Cycling in Sydney Australia
New laws for Cyclists
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by CM on -
Roads Minister Tim Pallas today announced new penalties for dangerous riding in a crackdown on rogue cyclists.
“The new laws put cyclists on a similar footing to motorists when it comes to being charged with serious traffic offences and also apply to cyclists riding on roads and bikes paths,” he said.
“We’re driving home to cyclists the need for them to obey road laws or be punished. There are now harsher consequences for what are serious offences.”
Gee cyclists to be treated just like car drivers eh? So presumably Victorian cyclists will now be threaten, kill and maim other road users with no fear of any repercussions whatsoever. Hmph.. I'm jealous.
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Permalink Reply by Owning on -
>>>>Mr Pallas said two people had died in the past 10 years after being hit by cyclists and another 68 had been seriously injured.
Thats a pretty good statistic....I wonder if a day on our roads is that dangerous?
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Permalink Reply by ChrisS on -
Since the incident on 26 August 2006, there's been 916 deaths and an estimated 17,012 injured on Victorian roads.
Hopefully CM isn't on the money, as having the right to kill & maim is a rather shit way to gain road equality. [insert smiley face as foil]
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Permalink Reply by naomi on -
Exactly!
2 people in 10 years killed by cyclists - cyclists pose very little statistical danger to others. Nonsensical point really.
This is a means of pacifying anti-cyclists and I say go for it. As if the vast majority of cyclists would not stop after the very unlikely instance of causing injury to someone anyway. I doubt the laws will have any negative impact on everyday cyclists.
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Permalink Reply by Kylie on -
I couldn't resist temptation and had a quick skim of the replies. Honestly, it's just not worth even looking. I am so disheartened by the fact that the same people who don't know the road rules and can't construct a reasonable argument, let alone spell correctly, are the same people behind the wheel when I'm cruising along doing my thing on the roads.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Alexander on -
Hmmm, good point, Kylie.
Just thinking that maybe there should be a spelling test in conjunction with the driving test. I'll volunteer to set it.
That should reduce the pass rate considerably and just might encourage more people onto bicycles. (Unfortunately, they will be the wrong type of people but, since cycling is just so wonderful, in time these people will see the benefits and society will also benefit from the increased number of riders and cycling facilities installed to cater for them.)
Surely I am not living in cloud-cuckoo-land, am I?
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Permalink Reply by Kylie on
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It sounds like you may well be. Can you see any thylacines by any chance?
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Permalink Reply by Susan on -
It's hard to take a newspaper seriously when they don't even spell check their headlines..oh it's the herald they aren't a serious paper.
The issue of them cracking down on cyclists is interesting. If someone is doing something illegal than yes they should be punished. However the statistics they quote are quite minimal when compared to the number of cyclists who are killed/injured each year and yet they are not announcing cracking down on dangerous car drivers too?
If the roads minister was actually interested in fairness it should be an equal crackdown on everyone who breaks the law, not just going for the group that will get him the most column inches in newspapers.
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Permalink Reply by Neil Alexander on
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Actually, "The Hun", as Victorians refer to the Herald-Sun, hardly even qualifies as a newspaper, let alone anything serious.
And a politician ignoring the easy target? I'd like to see that.
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Permalink Reply by ChrisS on
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The Shun is running
sorejoke down here, their anti-cyclist bias has a long & convoluted history of stirring up shit, just has the Daily Terror & the unlovely Miranda in your neck of the woods.
As for Victoria being the Promised Land in regards to cycling attitudes and infrastructure, there's still a long way to go to when reality and those nice motherhood statements actually converge.
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Permalink Reply by Doddsy on -
"Over the last decade, two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists."
That clearly compares to the 1700 people a year killed by motorists on Australian Roads .
No wonder we have the same road rules as motor vehicles.
And there i was wondering why the hundreds of Pedestrians killed on our roads each year have their own footpaths.
Top effort.
Wankers.
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Permalink Reply by Adam Butler on -
Very difficult to understand where the logic is coming from on this issue. If two dead in 10 years (0.2 per year) is the "base" statistic there here's something that IS fair:
Let's assume "dangerous riding" leads to someone's unfortunate death. According to the article that's $13,610 or prison for twelve months or both. That's $6800 for each person killed by bicycle in the last 10 years.
Since 1700 people are killed by cars each year - that's 8500 people killed by cars for every person killed by bicycle. Therefore the equivalent fine to impose on car drivers is: $6800 X 8500 = $57842500!!!! or 4250 years!
Now that's fair....good one idiots!
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