In Victoria, Australia, it's a legal requirement for a driver overtaking a cyclist to give a minimum of a metre gap. It's hard to enforce and I suspect drivers have trouble judging how far a metre is.
This is made worse by narrow painted bicycle gutters that legally prevent riders from taking the lane to prevent close passes when there isn't enough space and give drivers the incorrect notion that they don't have to give a metre when overtaking.
Road safety works best when drivers don't have to make on the fly judgements and instead are provided with clear unambiguous instructions.
While this law is rarely enforced, it should definitely be required to be used as a rule for road planning:
* It should be illegal to make a painted bike lane that doesn't discourage illegal passes.
* On narrow (or median separated) local roads where legal passing is impossible there should be signs saying "no overtaking cyclists"
* On roads yet to be upgraded to have proper cycling infrastructure, instead of narrow painted bike gutters, there should be a marking that indicates the overtaking distance to prevent drivers from having to make that judgement on the fly. Eg. "Suggestion bike lanes". A wide 'Suggestion lane' is better than a narrow illegal official bike lane.
This narrow bike lane on a 60km/hr road is less than a metre wide. This ridiculous ute would need to move in to the other lane to legally overtake a cyclist using this lane. Many drivers do, a lot do not, but most drivers will only do it if the other lane is clear. Ie. They'll do it if it doesn't require them to slow down behind the cyclist until there is room to safely/legally pass.
#BikeLanes #Melbourne #RoadSafety #bicycles #compromises
