Effective June 3, drivers in British Columbia are required to maintain new minimum distances from pedestrians and other vulnerable road users. The updated rules are designed to enhance safety for those most at risk on the roads.
The new regulations mandate that drivers keep at least one metre away from vulnerable road users when passing on highways with speed limits of 50 km/h or less. On highways with speed limits of 51 km/h or more, the required passing distance increases to one-and-a-half metres. Additionally, when passing vulnerable road users in separated and protected cycling lanes or on sidewalks, drivers must maintain a minimum distance of half a metre.
Vulnerable road users include pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists, individuals riding animals or in animal-drawn vehicles, and people using electric wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and electric kick scooters.
These distances are measured from the furthest protruding part of a passing motor vehicle, such as a mirror, to the furthest protruding part of a vulnerable road user or their equipment, such as a handlebar.
Violations of the new Motor Vehicle Act regulations can result in penalties. Drivers failing to take proper precautions with vulnerable road users face fines of $109 and three driver penalty points. Those failing to maintain the prescribed minimum passing distances could be fined $368 and receive three driver penalty points. The maximum penalty under these regulations is a fine of $2,000 and up to six months of imprisonment.
