Minimum Passing Distance

2026 Minimum Passing Distance resource - education and awareness

It has been 10 years since Bicycle NSW played a key role in the trial of Minimum Passing Distance (MPD) legislation in NSW, which saw it then become part of permanent law in 2018.

Eight years on from this introduction, community awareness has remained low and enforcement has been rare. However Bicycle NSW has made continual efforts to raise concerns about non-enforcement directly with the NSW Government and senior police. As part of our ongoing work around road safety, we have developed a resource that aims to increase awareness and continue educating road users about MPD.

Recognising the number of audiences that this issue is relevant to, we set out to create a resource which could be useful for Bicycle User Groups to host on their websites, present during online meetings, or at in-person events. Importantly, it provides key details on how cyclists can prepare submissions for possible MPD infringements.

Most of this information has been on our website for years - but this new resource pulls together more recent statistics, and re-affirms our commitment to create safe roads for all road users.

Exemptions to the law for drivers while passing a bike rider

Drivers will be exempted from following road rules when passing a bike rider with the required 1m or 1.5m of space providing the driver has a clear view of approaching traffic:

"keep to the left of the centre of the road (two-way road with no dividing line)"
"keep to the left of the centre dividing line – broken and unbroken lines"
"keep off a flat dividing strip"
"keep off a flat painted island"
"drive within a single marked lane or line of traffic"
"move from one marked lane to another across a continuous line separating the lanes."