Michigan drivers will be required to give bicyclists at least three feet of space when passing them on the road under legislation signed by Gov. Rick Snyder Friday, June 29.  "Many Michiganders enjoy activities like bicycling, but these activities can leave them vulnerable to vehicles sharing the road," Snyder said in a statement. "Drivers must exercise caution and maintain awareness around vulnerable roadway users."

These new laws, now PA 277, 279, and 280 of 2018, collectively codify 3 feet as the safe passing standard and will require driver's education curriculums to include at least one hour devoted to bicyclists, motorcyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable roadway users.  The safe passing law has immediate effect, however, the driver's ed law does not go into effect until early spring.

Being that driver's education courses in Michigan require 30 hours of classroom instruction, and 'sharing the road' is already a large part of chapter six of this seven-chaptered instruction, one would think that the one hour of instruction at the least should already be a part of most teachers' curricula.  It may be nice having it mandated by law to make those teachers who glance over this important chapter to emphasize it more.

But the three foot passing law is totally symbolic as written.  Here is PA 279 (PA 280 allows passing on the right with three ft. clearance when applicable):

"The driver of a motor vehicle overtaking a bicycle proceeding in the same direction shall pass at a safe distance of at least 3 feet to the left of that bicycle or, if it is impracticable to pass the bicycle at a distance of 3 feet to the left, at a safe distance to the left of that bicycle at a safe speed..."

Although I differ in my sentiments, as I've expounded before, I tend to arrive at the same conclusion as the Petoskey News said in a recent editorial.  They admit that it seems to be a no-brainer to make the way safer for bicyclists, but then they reason that 1) the practicality of enforcing the law is left up to subjective observations and 2) the allowance of cars to pass bicycles in no-passing zones when 'it is safe to do so' makes another subjective instance hard to enforce when it happens 'unsafely'.  

The final conclusion is that the law really does not accomplish anything in the way of safety.  That the laws are hollow remedies that do not cure anything other than making legislators feel good.  But the legislature has done nothing here but spin their wheels.  

As I have noted a couple of years back, when the state legislators tried to legislate away tragedies like what happened in Kalamazoo, when a drugged up trucker plowed into a group of bicyclists, a safe bicycle passing law does not mean anything, whether it be 3 ft., 5 ft. or 100 ft., unless it provides that:  "The collision of a motor vehicle [while passing] with a person operating a bicycle is prima facie evidence of a violation of this section." 

"Prima facie" is a fancy way to say "accepted as correct until proven otherwise", a strong legal statement meant to encourage law enforcement to press stiffer charges against motorists who injure or kill a bicyclist simply because they couldn't share the road or wait until it was safe to pass.

Michigan lawmakers almost unanimously passed these meaningless laws, perhaps next time they'll get it right.  Unfortunately, that will probably only happen when some idiot plows into another group of bicyclists and gets away with it due to the weaknesses of these laws.  

Views: 94

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service