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Kalamazoo Approves 5-Foot Passing Zone for Bikes

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Bicyclists have a right to five feet of space between themselves and a passing car: So says the Kalamazoo City Commission, which voted unanimously to adopt a five-foot passing rule for bikes Monday evening.

While the city traffic engineer had said three feet was better, the commission decided that wasn’t enough room for a car to safely pass a bicycle.

Commissioner Don Cooney had favored the shorter distance at a previous meeting.

“I would think that three feet was more reasonable than five feet given the size of our streets. But given the choice of five feet or nothing, I’m definitely going to support the five feet,” Cooney said Monday evening before the vote.

In adopting a five-foot rule, Kalamazoo has followed the path of Grand Rapids, which adopted a five-foot passing rule for bikes last year. Battle Creek has opted for three feet, the narrower margin.

On Tuesday the Michigan Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to consider bills that would make a five-foot passing zone for bikes statewide law, as part of a larger package of legislation aimed at protecting cyclists on the road.

Some of the other proposals would toughen sentencing guidelines for motorists who kill or injure a “vulnerable roadway user” such as a bicyclist, and would strengthen instruction on safety around bicycles in driver’s education classes.

Five bicyclists were killed and four were seriously injured when a pickup truck struck them from behind on North Westnedge Avenue in June.

Kalamazoo city staff are working on a “complete streets” policy that’s meant to move city streets toward greater non-motor friendliness. Commissioner Matt Milcarek says he hopes the five-foot rule is the beginning of better accommodations for all road users.

“So that you can still have vehicle traffic moving in a fashion that’s undisruptive to them, and cyclists all moving in an organized fashion with a lot of designated routes and infrastructure whether that be on or off street,” he says.

The five-foot passing rule for bikes in the City of Kalamazoo takes effect next week.

Sehvilla Mann joined WMUK’s news team in 2014 as a reporter on the local government and education beats. She covered those topics and more in eight years of reporting for the Station, before becoming news director in 2022.