Lena Douglas was fined $292 forcycling past a tram on Swanston Street. Credit:Paul Rovere She had pedalled past the tram slowly after passengers had got off ''to get in front of the tram before it started moving'', she said, to avoid ''getting squished between [it and] a parked vehicle''. However, the police saw it differently, and fined Lena $292. Under the old laws, she would not have done anything wrong: she came to a stop before slowly passing the tram. But rules that came into effect last November mean that both cyclists and drivers behind trams must stay put while tram doors remain open, or pedestrians are on the road at a tram stop.

''I am not sure that what I did was worth a $292 fine,'' said Lena, who did not know the law had changed. Several other fines for breaking the law on a bicycle have gone up, to match the fines for cars. The fine for running a red light on a bike, for which 750 riders were fined last year, is now also $292, the same as in a car. The fine for not wearing a helmet has jumped to $146 - which is likely to bring in at least $1 million in revenue for the state government this financial year. Last year, when the fine was $58, there were 6600 cyclists fined. The officer in charge of Victoria Police's bicycle unit, Sergeant Arty Lavos, said cyclists without a helmet were a particular focus.

''Helmet offences are enforced daily by all our bicycle patrol units and general duties units,'' he said. ''It is the most fundamental safety rule.'' Bicycle Victoria recently had its lawyers help one cyclist who was fined for passing a tram under the new laws get off on a technicality. But the lobby group - which received about 12 per cent of its $11.8 million in funding last year from the state government - says it is right that cyclists now face serious fines. Spokesman Garry Brennan said that if bicycle riders wanted equal treatment on the road, they had to accept equal responsibility. They should be ''prepared to cop equivalent fines to other road users if it means we are accorded the full rights we are entitled to under the law,'' Mr Brennan said.