The town has posted a series of yellow and black traffic signs along various town roads that are popular bicycling routes informing motorists that state law requires motor vehicles to keep at least three feet away from cyclists when passing bicycles.

The nonprofit Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club donated 32 such signs to the town for posting on town roads that are frequented by bicyclists. The Darien-based club is affiliated with the League of American Bicyclists and the Connecticut Bicycle Coalition.

The traffic signs graphically depict a bicyclist and an auto moving side-by-side on the road, indicating that state law requires there to be a minimum three-foot separation distance between motor vehicles and bicycles.

In 2008, state legislators approved a law on minimum separation distances for motorists who are passing bicyclists or other motorists. Violating the minimum distance rules constitutes an infraction of state law.

The Police Commission, in its role as the local traffic authority, earlier this year approved having the town post the signs, as requested by the club.

Sound Cyclists club member Steven Tramposch of Little Brook Lane said the club has provided the town with the free traffic signs intended to inform motorists of the separation distance law.

“We want to generate awareness [of the law]. Most people don’t know there’s a law,” Mr Tramposch said in an interview along Botsford Hill Road, north of its intersection with High Bridge Road, where one of the 32 traffic safety signs is posted.

Because bicyclists who are traveling on roads move with the flow of traffic, the motorists who are approaching them approach from behind.

Mr Tramposch listed several local areas especially popular with bicyclists. They include Poverty Hollow Road between its intersection with Hattertown Road and the Redding town line; Hattertown Road between Dodgingtown and the Monroe town line; and Currituck Road between its intersections with Main Street and with Hawleyville Road.

Roads selected for traffic sign placement by the club include Hattertown Road, Poverty Hollow Road, Huntingtown Road, Botsford Hill Road/Toddy Hill Road, Currituck Road, Boggs Hill Road, Brushy Hill Road, Flat Swamp Road, and Meadowbrook Road.

Mr Tramposch said he especially enjoys bicycling on Hattertown Road, Hundred Acres Road, and Boggs Hill Road. He rides a Tarmac-model bicycle made by the Specialized-brand bicycle company. The 20-speed bicycle is equipped with flashing strobe lights for high visibility.