We are a family with a new law to improve the safety of cyclists on the roadsBratislava 26.11.2021 The Road Traffic Act, of which the Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Miloš Svrček (SME FAMILY) is co-sponsored, was given the green light at the ongoing 51st session of parliament.

At the current part-session of parliament, an amendment to the Road Traffic Act was approved, co-sponsored by Miloš Svrček, a Member for the We are a Family movement. The priority objective of the amendment is to clearly define and refine the lateral distance when overtaking vulnerable road users. "Specifically, it is about overtaking cyclists, but also pedestrians or scooter users. The most common cause of fatal accidents involving cyclists is a rear-side collision, entrapment from the side, while not keeping a sufficient safe distance in preventing a cyclist. In the current legislation of the Road Traffic Act, the so-called safe distance of bypassing cyclists is not sufficiently defined," explained miloš Svrček MP for the We are a Family movement.The new law should be the first step towards improving the situation, as cyclists are the most vulnerable road users. "The basic requirement was to take measures to improve their safety as soon as possible. The issue of a small distance between a driver and a cyclist should be targeted as a matter of priority by the new law. It should define that the driver is obliged to keep sufficient distance during prevention, namely at least 1 meter at speeds up to 50 km/h and 1.5 meters at higher speeds," said The Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Miloš Svrček.The current wording of the act is also intended to reduce the enforceability of the law, poor interpretation, but also an increased threat to the health and life of cyclists. "I would like to point out that the proposed modification will not have a significant impact on road traffic flow as the slowdown of drivers by a few seconds is insignificant in relation to the protection of the health and lives of the most vulnerable road users," said Miloš Svrček, MEMBER for the We are a Family movement.The amendment to the Act was supplemented by basic criteria for sufficiency. 'The lateral spacing therefore depends mainly on the speed, type of vehicle, weather conditions and the condition and nature of the road. The explicit introduction of these basic criteria of lateral distancing will improve the awareness of drivers about this important aspect of overtaking, which can help to improve road safety," added Miloš Svrček, Member of the We Are Family movement, at the end.