Rule 163: Give Vulnerable Road Users Space
If your a sad, lonely individual like me, you probably watch YouTube helmet camera footage filmed by other people on bikes. Many of these feature aggressive idiots behind the wheel, but a more common complaint is how much (little) space drivers give bikes when they pass. One of the closest shaves I ever had from a passing driver was explained by him as, “Well, I didn’t actually hit you”.
People often cite the Highway Code’s rule 163 - either when remonstrating with the driver, or somewhere in their commentary:
The above picture looks lovely, doesn’t it? The thing is, this really isn’t how many drivers overtake cars either. How do I know this? Because of how people are increasingly using alternative spaces when they park their cars:
OK - so the first photo features a row of cars parked in a mandatory cycle lane - that’s the same as parking on a double yellow line, so they should all just get ticketed. But they’re all also parking up on the pavement.
Why do they do this? It’s not because they actually want to steal space from road tax evading pedestrians (tax-dodging layabout scroungers), but because they all know how little room passing cars give to anything else on the road. They know that the further they can squeeze to the edge of the road, the more chance they have of returning to find their wing mirror still present.
In other words, when a driver comes past you when you’re cycling, missing your elbow my millimetres, he’s complying 100% with Highway Code Rule 163. He really is giving you as much room as he would when passing a car.
According to the Cycling Lawyer, the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has just issued guidance for members - FTA Cycling Code. This says:
If an HGV cannot give a cyclist at least a metre’s clearance then they should hold back. Drivers should bear in mind that cyclists are trained not to ride too close to the kerb.
Maybe a change to the Highway Code along these lines would help our situation, as it makes it clear how much space to leave - just leaving the thickness of a layer of paint but not actually hitting the bike really isn’t enough!
I don’t know if changing the rules will help much as I doubt that drivers know the rules anyway. What I’d like to see is little hints about the rules dotted around our roads. “Give cyclists room” signs, solid white lines where there is no room to overtake, and cycle lanes that give cyclists the room they deserve rather than shoving them off to a narrow strip of road.
Of particular bafflement to me are those places where you get an island in the road to narrow the lane, and a narrow bike lane in the same place. Give motorists less room and then encourage them to squeeze through the reduced road width anyway!
Bonkers.
It’s the attitude & experience of drivers that must change (not many have the experience of cycling, and a lot of drivers are ignorant human beings, ignorant to the Highway Code). The Highway Code - by and large - is fine. It’s a bit like the CID - its all in the interpretation!
They’re running a “leave a metre” campaign here in Australia in honour of Amy Gillett, who died on a training ride in Germany when a driver ploughed into the group injuring several others as well. We simply have to ride as if car drivers are about to kill us - if you wait for attitudes to change, you’d never get on a bike.
I forgot to say I’ve just discovered this site - it’s great - lots of varied posts.
Welcome Rob! There’s a great little community of people cycling here and Karl is a fantastic advocate for cycling as a form of transport. Try following some of the links in the blogroll to find more.
Magicroundabout (1) - we have some of those around here. Baffling not just from the common sense aspect, but also because they fly in the face of DfT guidance. Pure Muppetry.
Katja - yes, this is a cultural issue, and one that cannot be easily addressed by simply changing the words on a page in a book that no-one reads. I’m writing an extensive rant about this subject . . .
Rob (1) - best advice I ever had for being on the road was from my mum - assume that everyone else out there is a murderous idiot, and you won’t go far wrong.
Rob (2) - thank you, you’re most welcome!
Magicroundabout - you’re flattering me. Are you after some bagels?
What seems to help me, is when I ride an unusual bike — either a tandem with no stoker, or a cargo bike (with home-made dynamo-powered daytime running lights) — people seem to give me more room. The “normal” bicycle is the same width as the cargo bike (same handlebars, same wide load on the saddle — and also now has DRLs) but people seem to give it less room. It’s not a scientific survey by any means, but it appears that appearing not just uncommon, but downright unusual, catches people’s attention. (This is not entirely consistent with the results of the gorilla test, unless the gorilla was merely uncommon, and not downright unusual.)
I’ve heard other people in other places recommend deliberately weaving, and I do that sometimes when I think traffic is not staying out of the bicycle gutter, but normally on my cargo bike I ride an extremely straight line, yet I still perceive that to receive more room.
And the day I rode with a sickle in my hand, the better to trim weeds intruding on the bike gutter, I got extra-special clearance.