Roads minister Duncan Gay says the government will now ‘encourage’ cyclists to carry identification, after survey found 93% did so anyway

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The NSW government has abandoned its plan to make cyclists carry photo ID.

The change in direction was announced by the roads minister, Duncan Gay, on Friday, following consultation with cycling groups.

The government would instead “encourage” cyclists to carry ID or “emergency contact cards”, to be made available through Cycling NSW and Bicycle NSW, Gay said. This “alternative solution struck the right balance between safety and convenience,” Gay said in a statement.

The requirement for cyclists to carry photo ID or be fined $106 was announced in December last year, along with a number of changes to cycling laws and huge increases in fines for offences. The ID plan was to take effect in March.



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A 2016 members’ survey conducted by Bicycle NSW showed that about 93% of riders already carried ID. The group had expressed concern that making it mandatory would serve as a disincentive to ride and was a case of cyclists “being singled out”.



Its chief executive, Craig Meagher, welcomed the government’s about-turn and the “strong, working relationship” the two bodies had developed in consulting on the issue.

Gay said preliminary statistics for 2016 showed bicycle rider injuries and fatalities were stable or reducing in NSW, which “would suggest our changes ... are making a positive difference to road safety”.

But recent figures suggest the number of people cycling in central Sydney is lower than it was two years ago, with some blaming the decrease on the Baird government’s changes to cycling laws, as well as construction work in the CBD.

Roads and Maritime Services figures show the average daily number of cyclists counted during peak hours on the Anzac bridge, at Anzac Parade and on the Harbour bridge dropped from 5,249 in 2013 to 4,453 in 2015 before recovering to 4,859 in 2016.

In September the state government scrapped its target of of doubling the number of trips made in Sydney by bicycle.

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Among the law changes were substantial increases to fines – some went up by as much as 500% – bringing some into line with the penalties imposed on motorists for the same offences. The penalty for not wearing a helmet went from $71 to $319, while riding dangerously or running a red light went from $71 to $425.

The government collected $1.3m from 3,171 fines issued to cyclists in the seven months to September this year – more than double the amount collected in the 2013-14 financial year. Most were for not wearing a helmet.

Over the same seven-month period, only 15 fines were issued to motorists for violating one-metre passing rules introduced at the same time, raising $4,857.

Labor MP Penny Sharpe told the Sydney Morning Herald the stricter laws were a revenue-raising exercise.

“What is the point of it? It is clearly not about safety. This is a government that has not been friendly to cyclists.”

In 2014, Gay had explored the possibility of a licensing system for cyclists, which was abandoned without fanfare after the department deemed it “not [to] be a cost-effective way of improving NSW cyclists’ behaviour or safety”.

Craig Richards, the chief executive of Bicycle Network, said requiring riders to carry ID “would have been a terrible thing for bike riding”: “Common sense has prevailed in this instance”.

It would have been born of a bid to register bikes or riders as cars and drivers are, he said – “then they work out that it’s not practical”.

“It is frustrating. I can set my calendar and say every six weeks, someone is going to raise bike registration.

“To have it taken this far is quite extraordinary. NSW was going to be the only place in the world where this was a law.”