Passing a cyclist or a horse isn't about squeezing by — it's about giving them the kind of room you'd want if you were the one with nothing around you. The Highway Code puts real numbers on it, and they're worth knowing.
For a cyclist, leave at least 1.5 metres — about a car door's width plus a bit. If you can't give that much space, you wait behind until you can. For a horse, pass slowly — no faster than about 10 mph — and give plenty of width, because a horse can be startled by an engine in a way a bike never is.
Then there's the danger you can't always see coming: the door zone. When you pass parked cars, a door can swing open without warning. Leave a car-door's width as you go by, and a cyclist tucked near those cars suddenly has somewhere safe to be.
The bits that matter
- Cyclists: at least 1.5 m of space when you pass — a full car's width is better.
- Horses: slow to around 10 mph, pass wide, and never rev or sound the horn.
- Parked cars: leave a door's width, because doors open without warning.
Memory anchor
A car's width keeps everyone right
One picture covers nearly every pass: give a cyclist about the width of your car, give a horse even more and go slow, and leave a door's width past parked cars. When in doubt, "a car's width" is the room that keeps everyone safe.
Out on the road
The cyclist and the line of parked cars
You're coming up behind a cyclist riding past a row of parked cars. There's an oncoming car, so you can't give 1.5 metres right now. Instead of squeezing through, you ease off and stay behind for a few seconds until the oncoming car clears — then move out wide and go by. The cyclist never even had to think about it.
The mistake everyone makes
Passing because you technically can
The classic close pass happens when a driver sees a gap that's just about big enough and takes it. "Just about" isn't the standard. If giving proper room means waiting five seconds for the road to open up, wait. A close pass that frightens a cyclist is a fault even if nothing actually touches.