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Siskiyou Velo

Southern Oregon's Premier Cycling Club

When Does "too close" Become Reckless

by Gary Shaff on Oct, 26 2015

State statutes state that recklessly (i.e. reckless driving)  “means that a person is aware of and consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur or that the circumstance exists. The risk must be of such nature and degree that disregard thereof constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”

Today, a group of cyclists (three to be exact) were passed, so close, that there was no more than one foot between the vehicle (a big pick-up) and the bicycles. Oregon law, ORS 811.065, requires that a driver pass a bicycle (when vehicle speed is above 35 and there is no bike lane) with enough room to avoid the cyclists if he/she were to fall over and into the roadway. Clearly the driver violated that law but was he driving in a reckless manner. I think he was. Would you agree?

Some auto drivers give more room to a dead skunk than to a cyclist. Seems like we have a law enforcement problem.

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