Originally Posted by
Pscyclepath
There's no 3-foot rule or law in Tennessee. The driver claims he "didn't see" the cyclist until he had already hit him. Apparently he "buzzed" the rider, and the right running board of the truck snagged the left pannier on the bike, jerking bike and rider down & under the truck's rear wheels.
The “Jeff Roth and Brian Brown Bicycle Protection Act of 2007” was signed into law on May 3, 2007, by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. Tennessee joins a handful of states that have moved forward to further protect cyclists on our roadways.
Passed without opposition in both the House and Senate, this act provides that “the operator of a motor vehicle when overtaking and passing a bicycle proceeding in the same direction on the roadway, shall leave a safe distance between the motor vehicle and the bicycle of not less than three feet (3’) and shall maintain such clearance until safely past the overtaken bicycle.”
A violation of this section is a Class C misdemeanor.
http://www.bikechattanooga.org/Bicyc...ectionAct.html