Safe passing

Our goal: Encourage more people to ride bicycles by ensuring that drivers give bicyclists adequate clearance when passing from behind.

The problem

Photo by Richard Masoner

Many Californians who want the health, environmental and economic benefits of riding a bicycle for transportation or recreation avoid riding their bikes because they feel uncomfortable about trying to share the road with motor vehicles — especially when they see cars and trucks pass bicyclists too closely.

Their discomfort isn’t just a perception. As bicyclists ride, they need to be able to move aside when they encounter trash, broken glass or rough pavement in the road. But when they need to move and a driver is passing too closely, the result can be a deadly fall or collision. Passing-from-behind collisions are the leading cause of adult bicyclist fatalities in California and the U.S.

Existing law requires drivers to pass other vehicles and bicycles at a “safe distance” but doesn’t specify what that distance is. If drivers don’t know what constitutes a safe passing distance, how can people who ride bikes or want to ride feel confident that drivers know how to share the road safely?

By requiring drivers to give bicyclists more space when passing, we can minimize a leading cause of deadly collisions and help more people feel comfortable about choosing to ride their bikes.

The solution

The California Bicycle Coalition and the City of Los Angeles are co-sponsoring Senate Bill 1464, authored by Sen. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, to require drivers to give bicyclists at least 3 feet of space when passing from behind. The bill modifies existing state law that requires a driver to maintain an unspecified safe distance when passing another vehicle or a bicycle.

Twenty-one other states and the District of Columbia have already enacted a specified minimum passing distance for motorists. Pennsylvania’s new 4-foot passing law, signed in February, took effect on April 1. And Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman signed that state’s 3-foot passing law on April 10.

A specified minimum passing distance provides drivers with a more objective and easily understood measure of what constitutes “safe” and gives law enforcement and the courts a clearer basis for establishing a driver’s liability for unsafe passing. Most importantly, it helps emphasize a driver’s special responsibility to safeguard more vulnerable road users like bicyclists.

This bill is a response to Gov. Jerry Brown’s veto last October of SB 910, our previous attempt to enact a 3-foot-passing law in California. In his veto message, Brown expressed support for the concept of the bill but objected to an exception to the 3-foot requirement meant to accommodate drivers in dense urban traffic. SB 1464 contains the largely same language as SB 910, however, the exception is slightly less restrictive. We’re confident this version of the bill is one that Gov. Brown will sign. Read a comparison of SB 910 and SB 1464.

The Senate Transportation & Housing Committee voted 8-0 to approve SB 1464 on Apr. 17. The full Senate will vote on the bill on Thursday, May 24.

What you can do

1) Contact your Senator with a message of support for SB 1464.

With help from our allies at TransForm, you can send a personalized email (even if you’re not sure which Senator is yours) by clicking on this link. Entering your zip code will generate an email addressed to your Senator. You can modify the email with a more personal message – please do this if you or a loved one has been injured by a driver passing unsafely or if you ride less because you’re concerned about unsafe passing.

If you’d rather use snail-mail, download a sample letter (Word format) and modify it by adding the date, your Senator’s name and State Capitol room number, which you can find here, and your own contact information.

2) Learn more about our Give Me 3 campaign to enact SB 1464, including the victims of passing-from-behind collisions in California.

These recent videos illustrate the risks from unsafe passing: bicyclist buzzed by a passing car, bicyclist brushed by a passing car and bicyclist cut off by a tour bus. Fortunately, none of the bicyclists was injured.

Contact us at cbc@calbike.org or 916-446-7558 if you’ve been hit or run off the road by a passing driver. We’re documenting cases of unsafe passing as a way to help lawmakers understand why they must support SB 1464.

3) Support our Give Me 3 campaign with a donation.

Sponsor this campaign

Sponsor our campaign with a $350 donation and we’ll send you 1,000 Give Me 3 buttons to distribute at your event or place of business.

To learn more about other ways you can help, contact CBC Executive Director Dave Snyder at (916) 251-9433 or by email.