Hi guys.
Im the bloke responsible for the Minimum Safe Passing Distance petition here in Qld. I was googling tyhe Ministers reply and stumbled across this thread so I thought Id tell you why I think the reply sucks so badly for us.
As the result of this (IMO) worrying response from the government, this petition is set to go federal within the next two days.
The fact that the state government, and by consensus all state and territory governments in Australia, alledges that it is safe for us to pass within the space of an open car door, or that a car may follow a cyclist within one metre, let alone overtake within one metre on our right at less than open road speeds, shows how poorly protected we are from other road traffic by law. While I do share their opinion that at open road speeds, one metre may be inadequate, we were asking for a MINIMUM safe passing distance to be made enforcable. Logic dictates that exactly one metre would be difficult to police, but to have no minimum requirement is more difficult to swallow.
"The introduction of a specific rule to restrict vehicles to keeping one metre from cyclists would
be, in many cases, detrimental to cyclists. The safe distance between a cyclist and a vehicle varies
considerably depending on the speed the vehicles are travelling. For example, where a vehicle is
travelling at 100km/h a distance of one metre is dangerously close, but at very low speeds
distances of less than one meter may be safe. To provide a law making a one metre distance
mandatory would make it illegal for cyclists to move slowly and closely past queued vehicles.
This is not a desired outcome for cyclists."
As the Queensland government is unprepared to lead the way here, I will call for for this proposed change to be applied to the Australian Road Rules instead.
Keep an eye/ear out for the petition as it becomes available for signing. I think at least 50,000+ signatures in six months is well within reach
Remember people, their aim isn't to facilitate the accomodation of cyclists on our tax payer funded roads. Their aim is to get us off them all together. They have last week announced a vote grabbing 30 year plan to build more bikepaths in QLD. How many of us will end up in hospital or worse in the next three decades before things change?
"The Bligh Government is passionately committed to getting more people cycling, We actively
promote cycle safety through the Share the Road campaign and last year spend $100m
constructing bike paths around the state."
I will also be taking more action at a federal level shortly to push for the introduction of new laws similar to EU countries where drivers are able to be held more clearly accountable in the event of collisions with cyclists.
http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/E ... 201504.pdf
From a similar thread on ACN...
KenGS wrote:
Maybe instead of asking for a 1m passing law you should petition for some form of Strict Liability law for accidents causing injury, according to the vulnerability of the injured party. So, for instance, in a collision between a car and cyclist or pedestrian causing an injury to the cyclist/ped, by default the driver loses demerit points and is fined irrespective of any negligence on their part. To get out of it they would have to prove in court that the cyclist/ped was at fault.
Something along those lines would help ensure drivers keep their distance.
By the same token, a collision between a cyclist and pedestrian would put the cyclist in the equivalent position to the driver."
This is the next course of action that I was alluding to, however I haven't discounted the possibility of pursuing this on its own as like yourself, I think it will 'encourage' motorists to give us the distance we need that the Transport Minister thinks we don't.
The Womble
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Location: Brisbane QLD
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I just read through the state governments Share The Road campaign which they seem to feel has been adequate to date. Bare in mind that this has been the only campaign run since 2000 and highlights not only the statistics and issues we face to an even greater extent 10 years later, but is an admission that they are aware that there needs to be more done to protect cyclists than a TV ad
Share the road public education campaign overview:
Queensland Transport has run a variety of public education campaigns that aim to raise awareness of issues affecting safe cycling.
The ‘Share the road’ campaign aimed to teach motorists and cyclists how to share the road safely. This campaign is one action stemming from the State Government's commitment to increase Queensland cycling rates from the current 2 per cent of all trips to 8 per cent by 2011. This was the first major Queensland Transport campaign to focus on improving relations between cyclists and motorists.
Community attitudes and awareness
Safety is a prime concern for existing and potential cyclists. Australian and international research indicates that improvements in safety have the potential to encourage non-cyclists to ride and to increase current cyclists' number of cycling trips. Recent Queensland Transport research found an unsafe riding environment was one of the top four reasons why cyclists had stopped riding. The other top reasons for ceasing to ride a bike were obtaining a driver licence (30 per cent), obtaining a car (22 per cent) and loss of interest in riding (11 per cent).
Queensland Transport market research provided specific data about driver interaction with cyclists. The market research found 20 per cent of motorists surveyed admitted to failing to move over for cyclists, with males aged under 30 years the least likely to move over. In Wave 3 research conducted in September 1998, 21 per cent of motorists said they would not move over for a cyclist if there was lots of traffic in the next lane prohibiting them from moving over. A further 15 per cent of motorists would fail to move over if the road wasn’t wide enough.
Queensland Transport’s SafeST research in July 1999 also surveyed motorists’ attitudes towards cyclists. The survey found one in five motorists did not regard cyclists as legitimate road users. People residing in regional Queensland (82 per cent) were more likely than residents in south-east Queensland (67 per cent) to feel that cyclists have a legitimate right to be on the road. Also, men (43 per cent) were more likely than women (21 per cent) to regard cycling as a legitimate means of transport.
Motorists who do not regard cyclists as legitimate road users (19 per cent) believed that:
It was too dangerous for cyclists to ride on the road (54 per cent).
The road isn’t wide enough (24 per cent).
Cyclists cause traffic congestion (16 per cent).
Share the road public education campaign 1
One in five motorists admitted to not always making room for cyclists on the road and one in four motorists admitted to never checking for cyclists before opening the car door.
The same research also surveyed cyclists’ perceptions of motorists. The survey found that only one third of cyclists (33 per cent) believed motorists always allowed room for them on the road. Around 46 per cent of cyclists believed motorists sometimes allowed room for them on the road and 22 per cent (over one in five) believed it rarely or never occurred.
The 22 per cent of cyclists who felt they were rarely or never allowed room on the road by motorists stated the main problems as:
Motorists failed to give way.
Motorists did not allow sufficient room when overtaking.
Motorists drove to close cyclists.
...etc etc etc
The Womble
Posts: 1193
Joined: Thu Apr 01, 2010 6:46 pm
Location: Brisbane QLD
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These are survey results from the QLD government from 10! years ago which lead to their ONLY cycling saftey campaign in the last decade.
Things have only gotten worse since then, and they use this as the basis for their reply?!
The AGF is looking into the response as well, and hopefully there will be a couple of radio interviews shortly
Sorry for the long winded reply, but Im interested on more of your views here guys and girls
