A Call to Action – Passing Rule NYS (Comments: 3)

The statewide initiative to enact a safe passing law for cyclists is stalled in the state Assembly’s Transportation Committee. We need your help to convince Transportation Committee Chairman David Gantt to allow the bill to move forward.

The bill would require drivers to give cyclists a three-foot buffer when passing. Gantt’s staff maintains we don’t need to enumerate the distance. They say a bill requiring that motorists pass at a “safe distance” would suffice.

But requiring a “safe distance” for passing is too ambiguous and does not provide a clear point of reference for the driving public. The bill emerged last fall after Greenburgh resident Merrill Cassell was sideswiped by a Beeline bus on Route 119 and killed when the bus ran over him.

The bill – A10697 – is patterned after laws in 15 states, which require the three-foot buffer. The latest to enact the three-foot law is Mississippi. Others are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, and Wisconsin. Similar laws have been proposed in nine other states.

We need to let Gantt know that the cycling community wants the three-foot passing law.

The main purpose of the law is to educate the public about how far is a safe distance to pass bicyclists. Many motorists believe that just avoiding contact with a cyclist is required. Many motorists are unaware of the danger of passing a cyclist too closely. It can result in hitting the cyclist, or startling the cyclist and resulting in a crash to avoid the car.

Law enforcement officials in states where the law is in place say it has been an effective educational tool. It gives officers, government officials and civic groups the opportunity to inform motorists of the safe distance.

You can email Gantt at GanttD@assembly.state.ny.us
You can call his office at 518-455-5606
You can fax a letter to 518-455-5419
You can send a letter to Assemblyman Gantt at
LOB 830
Albany, NY 12248
518-455-5606

Thank you for your support.
Richard DeSarra
New York Bicycling Coalition and Rochester Bicycling Club