New York may add itself to the number of states requiring a 3-foot buffer zone for cars passing a bicycle from behind.

State Sen. Pete Harckham, D- Peekskill, recently introduced S.4529 in the state Senate to amend state Vehicle and Traffic Law Section 1122-a, which was last amended in 2010. A vehicle overtaking a bicycle from behind would be required to pass to the left of the bicycle at a safe distance of no less than 3 feet until safely clear.

“The majority of the accidents consisting of vehicles and cyclists involved driver inattention and failure to yield,” Harckham wrote in his legislative justification. “With the Department of Transportation actively installing bike lanes on state roadways through- out the state, this legislation is timely and necessary to support the increased bicycle traffic. A specific distance,three feet, was chosen in order to provide an easily understood distance for motorists. Specifying three feet as the minimum passing distance provides adequate space for bicyclists to safely travel on the road.”

Harckham’s legislation would not apply to New York City, as the legislation stipulates the 3-foot buffer would only apply in all cities with a population of less than 1 million people and in all towns and villages.

“New York City’s population dense environment creates a number of unique challenges to implementation,” he wrote. “This legislation will help keep our cyclist safe by requiring that vehicle operators keep a safe distance of three feet to provide a buffer for quick decision-making outside of New York City.”

There are 35 states with a 3-foot passing law for bicycles. One of the states without a safe bicycle passing distance law, Texas, is also discussing a 3-foot passing law, though a similar bill failed in that state’s legislature in 2019. That bill offered clear guidance about the buffer necessary to legally pass a bicyclist by stipulating at least a 3-foot buffer for a passenger car or a light truck or at least a 6-foot buffer for a commercial motor vehicle or a truck other than a light truck.

Delaware, however, is a state that had a 3-foot buffer zone when passing a bicycle and ended up changing its law because the 3-foot buffer zone couldn’t be enforced. The Bicycle Friendly Delaware Act allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs on two-land roads, prohibits drivers from honking at cyclists unless a collision is imminent; calls for bicycle-specific traffic lights and requires drivers to change lanes when passing cyclists.

A Rutgers University report submitted to the New Jersey Department of Transportation analyzed 20 states with 3-foot buffer laws and found many states weren’t enforcing the law. In many cases, enforcement only happened after a car-bicycle crash. Case studies demonstrated that after a 3-foot law is passed, follow up languishes because the law is buried in the traffic code rather than being drilled into the consciousness of motorists. The study also said the effectiveness of a 3-foot law may be limited by being too specific.

“This study has revealed a conflicting result,” the study states. “The 3 Foot Law is both touted as a vital tool to increase bicycle safety that should be pursued, while at the same time, seen as a measure with little to no hope of enforcement. The mixed results have spurred a debate within the cycling community on how to best provide the safety and legitimacy necessary to improve cycling as a mode of transportation in New Jersey.”