It's Time for a Safe Passing Law in B.C.
A bicycle on a road is one of the cheapest, greenest, healthiest, most efficient, and most enjoyable modes of transportation on the planet.
It's also one of the most vulnerable to the risk of a crash with a vehicle. But only if we allow it to be.
Stronger road safety laws can remove some of that risk. (We cover the many ways the BC Motor Vehicle Act could be reformed in an earlier blog post.)
BC has many laws that say what you can't do on a bicycle. By law, you can't ride a bike on sidewalks, or ride side-by-side with someone else, or ride without at least one hand on the handlebars.
There are very few laws, however, that say anything about how people driving motor vehicles should behave around people on bikes.
This is despite the fact that, every year in BC, 1,600 people cycling are injured in a car crash; every month or two, someone on a bike is killed. In three-quarters of these crashes, the driver is partially or fully at fault, and the vast majority of the time, distracted driving and failure to yield are reported by police as contributing factors. About 1 in 8 of those crashes involves someone under age 19, or someone over age 65.
In Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec, safe passing laws are on the books. Their provincial governments felt that establishing a minimum distance for motor vehicles to pass a person walking or cycling—typically between 1 and 1.5 metres (3-5 feet)—would protect people and save lives.
We agree. This is why we're asking the Government of BC to amend the Motor Vehicle Act to establish a minimum passing distance of 1.5 metres, on all roadways and highways. Read our campaign appeal here.
A law establishing a minimum safe passing distance will protect people who commute by bike to work or school, or who bike just for fun, especially during GoByBike Week (May 31 - June 6), when thousands more people across BC will get back on two wheels.
It's also something experienced long distance riders want. Like members of the Cross Canada Cycle Tour Society and Cycling BC—they know what it's like to bike on a narrow shoulder, and be close passed, or 'buzzed', by vehicles travelling at 90km/h or more.
Some people claim such a law would be impossible to enforce. It's true; so are laws requiring people to wear seat belts, to not drink and drive, to stick to the speed limit, or stop at a stop sign. Police aren't hanging around at every intersection, waiting to on flick their lights, wave you over, and hand out a ticket.
But that's not how it’s supposed to work anyways. We have laws, in part, to establish acceptable norms and rules for safety, and for justice.
We expect people to understand and follow laws. This is how society works. People do sometimes break laws. If you break the law, and someone is hurt or killed, fault follows you—for life.
In BC, it’s crucial to have the right laws on the books, especially as the province green-lights initiatives like the new e-scooter pilot project just announced for six BC communities. Scooters also run the risk of scary, close passes by cars. As cycling and other active modes grow and become part of the ‘new transportation normal’, we simply need a minimum safe passing distance.
The reality in BC is that about four times a day, a person on a bike will be injured in a car crash. Some will die. As we say in our campaign messaging, “it doesn't have to be that way.”
When you drive, give people walking, cycling, scooting and wheeling 1.5m space. And please help us make this the law in BC.
Campaign Update - April 12, 2021
We reached our campaign fundraising goal!
Over $40,000 in total donations will fund our work—with BCCC members and partner organizations—to make the case for Safe Passing to the provincial government.
More updates to come through the spring and summer…