Article: Death prompts bike groups to push for tougher laws

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Death prompts bike groups to push for tougher laws

Death prompts bike groups to push for tougher laws
Clay Lucas
July 26, 2011

PEOPLE who drive less than a metre from cyclists should face harsh penalties, bike groups have said.

Tracey Gaudry, chief executive of bicycle lobby group the Amy Gillett Foundation, said Victoria needed to be the first Australian state to pass laws requiring cars to give a clearance of at least one metre to bikes.

Cadel Evans is among 1200 signatories to a national petition launched last month by another bike group, Safe Cycling Australia, to all Australian parliaments, pushing for a national one-metre rule.

Road groups, however, questioned how such a law would be policed and enforced, and said drivers instead needed to take more care around cyclists.

The call comes after the death of cyclist John Cornish on Beach Road in Brighton on Friday.

Mr Cornish died after he rode around a parked car and, simultaneously, a van travelling behind him changed lanes to avoid a vehicle ahead turning right. The van hit Mr Cornish, throwing him from his bike.

Victoria's road safety rules require a driver to keep ''a sufficient distance to avoid a collision''.

VicRoads advises motorists to ''give cyclists a clearance of at least one metre when passing'', but the law does not require it.

In 2008, Evans lamented Australia's dangerous roads for cyclists, telling The Age that drivers in Australia and the US had attitudes towards cyclists that did not exist on other continents.

A one-metre law was recommended by the State Parliament's 2005 Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor Vehicle Use.

The Bracks government rejected the proposed law, saying policing it would be almost impossible.

Several European countries have rules dictating the distance cars must leave for cyclists. In France, a 1.5-metre passing distance must be left for cyclists in country areas, and one metre in cities.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/death-prompts-bike-groups-to-push-for-tougher-laws-20110725-1hx7l.html

[O_128]

Totally agree but at the same time cyclists should not be allowed on the road where there is a bike path, best example is on cork drive where there are still cyclists on the road