Passing gap for cyclists won't work: report

 

Sapa | 12 January, 2013 16:21

A cyclist lights a candle under a 'ghost bike' that was chained to the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Johannesburg on Friday night as a tribute to Olympic cyclist Burry Stander, who was killed this week
Image by: JAMES OATWAY

The proposed 1.5m safe passing gap for cyclists on roads may be difficult to maintain and enforce, according to a report on Saturday.

 

eThekwini's deputy head of road system management Carlos Esteves said the 1.5m gap would not be practical as the standard lanes were around 3.5m or slightly less, the Saturday Star reported.

"My sense is that it will be difficult if not impractical to enforce 1.5m," Esteves said.

"You can't achieve a cyclist, plus 1.5m and a motorist without encroaching on the other lane."

Cyclists across South Africa have been calling for the measure and started calling it the Burry's Gap after the death of mountain bike ace Burry Stander on January 3.

Stander was killed in Shelley Beach on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast in a collision with the taxi.

Automobile Association public affairs head Gary Ronald said the gap was at a national discussion level and forms part of last year's amendments to the Traffic Act,

"Where the road is wide enough, it will work, but we have quite a few roads where it is narrow and difficult to apply without cars going into the oncoming traffic."