When cyclists are overtaken without a safety spacer: danger, stress and fear …

From the perspective of a cyclist, you can see how he and a female cyclist riding ahead of him are overtaken by a car at far too close a distance. It is not possible to swerve to the right due to the kerb and a parked delivery van. This is a typical situation in city traffic where the safety distance for cyclists is ignored.
A cyclist is overtaken extremely closely by a car on a residential street. The car's rear-view mirror almost touches the handlebars, highlighting the need for a sufficient safety distance for cyclists.

… and some cyclists are beginning to protect themselves:

A cyclist in city traffic uses a spacer paddle attached to his luggage rack to alert overtaking cars to the necessary safety distance for cyclists. Despite this, a car passes him very closely.
A curious makeshift solution for keeping cars at a distance: a spade mounted crosswise on the luggage rack of a bicycle is supposed to ensure the necessary safety distance for the cyclist.
A cyclist uses an orange pool noodle on his luggage rack as a spacer, with a sign attached to it indicating the legal overtaking distance of 1.5 m.
A creative and friendly DIY solution: a cyclist uses a spacer with three smileys attached to it to ensure the necessary safety distance for cyclists.
A group of five cyclists with colorful pool noodles on their luggage racks as spacers ride through the city, ensuring a safe distance from other traffic.
Germany’s cyclists association ADFC organised a bicycle demonstration: Hundreds of participants use pool noodles to draw attention to the importance of safe distances for cyclists.

Our offer: Safety Spacer – the practical one

The professional solution: our Safety Spacer Snap Band in neon yellow, attached to the handlebars to signal to other road users the necessary safety distance for cyclists when overtaking.
Easy to attach, flexible, handy, fits all handlebars, collapsible, and…
… highly visible in the dark.
The highly reflective Snap Band glows in a dark underpass, ensuring visibility for the necessary safety distance even at dusk and at night.
The complete Safety Spacer Snap Band set in a box. The professional spacer for cyclists who want to protect themselves, ready for use anytime, anywhere.
View ProductFits any handlebar
We have already equipped some bikes virtually:
  • A humorous and creative example of a cyclist using a large spade as a DIY solution to enforce a safe passing distance for cyclists.
  • A cyclist uses a DIY spacer made from an orange pool noodle, with a sign demanding the legal 1.5m passing distance, to enforce a safe passing distance for cyclists.
  • A cyclist uses a flexible rod with a disc at the end as an alternative device for maintaining a safe distance.
The Safety Spacer Snap Band helps to combat anxiety and stress when cycling 

Every cyclist experiences it almost daily: a car overtakes without maintaining the required safety distance, often at high speed. This causes stress and anxiety even for experienced cyclists. Some cyclists avoid the danger and do not ride their bikes on certain routes or at certain times of the day.
Such a dangerous situation can be seen in a photo taken from a cyclist’s perspective. It shows how he and a cyclist riding in front of him are being overtaken by a car at far too close a distance. It is not possible to swerve to the right because of the kerb and a parked delivery van. This is a typical situation when the safety distance for cyclists is disregarded in city traffic.
Another photo shows a cyclist being overtaken extremely closely by a car on a quiet residential street lined with parked cars. The car’s rear-view mirror almost touches the handlebars of the bicycle, illustrating the need to ensure a sufficient safety distance for cyclists. And there are numerous examples of cyclists trying to protect themselves with spacers, some of which they have built themselves.
A cyclist in city traffic uses a spacer paddle mounted on the luggage rack, as was common in the 1970s and 1980s, to remind overtaking car drivers to maintain the required safety distance for cyclists. Nevertheless, a car drives very close to him.
A somewhat curious and not necessarily imitable makeshift solution is a spade attached crosswise to the bike’s luggage rack.
Another German cyclist uses an orange pool noodle on the luggage rack as a spacer, with a sign attached to it indicating the legal overtaking distance of 1.5 metres. Not everyone is comfortable with this kind of solo demonstration to ensure a safe distance when overtaking. Every cyclist knows that motorists feel provoked and react aggressively when you claim the required space.
In the USA, a cyclist has come up with a creative and friendly DIY solution. He has attached three smileys with wire to a bar that serves as a spacer. They don’t really make him any more visible.
When traveling in a group, whether on a demonstration or a bike trip, you feel stronger. In one of the photos, five cyclists ride through the city with colorful pool noodles on their luggage racks as spacers, ensuring visibility from a distance and sufficient safety distance should they be overtaken.
An ADFC bicycle demonstration rides through the city, escorted by a police motorcycle: hundreds of participants use pool noodles to draw attention to the importance of keeping a safe distance for cyclists. As accurate as pool noodles are at indicating the correct distance when overtaking, they are not suitable for everyday use. Too impractical. On a short trip to the bakery, you’re more likely to do without this protection, as if nothing could happen. And if you want to pass cars waiting at a traffic light on the right, they get in the way. Where do you put them when you arrive at your destination, e.g., a library or the dentist?
Our Safety Spacer Snap Band is a practical spacer for every cyclist and every bike, whether it’s a children’s bike or a cargo bike, any handlebar shape, for every ride, no matter how short, in any traffic, whether on country roads or in towns, for every day, every time of day, and every season.
The Safety Spacer’s highly reflective yellow snap band is clearly visible in dark underpasses, in bad weather, at dusk, and at night.
It fits all handlebars, weighs just 50 grams, is flexible, handy, and collapsible. It can be attached to the handlebars in a suitable place with a single movement and removed just as easily. When rolled up, it fits in any jacket pocket and is safe from thieves.