Cycling has long been the "un-policed " aspect of traffic management. Car drivers repeatedly encounter cyclists not wearing the helmet required by law, running red lights and weaving in and out of traffic with total impunity. Now the Roads Minister has announced a law change that is supposed to reign in common practice by upping the fines ante.
The fine for riding without a safety helmet will increase from the present $71 to $ 319 and a host of offences - running a red light, failing to stop at zebra pedestrian crossings, holding onto a moving motor vehicle - will all now attract a $425 penalty and a new law will require all bicycle riders to produce some form of photo identity, but the penalty for that failure has not been stated. The lawmakers squibbed the decision for bicycles to carry some sort of identification plate and have third party insurance cover, as applies to motorists.
Four wheel motor traffic now have new obligations when it comes to encountering cyclists within the road system. They are required to keep a minimum one metre distance when passing a cyclist at or below 60 kph speed, and this increases to 1.5 metres at any speed greater than 60 kph, and this law will be enforced with a charge of "driving dangerously close to a bike rider " - with a fine of $319.
At best, this is a knee jerk reaction to be seen as responding to drivers complaints. Cyclist behaviour is totally ignored by the police for a very good reason. It is far easier to gain a conviction on a motorist because he or she is driving a vehicle with a clearly identifiable number plate and must produce a photo license on request. In contrast, the cyclist can give a false name and address with impunity or fail to answer. The only option would be for the copper to make an arrest and put the offender in a cell until identity was proven - and that is simply not worth the effort for what the police consider a very minor matter.
No doubt the police will make a great show of implementing this law on cyclists when it comes into force, but it will most likely quickly revert to the present practice of officers being "blind "to cycling offences. Trying to impose a fine on a cyclist will be seen as a big hassle and time waster with limited reward, which will have to survive the usual appeal processes embedded in the court system.
Lawyers will have a ball with that photo identity requirement. The average person may have a credit card or a debit card or any manner of club membership cards, few of which would carry a photograph. It is possible to obtain a photographic non driver identity card from the motor registration people, but at the enquirers expense. No doubt the legal fraternity will suggest to a sympathetic magistrate that this is a gross financial imposition on the poor who must rely on a humble bicycle for transport.
Of course that safety measure on motorists passing cyclists will be hard to actually measure but will deliver a new bonanza for achieving fine quotas. It will certainly create problems where there are cyclists mixed with cars in the daily morning commute and several lines of traffic are doing the stop/start tango. Then there is the issue of cyclists riding through stopped traffic in clogged freeway conditions. Surely parity would require that they observe that same safety margin.
None of the Australian states have seen fit to grasp the nettle and take cycles to task for the danger they pose. They are quite capable of elevated speeds and are often recklessly ridden on footpaths and on shared cycleways which also legally serve pedestrian traffic. The elderly and small children are often the casualties and injury can be severe.
This new legislation is merely an expression of "good intention " rather than a serious attempt to reign in bad cyclist behaviour. That will not happen until the conditions that apply to other road traffic - registration, insurance and a license to legally use - apply to this two wheel form of road traffic !
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