Dear Ms. McCarthy:

I received your voice mail message this afternoon; thank you for
responding so promptly.

When I called this morning, I explained what happened to your
representative as best I could. I'd like to expand upon what I told
her.

This morning at around 7:35 AM, I was traveling on my bicycle west on
Kings Road. The lanes on Kings, being only 3.5 meters wide, are not
wide enough for me to share with a motor vehicle so I was riding near
the lane center to encourage overtaking motorists to move into the next
lane to pass (see attached diagram).

When your motor-coach overtook me, his right wheels were still well
into my lane; his passing clearance to my left was at most 0.5 meters.
After he passed, I saw another vehicle on the inside oncoming lane and
figured out what happened. I imagine he didn't think he had enough
room to move completely over into the left lane without getting too
close to the oncoming vehicle, so he decided to squeeze through
straddling the lane (see "Straddle-pass" in the attached diagram).

The thing that concerns me is that he didn't just slow down to my speed
and stay behind me until it was safe to pass (see "Full Lane Change" in
the attached diagram). That is what Acadian Lines coaches have done
for me in the past; having this one pass me so close really took me by
surprise.

John Forester, author of "Effective Cycling," has this to say about
motorist overtaking cyclists:

"The rule is simple: you must overtake only when it is safe to do so,
just as when you are overtaking a car or truck. See that there is
sufficient width for you to clear the bicyclist safely. At low speeds
a [0.9 meter] clearance is sufficient; at higher speeds [1.5 meters] is
much better. If the road is so narrow that you must move to the left
to get past the bicyclist, see that there is sufficient clear distance
ahead for you to get well ahead of the bicyclist before you have to
return to your normal position on the roadway."

I don't believe your driver did anything deliberate; I feel it was
simply an error of judgment on his part. That being said, I would
appreciate it if you would pass on what I've said to the driver in
question. Further, I'd appreciate it if you would distribute the
attached diagram to ALL of your drivers to remind them of the
importance of giving a cyclist the full lane when passing. This is
particularly important for your drivers in particular given the size of
the vehicles they operate.

Please get back to me at your earliest convenience and let me know the
outcome of your conversation with the driver.

Thank you for your time.

JOHN A ARDELLI
11-62 CHARLOTTE ST
SYDNEY NS B1P 1B7

(902) 564-8346
(902) 565-6958



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