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Manitoba politician advocates for one-metre passing law to protect provincial cyclists

In the same way that laws passed recently in Ontario require a wider, safer berth be given cyclists when motorists pass, similar legislation may soon be coming to Manitoba, reports say.

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In the same way that laws passed recently in Ontario require a wider, safer berth be given cyclists when motorists pass, similar legislation may soon be coming to Manitoba, reports say.

Such requirements would be the result of a private members’ bill put forward by a member of the province’s legislative assembly.

As proposed by MLA Dave Gaudreau, the CBC says, the bill—if passed—would require motorists to give cyclists one metre of space when they pass, a specification that would give the province’s laws sharper teeth than the current requirement of a “safe distance.” As Gaudreau told reporters, Manitoba laws as they currently exist allow too much of a grey area in terms of determining what such a distance may be, much of it largely up to the discretion of motorists.

That, Gaudreau told reporters, is what he wants to see changed.

“People say, ‘I’m passing at a safe distance,'” he said, “but what is that distance? People can’t really tell you. I have two kids—a son and a step-daughter—and I look at myself, I’m a cyclist, and I see, sometimes people come a little close.”

Advocates, reports pointed out, note that 26 American states and provinces like Nova Scotia and Ontario already have similar legislation, but it’s not about ramping up enforcement and seeing traffic tickets fly like confetti. Principally, such a law would be about setting a clear standard by which people can visually judge what a safe distance is—something that would benefit cyclists and other road users as well.

Meanwhile, Manitoba’s premier, Greg Selinger, called Gaudreau’s private member bill a “great idea,” but noted that it will need to pass a few hurdles in the provincial legislature before it becomes a part of Manitoba’s Highway Traffic Act.