Originally Posted by
John Forester
You claim that "Over the last 4 years alone over a dozen cyclists have been killed by motorists passing too close." Oh, really? Were they frightened into heart attacks? I rather think that proving that crime would be rather difficult. Which motorist was it that frightened the cyclist into his heart attack?
Wouldn't it be better to deal with what is probably the problem, a motorist hitting a lawful cyclist from behind and killing or injuring him. That is clearly a violation of the standard overtaking law; you don't need any more than that.
You state the problem as it appears to you: "The attitude of motorists toward cyclists when cyclists speak out agains (sic) this is just horrific. The comments have ranged from the cyclist deserved it to the cyclist should not have been on the roadway, some have even blamed the cyclist even though the motorist was held responsible by the LEO." Clearly, you think that your area has a pretty intense prejudice against cyclists. But I fail to see how this proposed overtaking clearance law will mitigate that prejudice. Indeed, it might well increase it, by making overtaking appear to be more difficult and with greater jeopardy.
If people thought out their intentions by reason rather than by emotions, they would tend to take better actions.
No, the cyclists were killed due to the collision with a vehicle that weighs over a ton and a bad driver that for some reason decided to pass too close and hit the cyclist and the cyclist died from their injuries. Where do you get the thinking they were frightened into a heart attack? That question/comment is offensive to say the least and it seems the tone you are taking with it is you are blaming the cyclists and not holding the motorists responsible. The fine, if any is very small by comparison to what the new law will provide after it is passed.
Even with this new law continueing education is still a focus as well. Educating both drivers and cyclists. While properly interacting with cyclists is part of the state drivers ed. program taught at schools there is no mandatory education for people who have been driving for a while.
Can you explain how or why after this law was passed in other states the overtaking collision rate has gone down between motorists and cyclists? I beleive Illinois is one such state this has happened in.