Article: Baillieu backs car-door stickers

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Baillieu backs car-door stickers

Baillieu backs car-door stickers
Reid Sexton
March 12, 2012

THE Baillieu government is set to answer calls from cyclists to revive a decade-old campaign with stickers warning motorists not to carelessly open car doors.

The move comes as the government says it is sympathetic to a push by the Greens for stiffer penalties for ''dooring'' - the potentially lethal act of opening a car door in front of a cyclist.

The push has grown since the death in 2010 of cyclist James Cross, 22, who was knocked under a truck when a driver opened her door into his path in Hawthorn.
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Labor MP Jaala Pulford told Parliament last month that the number of infringement notices issued for dooring had grown slowly, from 77 in 1999-2000 to 187 last financial year, reflecting a large rise in cyclists on the roads.

Partly in response to the coroner's findings that VicRoads needs to better educate drivers after Mr Cross' death, the government will today unveil four sticker designs on VicRoads' Road User or Abuser Facebook page. It will then respond to feedback on the page and select one design before printing and distributing it next month.

It follows a 2002 program that involved the distribution of similar stickers to drivers. The program was cancelled after about two years, a VicRoads spokesman said, after the community lost interest.

It is anticipated that anyone visiting a VicRoads office and possibly other places such as councils will be given the stickers, with drivers asked to put them safely on their cars to remind them and others to check for cyclists before opening their door.

Roads Minister Terry Mulder said the program was a response to calls from the community and said dooring was a common cause of injury.

''It is important drivers and bike riders take shared responsibility for staying safe on Victoria's roads,'' he said.

Cycling safety campaigner Boyd Fraser was among several people who has pushed VicRoads to revive their campaign in the wake of recent dooring incidents.

VicRoads' inaction meant he was set to fund the printing of new stickers based on the old campaign this week, a move he said he would now not proceed with.

''Obviously it's great news,'' he said.

''[But I hope] this is not going to be a one-off response to media attention and that it will be a forerunner of a changing culture and priorities by VicRoads.''

Last year Greens MP Greg Barber introduced a bill to Parliament to increase the penalties for dooring from a maximum of $366 to $1220 plus a loss of three demerit points.

The government has slammed the bill as ''flawed and ill thought through'' and said it may increase the workload for police and could leave children guilty of dooring offences.

Any change will need government support, but in a press release due out today it will say that it wants to explore ways to increase penalties.

Opposition roads spokesman Luke Donnellan said Labor wanted penalties increased.

MPs are working towards referring the bill to a legislation committee, which is expected to scrutinise it for six weeks before making recommendations.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/baillieu-backs-cardoor-stickers-20120311-1usmy.html