But how much distance must be maintained passing? Road Traffic Regulations § 5, Paragraph 4 states that car drivers must maintain a safe distance when passing cyclists. It says: "Anyone who wants to pull out to pass must behave in such a way that there is no danger to the traffic behind. When passing, a sufficient lateral distance must be maintained from other road users, in particular from pedestrians and cyclists."
So, unfortunately, the law does not explicitly state how much distance should be kept when passing. But due to the growing volume of traffic in recent years, case law has reacted to this and defined appropriate regulations. The new case law states that a car driver must maintain a distance of at least 1.5 meters when passing a cyclist. If this value is not adhered to, but is undercut, the motorist can expect a fine of 30 euros.
A special regulation comes into force when children are on the bike or the weather and road conditions are particularly bad. Then it is required to keep a greater distance of at least 2 meters, as these circumstances can quickly become dangerous situations when passing by cyclists.
To illustrate the problem, the "Radmesser" project was launched by the Berliner Tagesspiegel newspaper. In this project, 100 Berlin cyclists were equipped with distance sensors and participated in road traffic for two months. The cyclists covered a total of 13,300 km, while the distances maintained by motorists when passing by them were measured.
In an initial analysis, 16,700 overtaking maneuvers by cars, trucks, buses and scooters were evaluated. This analysis showed that in 9402 cases cyclists were passed too closely, i.e. with a distance of less than 1.5 meters. A further 3019 motorists even maintained a distance of less than one meter, which can already be seen as very dangerous. But 192 drivers went so far as to not even maintain a distance of 50 centimeters when passing, risking serious accidents!
The "Radmesser" campaign proves that the majority of car drivers do not keep a sufficient distance when passing a bicycle and clearly violate the required safety distance of at least 1.5 meters. However, through the evaluation of further data from the project, it became clear how cyclists can protect themselves from such dangerous situations. The analysis clearly shows that cyclists who ride close to parked cars are also closely passed by moving vehicles. But if the cyclist rides confidently in the middle of the lane and keeps a safe distance from parked cars, he or she will be respected more when being passed.
In addition, it was surprisingly found during the evaluation of the “Radmesser” campaign that wearing a safety vest had no effect on the passing distance of other vehicles. Likewise, the gender or age of the cyclist is not taken into account by motorists who want to pass cyclists.
Overall, the "Radmesser" project clearly shows that all cyclists who have to ride alongside cars on the road should act with particular attention and caution to protect themselves from dangerous situations. We wish you a safe ride and of course always a sufficient safety distance!
Source:
https://www.radfahren.de/story/aktion-radmesser-autofahrer-ueberholen-radfahrer-eng/