In mid-April 2021, the members of the Czech Parliament approved an amendment to the Road Traffic Act. One of the important things the amendment includes is the safe overtaking of cyclists. A similar rule, which requires motorized vehicles to overtake cyclists at a distance of at least 1.5 meters, has already been enacted in Germany, Spain, and France, among others. Such a proposal is being discussed in other European countries too.

In the SABRINA project team, our main focus is on cycling infrastructure safety. However, we do believe that safety and vision zero can be achieved only as a combination of multiple factors. One of them is also the behavior of all road users. Therefore, the SABRINA project partner from the Czech Republic, Partnership for Urban Mobility was one of the supporters and advocators of the new amendment. The amendment to the law was supported also by a number of other organizations, including Česky svaz cyklistiky (The Czech Cycling Association) and Česka cyklisticka federace (The Czech Cycling Federation). 

                                                                   

The aim of the law is to increase the safety of cyclists and help the traffic police. At the moment, they can only address cases that end in an accident. "Until now, there has been a lack of enforcement because the traffic police did not know what the safe distance was. The bill will help to mitigate this," said a member of parliament Petr Dolínek, who had submitted a draft amendment. He put forward a safe distance for overtaking of at least 1.5 meters where possible. According to Petr Dolínek, a distance of one meter would be enough in areas with a speed limit of 30 km/h.

"According to the statistics, in collisions between a cyclist and a motorized vehicle, the cyclist suffers severe consequences in 98% of cases. Cyclists are not protected in traffic by the safety features of the vehicle, their protection against injury in an accident is the spatial distance from other participants. This amendment is important for increasing the safety of cyclists in traffic. That is why several cycling organizations and supporters have joined forces to support it,” said Daniel Mourek from the Partnership Foundation. The law could also contribute towards fulfilling the objectives set out in the new Czech Road Safety Strategy, which aims to halve the number of road victims. Cyclists and pedestrians, however, belong to the groups that the strategy deals with independently.

The new law gives the police a tool to prevent cases that these days often end in serious injuries or even death. "The distance of 1.5 meters for safe overtaking is a law in many European countries. This rule applies, for example, in Germany, Portugal, France, or Belgium," Jaroslav Vymazal, member of parliament and chairman of the Partnership for Urban Mobility, who also supported the proposal, pointed out. The debate connected with the amendment of the legislation is taking place, for example, also in Hungary. Besides, Slovakia is considering the introduction too.

The approval of the amendment to the Road Traffic Act in the Czech Republic by the Czech Parliament is a first and very important step towards safer roads for all road users, including cyclists. The law will come into force when approved by the Senate and signed by the President. In the past year, we all learned what does 1.5 meters of distance mean. Let’s use this knowledge also on the roads. 

Update (June 2021): The Senate approved the distance for safe overtaking of cyclists has to be 1.5 meters. The new rule should come into force on January 1, 2022.