NYS 3-Foot Passing Law Promising

You know the feeling. You’re “JRA”–just riding along–and you hear the vehicle coming up behind you. Your muscles tense and your hands tighten their grip on the bars until it’s passed, often way too closely.

For the fifth year in a row, a law has been introduced in New York’s State Assembly that will set a three-foot standard for the distance a vehicle must pass a cyclist to be considered a “safe pass.” New York is currently one of the minority of states that has no law defining a specific minimum distance for vehicles to pass cyclists. Current state law simply reads “a safe distance” as judged by the driver of the vehicle. A driver can pass within inches of you, but if they think that’s a safe distance, then they are legally off the hook.

Assemblyman Phil Steck of the 110th District (Capital Region) and seven other Assembly members have re-introduced their bill, A547, to establish the three-foot standard:

The operator of a vehicle overtaking, from behind, a bicycle proceeding on the same side of a roadway shall pass to the left of such bicycle at a [safe] distance OF NOT LESS THAN THREE FEET until safely clear thereof.

It’s a simple law, but in previous years it has never reached the Assembly floor for a vote primarily due to the opposition of the late David Gannt of Rochester, who until last year chaired the Assembly’s Transportation Committee.

“We’ve tried hard to get this passed, and in past years we were pretty sure we had the votes on the floor to do it,” says Paul Winkeller of Albany, long time state cycling advocate and now Senior Advisor for the Urban Cycling Solutions consulting firm in New York City.

“But the chair of an Assembly committee has the final word on what comes up for a vote from that committee, and for his own reasons Mr. Gannt never let it get out to the floor. This year we’re very optimistic it will pass. But if you’re a cyclist in New York State, this is definitely the time to reach out to your legislator and get as much public support behind this as possible. It does matter.”

Add your voice as a cyclist to support this bill by locating your Assembly member, then voice your support by writing to them directly or through the page for the Bill on the NY State Senate Website.

A three-foot safe passing law is also one of the 5 Bicycle Friendly Actions supported for every state by the League Of American Bicyclists, the largest nation cycling advocacy organization.