Road Wars: The Bike vs. Car Question Continues - Does 3 Feet to Pass pass muster?

Police came to Stevahn's house that night, where he explained the incident. The two officers, Oscar Canfield and Dave Burgard, said they were unaware of the law. They left briefly to look it up for confirmation, then returned, acknowledged it, went to see Hanna and issued him a citation.

In court, Hanna plead not guilty. He claimed he saw Stevahn, and though he was unaware of the law, only passed too close because traffic prevented him from getting over. Stevahn disputed that there was traffic, but in the end, it didn't matter. The judge told Hanna that traffic or not, the law stated that it was the motorist's responsibility to provide safe passing distance, even if that meant not passing until there was room to do so.

"The goal here was less to come up with a new law to cite motorists for than it was to provide a standard for what is safe driving," said Michael Zuzel, project manager for the Cycling Safety Task Force, which was responsible for the law.