Given the current situation a lot more people are exercising. Yesterday I saw a cyclist knock a person down. Both are okay and the cyclist rang their bell (as a warning prior), however both were on a footpath.
So, on a footpath (not a bicycle path), who has right of way?
Cars are allowed to go into other lanes to give this distance, at least in SA. It seems it is only 1m at 60km/hour or less in a few states.
I think 1m is okay too, whatever it takes to keep people safe.
Many don't realise, in NSW at least, you can cross double lines and other unbroken lines in order to provide this space (but obviously need to do so safely) unless they're riding two abreast in which case they must be treated as a vehicle and you need to wait for an overtaking opportunity as you would with any other vehicle.
Cars are only required to give cyclists 1m under 60km/h and only in some states.
In NSW it increases to 1.5m for roads with a speed limit over 60.
A cyclist should not be on a road where the speed limit is over 60kmh.
@[Deactivated]: The law would disagree, at least to a point. I'm not sure of the exact speed but I believe for multi lane roads above a certain road speed limit they're only allowed to ride on the shoulder or cycle lane but I don't believe there's any such limit for single lane roads (though personally I wouldn't cycle such roads).
@apsilon: Just because something is legal, doesn't make it sensible, or right. Up until recently you could legally drive at 100kmh on the Great Ocean Road. Neither smart nor sensible.
@[Deactivated]: It’s gonna be a lot easier to just get used to cyclists using roads, like they are legally allowed to.
@Euphemistic: Or, you know, we could actually do something to make the roads safer for them. Like giving them their own paths, like they do in The Netherlands.
@[Deactivated]: It’s a catch 22. We don’t have enough cyclists to build all those paths because we don’t have enough paths for cyclists to feel safe on.
I didn't know the 1m, I always thought it was 1.5m. (thumbs up)
1.5 is always better.
Ask Cyclists in reality how often they have the 1.5m is the real question ?
But although legal I don’t get why they ride side by side down single lanes when they can follow each other and drivers can pass .
I rarely see 2 cyclists riding abreast where the road is narrow, they mostly seem to ride single file except where there is an entire lane next to them.
I often see bunches of a dozen or so riding 2 abreast. In that situation they have halved the distance a motor vehicle need to overtake. The larger groups will also typically travel faster because of drafting.
(profanity) our bike paths are not even 1.5m wide.