John, thanks for the note.
A few months ago I rode home in the bike lane, four feet of asphalt
separated from the car lane by a single white line. A city bus passed
me in her lane, but over the line on my side, missing me by a few
inches.

City buses are not very fast and she stopped at a red light, so I
overtook her and stopped by the passenger door. She opened it and I
reminded her politely, "Three feet of clearance, please!" She smiled
and nodded, then we both continued as the light turned green. Job done
here!

Mike

--- "John A. Ardelli" <gelfling@...> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>


cdesign proponentsists: eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.