A bill that would require motorists in Washington state to give bicyclists and pedestrians a 3-foot margin when they pass is scheduled for a hearing in Olympia on Wednesday.
The bill, entitled HB1491, passed the House on March 6. The schedule warns that the 1:30 p.m. hearing in the Senate Committee on Transportation is subject to change.
Meanwhile, efforts in at least two other states have reached dead ends.
A bicycle safety measure in Iowa appears to be stalled in that state's House of Representatives. The law included a provision that bicyclists get 5 feet of clearance when being passed by motor vehicles.
In reporting the story, the Dubuque Telegraph Herald interviewed a cyclist who has suffered the types of run-ins with motorists that are all too familiar. The bill will reappear in 2010, at the earliest.
Bicycling advocates in Ohio are working to get a new bill resubmitted after the previous bicycling bill (House Bill 390) never made it out of committee. The bill, being drafted by the Ohio Bicycle Federation, will include a 3-foot passing requirement again.
Check out other 3-foot passing law stories.
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