Originally Posted by
Hypno Toad
No need to be rude, nothing crackpot about it. You don't like the idea, cool! You don't live in Minnesota, so it's not an issue what we do in fly-by land.
It is easy to observe and enforce if a vehicle changes lanes to pass - OTOH, with out investing in tech, there's no way to measure 3 feet on a road with a bike and vehicle both in motion.
Sorry if I came off as rude, but I also didn't like the sarcasm about cars not causing jams. We didn't start on a good tone, which pains me a bit because I like you and I grew up in Minneapolis. "Crackpot" may be a bit strong, but I really do think this is a terrible idea. In practice the emergency responder one has pretty much been unenforceable because the stopped emergency vehicle that s being protected is the very one most likely to be able to catch the violator. Generally, the driver of that vehicle is busy with something else, which is why he or she is on the side of the road. Frankly, though, I think the enforcement of a move over for bicyclists might actually increase the numbers of pull overs of vehicles right into the lane where we're trying to ride--the cure is likely worse than the disease. I actually find the cops pulled over car into the breakdown lane one of the hardest situations to deal with on a busy fast highway. Almost by definition, the likelihood is that the guy getting pulled over for this is going to end up in the lane ahead of me, not behind me. I'd probably rather get passed at 2 1/2 feet than have to deal with that.