Three feet. That's the number every cyclist has heard. It is also not the number in about a dozen states, and in a few states it is not even the right question to ask.

Florida requires a safe distance of at least three feet when a driver passes a bicyclist — the same minimum whether or not you're riding in a bike lane. But that number is a legal floor, not proof that a pass was safe. A driver can pass you by three feet and still violate the statute, and understanding why matters a great deal if you are ever the one on the pavement trying to explain what happened.

Other states don't use three feet at all. Some scale the distance to the car's speed. Some discard the fixed number entirely and ask whether the pass left enough room for the rider to fall over without being hit. And a handful don't treat it as a distance question in the first place — they require the driver to change lanes or slow down rather than squeeze by.

In this episode: why Florida's three-foot rule is a minimum, not a safe harbor; the states with no fixed number at all and the proof problems that creates; the speed-based rules in South Dakota and New Hampshire; the "fall over" standard in Rhode Island and Oregon; the higher minimums in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania; the move-over laws in Georgia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Washington; and what Florida allows that Delaware does not.

I close with what you should document if a driver ever puts you in that position — whether it was a close pass that scared you or a crash that left you down.

Originally posted on YouTube at The Bike Lawyer on September 3, 2026. This is part of our Thursday replays, in which we bring the back catalog to the podcast feed.

DISCLAIMER: This episode is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Listening to it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Each case turns on its own facts. Hiring a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertisements. Before you decide, ask me to send you free written information about my qualifications and experience. George Palaidis is licensed to practice law in Florida.

Originally posted on The Bike Lawyer channel on YouTube on July 30. This is part of our Thursday replays, where we bring the back catalog to the podcast feed.

Most bike-car crashes aren’t random. They follow a handful of patterns, and almost nobody teaches cyclists how to spot them before it’s too late.
This is part one of a two-part series on the five most dangerous situations for cyclists sharing the road with cars. Using federal crash data from the past 30 years, this episode covers the three crash types caused by moving vehicles: the turning conflict, which causes more crashes than any other single cause; the intersection habit most cyclists overlook; and why overtaking crashes are rarer yet disproportionately deadly on faster roads. Plus a three-move fix you can use on your next ride, Florida’s cyclist fatality numbers, and the state laws that apply every time a car passes you.

Originally posted on YouTube on August 14. This is part of our Thursday replays, in which we bring audio from previous YouTube videos to the podcast feed.

Researchers showed 563 people pairs of photographs of cyclists and asked one question: which of the two looks less human?

Same model. Same bike. The only thing that changed was what was on the rider's head or chest.

Seven out of ten times, people picked the rider wearing the helmet. Nearly eight out of ten times, they picked the rider in the high-visibility vest. The safety gear performed worse than no safety gear at all.

The researchers expected the helmet was simply hiding the rider's face. A baseball cap covers about as much and barely moved the needle. It was not the covered face. It was the safety equipment itself.

And when people rate cyclists on a scale of zero to one hundred for how human they are, three percent rate them at zero. Not low. Zero. The people who rate cyclists that way report about twice as many deliberate acts of aggression toward them.

That's a photographic study, and photographs don't drive. So here's what it looks like on pavement. In 2011, Florida's own Department of Transportation put cameras on nineteen roads in ten Florida cities and measured the passing distance of 2,185 drivers as they passed a bicyclist. Riders in ordinary street clothes got about four inches more room than those in a cycling kit. The state's own researchers couldn't explain it and settled on the idea that motorists "perceive less risk passing riders who are in bicycle outfits."

In this episode: what that Florida study proves and what it doesn't, what one researcher found after riding the same road for six months in seven different outfits with a sensor on his bike, and the only two things anyone has ever tested that actually changed how drivers behave. Neither is bright clothing. One is a piece of plastic on a stick from 1979.

I also explain what actually determines how much room you get, because it is not your jersey and it is not close. The original video is on YouTube at The Bike Lawyer.

Studies referenced
Limb & Collyer (2023), Transportation Research Part F
Delbosc et al. (2019), Transportation Research Part F
Haworth et al. (2018), Journal of Transport & Health
Walker, Garrard & Jowitt (2014), Accident Analysis & Prevention
Walker (2007) and Walker & Robinson (2019), Accident Analysis & Prevention
Rubie et al. (2020), Transport Reviews
Feizi et al. (2021), Transportation Research Part A
Claros et al. (2024), Transportation Research Part F

DISCLAIMER: This episode is for general educational purposes only and is not legal advice. Listening to it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts. The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisements. Before you decide, ask me to send you free written information about my qualifications and experience. George Palaidis is licensed to practice law in Florida.