10 Downing Street Petition - 3 feet 2 Pass

Hi all,

First off apologies if this has been addressed elsewhere as I haven't UTFS.

I joined a Facebook group called "Why does James Martin hate cyclists". The guy who set up the group, Tom Amos, has just sent out an email update to all members of the group asking them to sign a petition where they are lobbying for legislation to enforce the 3 feet 2 pass rule in the UK.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/3feet2Pass/

The next bit is quoted from his email update:

"Could I ask you to sign it? It literally takes 30 seconds. Your address is kept confidential and is not viewable by any member of this group, including myself as the creator of the petition.

We have over 3,000 members in our group but less than 30 people have signed the petition so far! Even one member of the Press Complaints Commission has signed it!

The reason I need the signatures is that in order to get a formal response from the Department of Transport, there needs to be a minimum of 500 signatures.

Have a great weekend,

Tom"

Cheers everyone.

signed.
5ft would be even better :/

Excuse me for my naievity (sp?) but what is "3 feet 2 pass" mean?

^Yeah, what exactly is it that your asking? legislate what?
Sorry, i think i might have an idea as to what it is, but could do with a bit more info please..

Police struggle to act on real laws being broken.. no way they're gonna be able to judge passing distance. "Sir, that was 2'6", you're gonna have to come down to the station" Yeah right.

Also, where does this leave cyclists who pass cars with less than a metre?

This takes the focus away from real issues like the danger from inadequately equipped and poorly driven trucks.

I don't think we have much issue with vehicles overtaking us very closely, most of the time they do give us enough room, best solution is to give cyclist this advice - take the lane*, just cycle near the middle of the lane and you'll be fine, if a car overtake you too closely, you have room to maneuver.

the 3 feet rules are required in America because it's a necessity, but not so in London.

*by lane, I mean the road, not bicycle lane.

Commendable sentiment, but already covered with rule 163 of the Highway Code:
"give motorcyclists, cyclists and horse riders at least as much room as you would when overtaking a car "
And to be honest trying to enforce a 3ft rule would be impossible:
Driver: "Honest officer it was 3ft and 1 inch"
Cyclist "No it wasn't officer, it was 2ft and 11 inches"

Also I have little problem with cars passing a bit close, it happens, but the vast majority are considerate. I find the problem is when I'm filtering, or at junctions: Drivers just don't look. Especially LGV drivers of whom the majority appear to think they have some kind of exclusion force field fitted to their vehicle.
And these are things that you can't legislate for.
Drivers need a longer and much stricter driving test with a refresher test every 5 years.
Now there's a petition woth signing: Mandatory re testing of all drivers at a 5 year interval.

Count me in! Signed & delivered!

...This takes the focus away from real issues like the danger from inadequately equipped and poorly driven trucks.

...Now there's a petition woth signing: Mandatory re testing of all drivers at a 5 year interval.

Yeah! I'm sick and tired of this shit and I'm not taking it anymore!

Count me in! Signed & delivered!

without reading the topic? are you mad?

signed

3 feet is not enough ,in the highway code it says give as much room as when passing a car and shows a car nearly in the opposite lane to pass a cyclist which must be 5 feet .

without reading the topic? are you mad?

He came on here.
Must be mad....
;)

3 feet is not enough ,in the highway code it says give as much room as when passing a car and shows a car nearly in the opposite lane to pass a cyclist which must be 5 feet .

How much room do you give other cars when overtaking? If I gave every car 3' of room I would be driving on the opposite pavement.

I don't see any problem in riding in the middle of the lane when on a bike aslong as it makes you feel safer

by signing this petition it makes cyclists look a bit stupid , as road users we are the same as any drivers or pedestrian in that we should know the highway code , and rule #163 states that when passing a cyclist with a vehicle , the cyclist should be given as much room as when passing another vehicle. to acheive that it means that or tight roads vehicles should wait until the opposite way is clear before pulling out to overtake , just as they would do when passing another vehicle , on roads where i suspect cars will try and nip past and be too close , i cycle in the centre of the lane , and on dualcarridgeways when approaching a roundabout to turn right , i take a centre position on the outside lane , if vehicles thought i was only allowed to take 3 feet , it would seriously impede cycling safely on dual carridgeways

Gov't response to this now available....

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page22257

The Government have no plans to introduce the proposed legislation. All drivers have a duty of care and consideration to other road users. Rules 163, 211 - 213 of The Highway Code advises drivers to give cyclists at least as much room as a car when overtaking and to give them plenty of room and pay attention to any sudden change they may have to make.

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given penalty points on your licence or be disqualified from driving. In the most serious cases you may be sent to prison. Such rules are identified by the use of the words ‘MUST/MUST NOT’. In addition, the rule includes an abbreviated reference to the legislation which creates the offence. An explanation of the abbreviations can be found in ‘The road user and the law’.

Although failure to comply with the other rules of the Code will not, in itself, cause a person to be prosecuted, The Highway Code may be used in evidence in any court proceedings under the Traffic Acts (see ‘The road user and the law’) to establish liability. This includes rules which use advisory wording such as ‘should/should not’ or ‘do/do not’.

The Code can be purchased from most good bookshops, price £2.50, or viewed online at http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm?cids=Google_PPC&cre=Highway_Code

Shame they don't recognise that it is the lack of enforcement of the existing rules that leads to these kinds of petitions in the first place.

Complete refund of my taxes to the usual address.....

it's a stupid petition either way, glad it didn't go through.

May have prevented one or two of your close call threads there Ed.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread22370.html

Just a thought.

May have prevented one or two of your close call threads there Ed.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread22370.html

Just a thought.

Maybe, but so would any number of other unnecessary and unenforceable laws. What is written in the highway code is sufficient and the solution is simple - adjust your road positioning well in advance and communicate your intentions to those around you.

May have prevented one or two of your close call threads there Ed.

http://www.lfgss.com/thread22370.html

Just a thought.

that incident was a driver hitting me on purpose, what was needed is the law to be change for motorist to be guilty until proven otherwise if they're involved in a collision with a cyclist, just like with peds (motorist first to blame, until proven otherwise if they collided with peds), so if a driver fled the scene, they'll be the one in trouble.

the 3 feet law won't make it easier as it mean the driver will still drive away and not get caught because of the lack of 'evidence' to determined who's at fault, even though it sometime obviously the driver.

If some one hit you when you are driving you would call the police or just exchange details. If it happens when you are cycling lie on the road infront of the ofending vehicle and call an ambulance, this police will have to turn up. The more people who get prosecured for it the less people should* do it.

• only a theory.
  

Heres a similar online campaign: http://3feetplease.org.uk/

Someone impatiently overtook me on a blind corner at speed way too close for comfort the other day as soon as he passed he then pulled straight across the front of me from the left and pulled over to park causing me to brake hard to avoid him (it wasn't a taxi just a wanker).

I don't usually lose my rag with these sorts of things but it was completely unnecesary especially as he wasn't going anywhere further than just round the corner itself. I was also holding speed with the traffic so even if he was carrying on not pulling over he wouldn't have got anywhere any faster anyway.