New Law: Motorists Must Keep ‘Safe Distance’ from Bicycles

Starting in November, a motorist who passes too close to a bicyclist on the road could be slapped with a ticket.

A bill Gov. David Paterson signed into law Sunday requires drivers to keep a “safe distance” while passing someone on a bicycle. Failure to do that will be a traffic infraction.

That was good news for cyclists like Scarsdale resident James Shipp, 69, who said he was struck in April while riding his bicycle in White Plains.

“I got hit by a car and the guy said, ‘I didn’t see you,’ ” Shipp said. He was not harmed in the accident.

White Plains resident Judd Cohen takes a different view.

“I don’t think it’s a fair law,” he said. Cohen said he lives on a two-lane road where cyclists ride in groups and “take up half the road,” making it difficult to avoid getting closer to them than a driver normally might.

“(A motorist) is not going to try to hit a cyclist,” he said.

State law already requires cyclists to ride no more than two abreast and to spread out to single file while being passed or when passing vehicles.

The new law grew out of Westchester County and is unofficially called Merrill’s Law for Merrill Cassell, a Greenburgh cyclist who was killed by a bus Nov. 6.

“It’s a good law. It’s unfortunate that someone had to die,” said Scarsdale resident Bruce Wells, an avid cyclist who was preparing to lead a Westchester Cycle Club ride out of White Plains on Tuesday. “Once they saw what happened to Merrill, they got into action and did something.”

In enacting the law, New York joins a growing number of states that have put similar rules in place. So far, 17 states have enacted such laws, according to information in the New York bill. Some of those states, including Connecticut and New Hampshire, have set a 3-foot buffer, but others have not.

Cycling advocates who pushed for the New York law originally asked for a bill that would require motorists to keep at least 3 feet from cyclists while passing. The language was later changed to require a “safe distance.”

Michael Oliva, co-founder of the Bike Walk Alliance of Westchester and Putnam, said he would have preferred to see a definite buffer set, but he is happy with the law.

“The 3-foot buffer is a stronger law, but I’m not extremely disappointed,” he said. “I think this still gives law enforcement the tools they need.”

Either way, he said, it is good news for cyclists who are frustrated by cars and trucks driving too close.

“The only way some people are going to understand it is if they start getting fines for doing it,” he said.

Assemblywoman Amy Paulin, D-Scarsdale, who sponsored the bill, said she had been persuaded that the “safe distance” language was a better approach because “sometimes 3 feet is not enough.”

“So many people are bicycling, to and from work, for recreation. … We need to ensure that the roads are safe,” she said.

In the Senate, the bill was sponsored by Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers.

It was one of 102 bills Patterson signed Sunday; he vetoed 34 others.