New law: drivers must be three feet from bicycles to pass

Drivers should be aware of a new law that went into effect on January 1, 2020 designed to reduce the number of collisions and risks for people who walk, use a wheelchair, or ride a bike along the roadways.

In state law a vulnerable road user is a pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist, or someone riding an animal.

The new requirements for drivers overtaking bicyclists, pedestrians, and other vulnerable road users are:

• When there are two or more lanes in the same direction of travel, the driver must move left into the adjacent lane to pass, after making sure it's safe to do so.
• When the driver has only one lane for traffic moving in the direction of travel, 
• the driver must move into the lane going in the opposite direction to pass, if it's safe to do so. 
• If not, they should pass when it's possible, moving at least three feet and slow down to a safe speed for passing relative to the speed of the individual being overtaken.