Perhaps it’s good that the Colorado General Assembly has a handful of avid cyclists crafting legislation.
If you’ve ever been on a bike, you’ll no doubt think the cycling rules they’ve come up with make sense — particularly the edict that motorists stay at least 3 feet away from cyclists.
The provision may be tough to enforce, unfortunately, but it does send an overall message about how drivers ought to behave, and it includes other good changes.
Senate Bill 148, a bipartisan effort by Republican Sen. Greg Brophy and Democratic Rep. Michael Merrifield, attempts to make Colorado’s roads a safer place for cyclists.
The bill prohibits harassment of cyclists and enhances penalties for throwing items at them. It also makes bike riders responsible for riding as far right as is safe — not as far right as is possible.
Part of the legislation also calls for at least a 3-foot buffer between cars and bikes. That means if you drive up behind a cyclist on a narrow road and there is oncoming traffic, you might have to take your foot off the accelerator for a few seconds and wait for a break in traffic, instead of just squeezing through.
You might think this is just common courtesy and respect for human life. And for most drivers, it is. But some motorists are bound and determined to claim “their” entire ribbon of asphalt no matter how close they get to a rider.
For those disrespectful and dangerous drivers who are cavalier about the lives of others, this law’s for you.
We realize that for every story about a motorist nearly plowing into a cyclist, there is another about dangerous behavior by cyclists. That’s not right either, and there are statutes outlawing much of it.
There is, however, a fundamental inequality between a motorist piloting a several-ton machine and a cyclist on a 20-pound bike wearing only a helmet for protection.
Though both have a right to the road, having a car or truck blow by at 40 or 50 mph can be nerve-wracking. In those circumstances, 3 feet seems like a small margin for error.
Though we support the bill, we wonder about the efficacy of the law. It would seem that in order for a motorist to be cited for infringing on the 3-foot margin, a law enforcement officer would either have to see it or there would have to be an accident.
Generally speaking, the presence of police seems to prevent such shenanigans. And if a cyclist has been hit, unfortunately the damage has been done.
Even as bicycle-friendly as Colorado is, there still is an intolerable number of drivers who are all too willing to endanger the lives of cyclists.
We support this bill and hope, at the very least, it will send a message to those people about the dangerous game they are playing with people’s lives when they drive too close to someone on a bike.
