Our View: Four Feet, Please!

It’s the time of year when heavy traffic coincides with an increased number of walkers, runners and bicyclists on area roads. Many of our roads are narrow, in keeping with the rural nature of the Cape, but that creates the potential for conflict among the various users. And those conflicts can sometimes be serious.

 So we want to remind residents, summer folks and visitors that Massachusetts state law requires that vehicles allow four feet of space between themselves and pedestrians and bicyclists when passing. The law went into effect more than a year ago and is reflected in numerous signs along our local roadways.

 Compliance with the law is sporadic. We know this because we’re out on the roads often, biking, running, walking our dogs. Vehicles are required to slow down until it is safe to pass with the four-foot buffer. Many do not and try to squeeze by with sometimes barely a few inches of clearance. So far this summer there haven’t been any major incidents — although a bicyclist was struck Tuesday near the intersection of Heritage Lane and Main Street, though the person’s injuries were, thankfully, non-life threatening — but the wide-ranging failure to comply with the law is certainly an accident waiting to happen.

 We urge all drivers to keep a watchful eye out for other users of our roadways and to follow the law. Sometimes it can be a tight squeeze, but it can also be the difference between a pleasant stroll and a catastrophe.