Originally Posted by
mnemia
This one mostly seems pretty good:
http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill...1683/fulltext/
Not a huge change, or particularly more enforceable than any of the other safe passing laws, but at least it doesn't have stuff that is negative for cyclists added in like a bunch of these recent bills in various states have. Could be useful to give the police more tools to charge drivers in the event of a collision.
Summary: the bill simply increases the minimum passing distance from 2 feet to 3 feet, and also revises the law against excessively close following (tailgating) that had referred to motor vehicles only to include all vehicles.
The change in the close following law to include all vehicles instead of only motor vehicles, which was proposed in 1976 but taken up by very few states, prohibits the practice of drafting or pace lining, which is very useful and reasonably safe. The change proposed in 1976 has been opposed by cyclists ever since. VA shouldn't be considering taking this up at this late date.