Driver Compliance and Safety Effects of the "Three-Foot" Law

The long and tragic history of vehicle-bicycle crashes in the United States has led to calls for legislative action to provide greater protections for bicyclists on the nation’s roadways. Among the most common of these laws is the “three foot rule” The law may contribute to reducing the number of vehicular/bicycle-related crashes as well as their accompanying deaths and injuries, but few, if any, studies have shown how the “three foot law” substantively affects driver behavior. The present paper covers the results of recent research quantifying the effects of law by comparing key behavioral aspects of drivers aware and unaware of the law. The research, conducted in a full-scale driving simulator, also examined the behavior of participants under several opposing traffic volumes (low, medium and high) to determine how drivers react when the possibility of passing a bicyclist presents itself. Based on the observations made, it was found, in average, a natural tendency to provide distances more than the minimum three-foot separation. When comparing the means lateral distances and speeds at the time of overtaking in the presence of various opposing traffic volume scenarios, no significant effects were found. In addition, when investigating the ability of drivers to estimate the average lateral distance provided at the time of overtaking, it was noted that participants made close estimates of the mean lateral distances provided in the simulation. Thus, indicating that the ability to measure lateral distances was not an issue.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ANF20 Standing Committee on Bicycle Transportation. Alternate title: Driver Compliance and Safety Effects of “Three-Foot” Law
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Herrera, Nélida
  • Parr, Scott A
  • Wolshon, Brian
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
• Date: 2016

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 15p
• Monograph Title: TRB 95th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crashes; Cyclists; Drivers; Driving simulators; Legislation; Safety
• Geographic Terms: United States
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01589771
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 16-6916
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 3 2016 12:10PM