: Exercise the Power of the Word

What is National Bike Month without a little advocacy? Today is a great day to pick a cycling topic that needs the attention of your local government, or even the state or federal government, and write your representative(s).

I first heard about a clearance law when I was reading a blog by an American girl who was living in France. I thought it was a spectacular idea and wondered why a law like that didn't exist here. After more searching, I found that many states have already incorporated the 3-foot pass law: a passing vehicle must allow three feet of clearance between the vehicle and the bicycle.

My state currently does not have the 3-foot pass law, and I have started an email/letter writing campaign this week to find out if this is currently in the works and to demonstrate my support for it.

My first email was sent to the League of Michigan Bicyclists:

Hello –

It was recommended to me to contact you regarding the 3-foot pass law – requiring three feet of clearance when a vehicle passes a bicycle – that many states have incorporated. I have read quite a bit about this and I would like to know if someone is currently working on this in Michigan. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Diane U.

LMB reply:

We have discussed the 3' foot law with legislators. The current law says that motorists must give safe distance when passing. Our legal experts and the legislators believe that putting the measurement of 3' in the law would then end up with lawyers arguing whether they were 3'2" or 2'10" away when they passed.

Obviously if a motorist strikes a bicyclist, they did not give a safe passing distance. Our legislators are more comfortable with a law that provides penalties for hitting a bicyclist, a vulnerable user law similar to the construction worker law.

States that have the law have not seen the gain they had hoped from it. One state, Arizona, has the 3' law, but in the same state you must give motorcyclists 5'. My experience in riding in states that have the law is that there is not difference on how motorist treat you. The real problem is that we need to educate motorist that they need to share the roadways with other legal users. Passing any law without education is useless.

In this case we have a law that says motorist must give us safe passing distance. What we need is education campaigns. Think about this, the federal government runs motorcycle safety campaigns, seat belt safety campaigns and my favorite, deer safety campaigns just to name a few. They run a campaign each year to protect 50 million deer, but they do nothing to protect 35.6 million tax paying citizens.

At this point we are focusing our efforts on the vulnerable user law and working on ways to educate motorist on sharing the roadways.

I would encourage you to join LMB (www.lmb.org) and become part of the voice that is working to improve bicycling in Michigan.

I replied suggesting, in short, that the state require that drivers show the same courtesy to cyclists that is required of motorists when passing a police car that has someone pulled over.

I also acknowledged that education is necessary; however, there are many drivers who will do the absolute minimum that is required of them. I also mentioned that it is legal for a motorist to share a lane with a bike, which I'm fine with in certain situations, but it's not necessary in most. Now that I have gotten more information regarding the idea of interest, my next step to contact my local representatives.

National Bike Month tip of the day: write an advocacy letter to your representative about a cycling cause that concerns you.