Author Topic: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?  (Read 5634 times)

bikerwaser

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1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« on: March 27, 2018, 02:37:14 pm »
Saw this the other day.

Close passing is my primary pet hate while cycling.

Bournemouth Council have just installed a couple of these signs near the town centre reminding drivers to adhere to the law and give cyclists 1.5 metres when passing.

During my time touring in Spain I saw plenty of signs like this and got a lot of space from cars .

I've never seen this sort of thing in the UK until now.

Let's hope it's the sign of things to come !

I've emailed Bournemouth council to thank them and to encourage them to do more.

I've also emailed the neighbouring council of Poole to ask them to follow suit.

Maybe people on this Thorn forum could email their council too.


rualexander

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2018, 04:07:32 pm »
......adhere to the law and give cyclists 1.5 metres when passing.....

I don't think there is any such law in the UK.
There should be, and there is in some countries, Ireland for example just introduced a law on minimum passing distances, but no such law in the UK.

jags

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #2 on: March 27, 2018, 05:53:04 pm »
we have that law in Ireland not that it makes much difference. :'(
still give it time  anything that helps cyclists can only be good.

anto.

Andre Jute

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #3 on: March 27, 2018, 07:38:04 pm »
One of my pedal pals had a luminous jerkin printed: "1.5 metres please".

bikerwaser

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2018, 12:11:01 am »
Ok , not law but it's in the Highway code :

http://www.croydoncyclist.co.uk/highway-code-rule-163/

David Simpson

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2018, 12:21:26 am »
Pardon my ignorance (I'm in Canada), but what is a highway code?

A cycling advocacy group here (HUB Cycling, in British Columbia, Canada) is proposing that we also have a "safe passing distance" added to the road safety law.
https://bikehub.ca/about-us/cycling-priorities/bc-motor-vehicle-act-improvements

- DaveS

rualexander

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2018, 12:48:36 am »
Ok , not law but it's in the Highway code :

http://www.croydoncyclist.co.uk/highway-code-rule-163/

No, it's not in The Highway Code.
Rule 163 states "Give ...... cyclists....... at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car"
No mention of 1.5m or any other specific distance.
Many drivers would overtake a car with only a couple of feet between the two vehicles.

Andre Jute

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2018, 01:18:14 am »
The Highway Code is the set of regulations (which much have some basis in law) learned by applicants for driving licenses, applied by the police as traffic laws, and used in courts to determine guilt and the allocation of culpability. Generally speaking, anglophone countries have a national version, or at least a state version, rather than city versions.

David Simpson

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #8 on: March 28, 2018, 03:01:31 am »
I see. We have the same thing here. The law is set by Parliament and can only be changed by an Act of Parliament. A law can be "obey such-and-such regulations". The regulations are set by the appropriate government ministries, and can be changed at any time.

[Edit: I realize I am over-simplifying it.]

Thanks for the clarification.

- DaveS
« Last Edit: March 28, 2018, 03:18:32 am by David Simpson »

Andre Jute

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #9 on: March 28, 2018, 07:56:13 pm »
The British, Australian, South African and Canadian Highway Codes are, allowing for temporal drift of local conditions over the decades, probably still largely interchangeable. But these local variables can catch you out. In Melbourne, for instance, I was tootling along a main drag in a midengined car, secure in the belief that I had the right of way over everyone. A fat lady in an old Holden flattened my expensive motor around my ankles and was most abusive: it turned out that drivers from the right (in Oz one drives on the the left of the road) had right of way, no matter how minor their entry road. A chum got knocked off his bike in exactly the same situation, a couple of blocks further along that road.

bikerwaser

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Re: 1.5 metre sign. A sign of things to come ?
« Reply #10 on: March 29, 2018, 06:30:56 pm »
Ok , not law but it's in the Highway code :

http://www.croydoncyclist.co.uk/highway-code-rule-163/

No, it's not in The Highway Code.
Rule 163 states "Give ...... cyclists....... at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car"
No mention of 1.5m or any other specific distance.
Many drivers would overtake a car with only a couple of feet between the two vehicles.



I know it's an ambiguous statement. Which is why it's being looked at . The size of a car is probably about 1.5 metres.
As you say , car drivers just shave past other cars, which is why you see a lot of smashed wing mirrors on the road.

As i say, it's being looked at and challenged by Cycling UK and other organisations to clarify it.