By PAUL TURENNE, WINNIPEG SUN
Should drivers be legally required to pull over one metre to pass a cyclist?
Nova Scotia became the first province to pass that law in December, and now a cycling lobby group is asking the Manitoba government to do the same thing.
Bike to the Future wrote to Transportation Minister Steve Ashton and Healthy Living Minister Jim Rondeau last week to formally propose that the government make it illegal to pass a cyclist on the road without leaving at least a one-metre buffer between the vehicle and the bike.
The lobby group has identified the change as the top priority on its legislative wish list.
“It’s really just to be sure the cars understand they shouldn’t come so close to a bicycle,” said Charles Feaver, chair of Bike to the Future’s provincial committee. “Cars will leave a metre if they’re going by a concrete post or a parked vehicle, but they won’t leave that much room for a cyclist.”
Section 114(1) of the Highway Traffic Act currently requires drivers passing bicycles or other vehicles to do so “at a safe distance” and to return to the right side of the road when “safely clear.”
Feaver said he doesn’t expect police officers to be out on the streets with rulers making sure the law is followed.
He said it’s mostly about educating drivers so they “make a conscious effort” to pass cyclists safely, which Feaver believes will improve cycling safety much more effectively than any kind of mandatory helmet law.
“It will make everybody feel safer. A lot of the incidents on the road are due to a lack of common understanding,” he said.
A spokeswoman for Ashton said the government is reviewing a number of proposals related to active transportation, including the one-metre rule.
“Bicycle infrastructure and public education continues to be our favoured method of encouraging safe and healthy transportation,” she said.
More than a dozen U.S. states have such a rule — known there as the “three-foot rule” — in place.
Nova Scotia passed its law in December but has yet to proclaim it.
The government there is developing an educational campaign to help familiarize drivers with the change before the law comes into force.
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