{"id":230746009,"date":"2012-04-24T16:06:49","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:06:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=230746009"},"modified":"2012-04-24T16:06:49","modified_gmt":"2012-04-24T16:06:49","slug":"in-maryland-the-3-foot-passing-law-confuses-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=230746009","title":{"rendered":"In Maryland, the 3-foot passing law confuses everybody"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>[B&#8217; Spokes: I will also note my ongoing efforts to correct the State&#8217;s summaries of this law, some have been successful and some have not, such as this is still a good link: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marylandroads.com\/MHSO\/BikeSafety_LawCard.pdf\">https:\/\/www.marylandroads.com\/MHSO\/BikeSafety_LawCard.pdf<\/a><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net\/hphotos-ak-ash4\/295953_10150392270298076_513493075_8381149_1490230207_n.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/p>\n<p>To highlight bits of Jim&#8217;s article for emphases:]<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>By Jim Titus, Washcycle<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>If the highway is too narrow for the driver to legally pass with the required clearance<\/strong>. This probably only applies to narrow highways, such as one-lane bridges and narrow roads where cars must slow and pull partly off the road to pass in opposite directions. <a href=\"https:\/\/bike.risingsea.net\/docs\/Legislation\/Safe-passing-bill-2012\/advocates-analysis-of-what-safe-passing-statute-means.pdf#page=4\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">But Bike Maryland believes <\/a>that it also applies to no-passing zones (double yellow lines) on standard 2-lane roadways , because it thinks that the legislature inserted the word \u201chighway\u201d when it meant \u201clane\u201d.&nbsp;&nbsp;This assumption prompted Bike Maryland to sponsor HB 1397 which would have allowed cars to cross the double yellow line to pass bikes.&nbsp;&nbsp;That way, our Baltimore allies reasoned,&nbsp;the exception to the 3-foot rule will no longer&nbsp;apply because it will be legal to pass with the required clearance. &nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewashcycle.com\/2012\/03\/maryland-legislative-roundup.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Previous posts<\/a> on this blog have discussed why many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewashcycle.com\/2012\/04\/good-and-bad-bills-defeated-in-maryland-legislature.html\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cyclists did not support <\/a>that bill. <a href=\"https:\/\/bike.risingsea.net\/docs\/Legislation\/Safe-passing-bill-2012\/MDOT-Position-HB1397.PDF\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">MDOT also opposed the bill<\/a>, albeit for different reasons. After the session, some of the advocates had an <a href=\"https:\/\/bike.risingsea.net\/docs\/Legislation\/Safe-passing-bill-2012\/advocates-analysis-of-what-safe-passing-statute-means.pdf\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">email colloquy with MDOT<\/a> on whether the three-foot bill does or does not apply to the typical 2-lane road.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I asked&nbsp;MDOT for its position on that question, but so far, MDOT has not responded,<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These four exceptions have been&nbsp;widely publicized,&nbsp;though few drivers probably undestand what they mean and no one knows what the&nbsp;final one means. <\/p>\n<p>\n&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Between the ambiguous exceptions, and the exceptions to(the (bike lane and keep right) exceptions, Maryland has&nbsp;a law that is too confusing to explain to student drivers.&nbsp; Fortunately, the Motor Vehicle Administration appears to be sticking to the simplest approach:&nbsp; Drivers should pass cyclists with at least three feet.&nbsp; This was always MVA&#8217;s recommended best practice, and the fact that a court can not convict a driver for passing with less clearance in some situations does not change the clearance with which a reasonable driver will pass.<\/p>\n<p><em>(Jim Titus is on the board of directors of WABA from Prince Georges County, The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of WABA.)<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thewashcycle.com\/2012\/04\/in-maryland-3-foot-law-still-requires-cyclists-to-be-vigilant.html\">https:\/\/www.thewashcycle.com\/2012\/04\/in-maryland-3-foot-law-still-requires-cyclists-to-be-vigilant.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[B&#8217; Spokes: I will also note my ongoing efforts to correct the State&#8217;s summaries of this law, some have been successful and some have not, such as this is still a good link: https:\/\/www.marylandroads.com\/MHSO\/BikeSafety_LawCard.pdf To highlight bits of Jim&#8217;s article for emphases:] By Jim Titus, Washcycle &#8230; If the highway is too narrow for the &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=230746009\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;In Maryland, the 3-foot passing law confuses everybody&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-230746009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bike-laws"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230746009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=230746009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230746009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=230746009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=230746009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=230746009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}