United Parcel Service (UPS) driver - Illegal Pass
Channel: StoryOfBike
Date: 06/06/2013

Delivery drivers, like most other drivers, are generally respectful of cyclists and careful to not endanger their lives.

This guy, not so much.

(No, I'm not intending to start posting videos regularly again. This incident was just particularly egregious).

RCW 46.61.110 reads in part "The driver of a vehicle approaching a pedestrian or bicycle that is on the roadway or on the right-hand shoulder or bicycle lane of the roadway shall pass to the left at a safe distance to clearly avoid coming into contact with the pedestrian or bicyclist, and shall not again drive to the right side of the roadway until safely clear of the overtaken pedestrian or bicyclist."

Granted, the law in this state is not worded as precisely as found in some other places. But "safe distance" and "safely clear" require MUCH more distance than the 12-18" this driver gave me.

What did he gain, by coming so close to killing me? Literally less than a second. That's right...there is less than a second between the time his truck comes to a stop and I pull up alongside, stopping to take him to task for his irresponsible and hazardous driving.

If he'd simply apologized, I would probably have even let it drop there. But instead he complained that I was going too slow (coming around the turn, I was doing 15 mph...by the time he caught up with me, I was somewhere between 20 and 25 mph, my regular speed along this stretch of road), and tried to justify the lack of distance he gave me while passing by arguing that I hadn't given _him_ enough space.

Uh, right. Even if there was some point to him passing me (there was not) and even if I had been moving significantly slower than normal traffic speed on that road (which I was not...the speed _limit_ is 25 mph), there's nothing in the law that says "a driver is excused from the safe distance requirements if there is not enough room to pass at a safe distance".

This driver needs to be fired. My report to UPS informs them as much.

Not that I expect anything to actually happen. Large institutions, such as local law enforcement and transit divisions, have displayed exactly zero interest in compliance with traffic law as it pertains to cyclists, and I doubt UPS will be any different. I'd be surprised if I get any response at all for that matter, never mind one that says they've gotten rid of this liability hazard of theirs.

But I'll be sure to update this description if anything does come of my report to them.