When you pass a person walking on the shoulder of the road, or a bicyclist riding on the edge of the highway or a delivery van parked in the street with its flashers on, how much space should you give them as you drive by? New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law is vague, saying you must move over to provide a “safe distance.”
A proposed local law that Onondaga County legislators will discuss today would remove the vagueness, setting the minimum at three feet.
At a recent committee meeting, some legislators questioned the need for a definition when there’s already a state law. Alex Lawson of the New York Safer Streets Coalition told legislators that different people may make different choices.
“I'm 35 now, but I used to be 16 and I had a much higher risk tolerance then," said Lawson. "And so if you told me, ‘Oh, you should give someone a safe space to pass at 16,’ I would've [given] no space at all. But if you say it's three feet, oh, okay.”
Legislators representing rural areas mentioned that some country roads have almost no shoulder at all, which would force drivers to cross into the oncoming lane.
Legislator Maurice Brown, chair of the committee bringing the proposed law to the full Legislature on Tuesday, said the measure has the support of Onondaga County’s Sheriff’s Department. Lawson said five counties, including very rural Cortland County, have adopted the three-foot law already. He said the idea was not to create a new punishment but to educate drivers as to what a safe distance is.
