Skip to main content

New law in Pennsylvania will help protect vulnerable road users

A new law in the US state of Pennsylvania will help boost safety for cyclists. This sets rules for Pennsylvania drivers to follow when encountering a cyclist. Drivers now have to leave a 1.22m space when overtaking cyclists. To achieve this, drivers may have to cross the centre line when passing a bicycle on the left, but only when opposing traffic allows. Drivers attempting to turn left must also yield the right of way to bicycle riders travelling in the opposite direction. The new law also calls for bicyc
April 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A new law in the US state of Pennsylvania will help boost safety for cyclists. This sets rules for Pennsylvania drivers to follow when encountering a cyclist. Drivers now have to leave a 1.22m space when overtaking cyclists. To achieve this, drivers may have to cross the centre line when passing a bicycle on the left, but only when opposing traffic allows. Drivers attempting to turn left must also yield the right of way to bicycle riders traveling in the opposite direction.

The new law also calls for bicycle riders to avoid impeding the normal flow of traffic. When there is only one travel lane, cyclists may use any portion of the lane to avoid hazards on the roadway, including maintaining a safe distance from stopped and parked cars. Cyclists and motorists should obey all traffic signs and signals. 2535 Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also recommends bicyclists always ride predictably and provide signals before proceeding.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Machine control technology shortens road contract
    May 28, 2013
    The use of sophisticated machine control technology has helped halve the schedule required for a road contract – Jeff Winke. By using the latest machine control systems on the equipment fleet, a US contractor has managed to halve worker hours, machine time and overall costs. “We chopped 50% off the contract schedule,” said Jim Swenson, licensed professional land surveyor for Oregon Mainline Paving based in McMinnville, Oregon. “The project was completed a year ahead of the two-year schedule,” he explained.
  • UK’s M6 tolled motorway for sale
    June 21, 2016
    For sale: one UK toll motorway along with operating business. Well maintained. Price negotiable. David Arminas looks at what is on offer As if right on cue, a French articulated truck starts to back up along the hard shoulder at an exit area of M6toll. The manoeuvring is watched from an office inside the nearby M6toll headquarters. Inside, Andy Pearson, chief executive of M6toll, glances over his shoulder and interrupts his presentation to World Highways. “He’s probably missed the dedicated wide-load
  • Nairobi road to nowhere?
    January 3, 2013
    International environmental pressure groups claim a vital road in Kenya goes through parkland as Shem Oirere reports. Kenya’s Nairobi Southern Bypass, a 28.6km stretch has become the second road project in East Africa to run into problems. Designed to the Class A International Trunk Road Standard, the route has been targeted by international environmental pressure groups following Tanzania’s Serengeti Highway, which was derailed last year. The US$208 million bypass will link Mombasa Road, near Ole Sereni Ho
  • ARTBA honours innovators in hall of fame
    October 7, 2015
    The American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has honoured key engineering innovators into its Hall of Fame. These include the pioneer of urban interchange design, the Pennsylvania pioneer of the welded bridge concept, a former congressional transportation investment champion and a top US transportation engineering researcher and educator. Launched in 2010, the Transportation Development Hall of Fame honours individuals or families from the public and private sectors who have made extra