Three Feet / For Safety

New Jersey remains a state without a safe passing law to protect the vulnerable users of our roads – most notably bicyclists and pedestrians. Thanks to the efforts of some of our legislators (see below), introduced into the Assembly was bill A1020, and into the Senate S1461. Both are proposed laws requiring motorists operating vehicles to maintain minimum three foot safety distance when overtaking bicycles. The Assembly passed its version in the last legislative session but its Senate counterpart was moved into the Senate Transportation Committee, and there it languished, never reaching the Senate Floor.

Both bills were introduced by their sponsors again in the current session but no meaningful action has yet taken place. A number of our surrounding states have addressed this vital safety issue by passing laws of their own, while New Jersey does nothing. NJBWC will be working to bring this issue to the attention of both our legislators and the voting public this year, in the hope of getting this law onto the books soon. The prime bicycling season is just beginning and we all would like to be spared the unfortunate regular reading of car/bicycle crashes on our roads, or the familiar incidents of pedestrians being struck by cars.

We need your help to get this issue the attention it deserves, so please be prepared to help us in this effort.

Thanks to these legislators for the introduction of these vitally important bills:

A1020 - New Jersey Assembly – Primary Sponsors: L. Grace Spencer, Linda Stender, Ruben J Ramos Jr. Co-Sponsors: Scott Rudder, Paul D. Moriarity, Connie Wagner

S1461 - New Jersey Senate – Primary Sponsors: Brian P Stack, Kevin J O’Toole