Min 1 Metre may be law

[beauyboy]

In the wake of public outcry of the Court decision with regard to the death of Richard Pollett the Queensland Government has agreed to review the road rules around bicycles.
http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/ ... -for-bikes" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensl ... 2nsxy.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and the couriermail, please remember to vote in the poll as more than likely the paper will use it's own poll as a news article tomorrow
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/quee ... 6658948691" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Donald

[The 2nd Womble]

Today is a good day!!!

[VRE]

Has anyone seen the comment posted by 'Kitten' at 7:30am today in response to the CM article? It still amazes me that people can be that stupid. Does she really think that motorists never break the law? Seriously?

[Undertow]

The poll is stupid. I want to select more than one but I don't want to select all of the above.

Also I managed to vote for the least voted for choice, yay.

[alf]

Has anyone seen the comment posted by 'Kitten' at 7:30am today in response to the CM article? It still amazes me that people can be that stupid. Does she really think that motorists never break the law? Seriously?

The comment by Peter Feldon (self proclaimed Heavy Vehicle driver) is far more concerning.
He seems to indicate that he is not aware that he should not over take any vehicle unless it is safe to do so.

I would have expected Heavy Vehicle driver's licenses were subject to more rigorous training and testing requirements to ensure safe professional behavior.

[Kev365428]

I just replied to Peter's copmment.

Agree, his comment about (Having to cross the double lines, sometimes on a curve" is quite appalling.

Kev.

[richbee]

A bicycle awareness campaign, and enforcement of existing laws, will do far more for cycling safety that making new laws that aren't going to be properly enforced anyway.

[warthog1]

I voted for the 1m rule. Exercise in futility though when you read the braindead moronic comments posted. I pity you poor buggers who live in that red neck state

[chill1995]

-sigh- the usual cringeworthy comments from bogan Queenslanders on cycling stories.

[trailgumby]

Brilliant stuff, Dave. Great work.

It is very important to keep the pressure on the inquiry by supplying evidence and reasoned arguments built from them on how the 1.5 metre rule would work. What we don't want of course is for filtering through stationary traffic to be banned: insisting that we can only get the 1.5m rule at the loss of the ability to filter is a false assertion.

[ozzymac]

The comment concerning the type of roads we should ride on was a good one to, I'm sorry but narrow roads are the only type in my area, so I suppose I should just stay home. And i guess the truckie is forgetting how many vehicles he holds up when he is loaded and has to crawl up and down hills, yet I don't cross double centre lines to go past.

On a side note there is meant to be a story on the local news tonight concerning the push to get rules changed for cyclists.


Cheers

Sent from my GT-P5110 using Tapatalk 2

[grimbo]

Would also be chuffed if this happens in NSW:

Greens MP Jamie Parker has given notice of a Bill to require at least 1 metre overtaking distance when passing cyclists, in response to NSW being named the worst state for cyclist fatalities.

“NSW is the most dangerous state to be a cyclist, with an average of 11 deaths per year for the past decade, constituting 30% of the country’s total fatalities.

“The Australian Road Rules are failing bicycle riders and we must act urgently to save lives. I am appealing to the government and opposition to support this crucial and practical reform.

“Bicycle riders are physically vulnerable and need to be protected – we should be encouraging cyclists and ensuring they are safe.

“This legislation would also provide drivers with a clear, easily recognised measure when overtaking bicycle riders.

“NSW guidelines already recommend a minimum of 1 metre passing distance, demonstrating that the Government agrees this is an appropriate distance to protect cyclists.

“The existing recommendation is failing because it doesn’t have the force of the law – we must have a legally enforceable minimum passing distance to protect cyclists and prevent further loss of life,” Mr Parker said.

http://www.jamieparker.org.au/nsw-named ... vertaking/

[birdbrain]

Warthog1 wrote:
I voted for the 1m rule. Exercise in futility though when you read the braindead moronic comments posted. I pity you poor buggers who live in that red neck state

I think the comments are pretty universal. Bogans are everywhere unfortunately. I see the old "cyclists should be registered"" comments being recycled again.

[queequeg]

The problem with specifying a specific distance is that most people are hopeless at judging it. In practical terms, if you are in a 2m wide car and want to pass a cyclist who is riding 1m out from the gutter, then you need to be a 4m wide lane to overtake without changing lanes.
The prosecution of an offence should be easy though. If Road width - Car width is 1m or less, you can't pass without changing lanes, which is what the current law says anyway (in NSW at least)

[Summernight]

The comment concerning the type of roads we should ride on was a good one to, I'm sorry but narrow roads are the only type in my area, so I suppose I should just stay home. And i guess the truckie is forgetting how many vehicles he holds up when he is loaded and has to crawl up and down hills, yet I don't cross double centre lines to go past.

