Go Together Campaign. Respect each other’s space and ensure that everyone stays safe.

May 14, 2018

In NSW, drivers must give bicycle riders at least 1 metre of space when passing. On average, nine bicycle riders are killed and more than 1900 seriously injured in NSW each year. Bicycle riders represent about 2.5 per cent of total road fatalities and about 16 per cent of serious injuries. Drivers, bicycle riders and pedestrians all need to Go Together safely. We should all respect each other’s space and ensure that everyone stays safe.

Drivers must give bicycle riders at least a metre of space

The Minimum Passing Distance rule helps ensure that bicycle riders and motorists remain safe when sharing our roads. Drivers who pass a bicycle rider must allow a distance of at least:

  • 1 metre when the speed limit is 60km/h or less
  • 1.5 metres when the speed limit is more than 60km/h

The Minimum Passing Distance rule was trialled in NSW for two years from 1 March 2016. In May 2018, it was retained as a permanent NSW Road Rule after an evaluation of the trial.

This video shows how the Minimum Passing Distance rule affects you, and how you can help ensure that we all Go Together safely on our roads:-

Exemptions to the Minimum Passing Distance rule

If drivers cannot pass a bicycle rider safely, they should slow down and wait until it is safe to pass the rider, leaving the minimum distance. To help drivers provide the minimum distance, some exemptions to the road rules apply.

Drivers will be exempt from the following rules, as long as it is safe to pass the bicycle rider with at least a metre of space and they have a clear view of approaching traffic:

  • Keep to the left of the centre of the road (two-way road with no dividing line)
  • Keep to the left of the centre of a dividing line – broken and unbroken lines
  • Keep off a flat dividing strip
  • Keep off a flat painted island
  • Driving within a single marked lane or line of traffic
  • Moving from one marked lane to another across a continuous line separating the lanes

Penalty

Drivers caught not allowing the minimum distance when passing a bicycle
rider face a $330 fine and a penalty of two demerit points.

Outcomes of the Minimum Passing Distance rule trial

The Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland assessed the effect of the trial on bicycle rider and driver safety, and implementation issues.

Comparing trends before and after the rule, the evaluation estimated that the Minimum Passing Distance rule reduced bicycle-to-vehicle casualty crashes by 15 per cent.

The evaluation also found increased awareness of the rule, that motorists were generally compliant with the rule, and that all stakeholders generally felt the rule was appropriate. Surveys showed that 81 per cent of bicycle riders and 69 per cent of drivers supported the rule.