This has got to be the best clip we've ever seen to convince motorists why they are safer if groups of cyclists ride two abreast.
The clip below was produced by the Irish ‘Stayin’ Alive at 1.5’ campaign in conjunction with Wexford County Council.
It uses a very simple message to convince motorists that their safety is enhanced if the groups of cyclists they meet on the roads are riding two abreast.
The film times the number of seconds it takes a car to pass a group of riders in single file, and times the same vehicle on the same road passing the cyclists single file.
Obviously the single file formation is much longer and takes considerably longer to pass, leaving the car and its driver on the wrong side of the road in the overtaking manoeuvre for a longer period.
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The clip has had over 100,000 views since being posted on social media at the end of last week.
Skelton with Sean Kelly as he signs the petition for new safety laws requiring motorists to give cyclists 1.5 metres of space when overtaking them.
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The ‘Stayin’ Alive at 1.5’ campaign was established to lobby the authorities to bring in new laws requiring motorists to give cyclists 1.5 metres of space when passing them.
Headed by Wexford-based cyclist Phil Skelton, it was prompted by the deaths of two cyclists in separate road collisions in the county in a 12-month period to February 2013.
“I first took up cycling seriously around four years ago," said Skelton, a member of Slaney CC.
"I became acutely aware of its inherent dangers from listening to other cyclists and also from personal experience of being grazed by a driver’s wing mirror whilst being overtaken.
“This unnerved me massively, realising the fine line between wobbling in to the nearby ditch and a potentially more severe outcome.”
Skelton's campaign needs another 578 signatures for its petition to Government to get those laws changed. Why not sign it online right now? Click here and sign it quick.
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