New Georgia legislation provides cyclists area on roads

The law comes into force on July 1st.

ATLANTA – Cyclists said they will be safer on Georgia’s roads after a new law went into effect this week.

Drivers have to give cyclists a meter of clearance when overtaking. People can think of it as the length of a guitar, a golden retriever from start to finish, or a bit longer than a baseball bat.

“When a car passes you within three feet of the road, it’s terrifying. And you know your life is in the hands of every driver on the road,” said attorney Bruce Hagen.

He’s ridden a bike in Atlanta for years and says he’s had a lot of bottlenecks.

“The reality is that people are not willing to give up 10 seconds of their life in a car to be considerate of the cyclists.

For this reason, the cyclist Dru Satori wears a video camera on his bike when riding. He posts near-misses with cars passing too close online.

“It’s the kind of thing that scares you and there was a time when I didn’t drive in a long time just because I had young children and I couldn’t take the risk,” he said.

Bruce and Dru believe the new law, which will go into effect July 1st, will help change that.

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“The only thing that will change it is enforcement. And I believe that with the revision of the law we might actually be able to get real enforcement,” he said.

While drivers in Georgia have been required to leave a meter of clearance when overtaking cyclists since 2011, they say the way it was spelled is confusing and difficult to enforce.

Now the law not only says to give cyclists 3 feet, it says:

  1. If there is a clear lane, you have to drive over it
  2. You can cross a double yellow or white line to create a meter of space
  3. If you cannot cross the line because of oncoming traffic, you must slow down at least 10 miles per hour when overtaking.

“We get a lot of people with TBI and broken collarbones because they fly over the handlebars at high speed. So it’s really just a matter of basic considerations,” said Hagen.

If you are caught breaking the law, the fine is $ 250.

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