IMO it is the MGIF syndrome coming to the fore. The difference between a cyclist and almost everyone else on the road is size. A cyclist looks so small that most drivers think they just have to (and can) get in front whereas a driver would think twice and three times before MGIF-ing a huge truck over double lines.

A loaded horse-float (similar to a car with trailer but slower due to the stupid animals in the back) on a single laned twisty road does not move very fast. There was a running joke at my club as to how many cars you could bank up behind your float on double-lined twisty turny roads in the area (I think someone got up to the 20s). None of the drivers in the vehicles behind the floats crossed the double lines (honking out their frustration may be another story).

I think more education should be done on the current road rules and the fact that if you cannot give sufficient distance (1m or 1.5 or whatever) then the correct thing to do is legally change lanes and overtake or if you cannot legally overtake, curb your MGIF impatience and aggression and just wait until a suitable, legal time to overtake.

[Tornado]

What is MGIF?

I googled and got the following

Rank Abbr. Meaning

MGIF Mobile Games Interoperability Forum
MGIF Molecular Genetics Instrumentation Facility (University of Georgia)
MGIF MediaGate International Federation, Inc.
MGIF Microbial Growth Inhibitory Factor

http://www.acronymfinder.com/MGIF.html

[The 2nd Womble]

What is MGIF?

I googled and got the following

Rank Abbr. Meaning

MGIF Mobile Games Interoperability Forum
MGIF Molecular Genetics Instrumentation Facility (University of Georgia)
MGIF MediaGate International Federation, Inc.
MGIF Microbial Growth Inhibitory Factor

http://www.acronymfinder.com/MGIF.html

The last one.

[Summernight]

What is MGIF?

I googled and got the following

Rank Abbr. Meaning

MGIF Mobile Games Interoperability Forum
MGIF Molecular Genetics Instrumentation Facility (University of Georgia)
MGIF MediaGate International Federation, Inc.
MGIF Microbial Growth Inhibitory Factor

http://www.acronymfinder.com/MGIF.html

The last one.

at The 2nd Womble.

Apologies, Tornado. MGIF = Must Get In Front.

(Unless you were being facetious, then you got me. )

[rogan]

Looked at the Courier Mail comments. Blaa.

But what I found curious was they had 31 comments, 80-90% taking a broadly bogan perspective, with hardly any typos and ending promptly at 7.30 this morning.

What gives? Are the CM moderators fixing the spelling errors? And did they (the moderators or the "contributors") give up the ghost early this morning?

Strange.

[beauyboy]

Just as I predicted the poll has been used in the article with no indication that the story has been updated

A Courier Mail online survey of readers has found locals are partial to a number of new measures.

Nearly 20 per cent of readers who participated in the poll were in favour of laws to keep cyclists a set distance apart and a similar number supported banning bikes from high traffic roads.

This is why we always need to be very aware of these articles that have polls attached

Donald

[ldrcycles]

Nearly 20 per cent of readers who participated in the poll were in favour of laws to keep cyclists a set distance apart

Um there are laws around that already aren't there? Something to the effect of cyclists being able to ride 2 abreast but not more than 1.5m apart?

[The 2nd Womble]

Nearly 20 per cent of readers who participated in the poll were in favour of laws to keep cyclists a set distance apart

Um there are laws around that already aren't there? Something to the effect of cyclists being able to ride 2 abreast but not more than 1.5m apart?

Yup

[KonaCommuter]

I can't believe that people are having trouble with 1.5mtrs.


Simple. You hit a cyclist you've clearly breached 1.5 mtrs.

[g-boaf]

I agreed with the all if the above option, except the one requiring no riding on busy multi lane roads.

Disappointingly rigged poll choices!

But a metre is a good outcome.

Perhaps in light of this poll, we need to do some more organised replies to these topics... Just as the "bogans" do.

[jacks1071]

I think its just a matter of time before the 1 metre rule becomes law. The question is, how many more cyclists must die before this happens?

I'd like to see it go a lot further.

How about a law that if a motor vehicle hits a cyclist, the motor vehicle is ALWAYS at fault and we have SERIOUS penalties instead of the slap on the writs motorists get for murdering cyclists at the moment.