New laws, to take effect in March, will also require drivers to give cyclists at least a one-metre berth when passing

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Cyclists in New South Wales will need to carry photo ID and fines for certain offences will more than quadruple to $425 under new laws announced by the state’s roads minister, Duncan Gay.

Fines for cycling offences, currently standardised at $71, will be increased for not wearing a helmet (to $319), running a red light ($425), riding dangerously ($425), holding on to a moving vehicle ($319) and not stopping at a children’s or pedestrian crossing ($425). The fine for not having ID is $106.

Vehicles travelling less than 60km/h will need to give cyclists one metres’ room or pay a $319 fine and lose two demerit points. Those passing at more than 60km/h will need to give one and a half metres.

The changes on traffic light and pedestrian crossing offences bring fines for cyclists into line with those for car drivers.

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The new laws come into force in March and will be accompanied by a public awareness campaign.

Gay said on Monday the changes were about “striking a balance for everyone on the roads and footpaths” and were in line with recommendations from roundtables he held this year with cycling advocacy groups the Pedestrian Council of Australia, the NRMA and the Motor Accident Authority.

Adult riders will need to carry photo ID so they can be identified if stopped by police. They will also be asked to give pedestrians one metre of room “where practical” when passing on a shared path.

An idea Gay floated last year to introduce a cycling licence – deemed by the department “not [to] be a cost-effective way of improving NSW cyclists’ behaviour or safety” – appears to have been dropped.

Gay, who has described himself as “the biggest bike-lane sceptic in the government”, has previously earned the ire of cyclists’ groups for pulling out Sydney’s $5m College Street cycleway.



Plans to build a bike lane down northern Castlereagh Street have also been delayed until after the light rail is built on George Street.



New cycleway paths on the southern end of Castlereagh Street and Liverpool Street were recently completed.

Asked how the new rules would be enforced, Gay said a higher police presence would catch cyclists and drivers.

He acknowledged the new rules would not prevent all conflict between drivers and riders, saying everyone needed to take responsibility for their behaviour.

“All road users need to exercise respect when using the road,” he said.



The Centre for Road Safety executive director, Bernard Carlon, said he often saw people riding bikes without a helmet.

“If you’re involved in a crash, you are 60% more likely to suffer a severe brain injury if you’re not wearing a helmet,” he said.

About 11 cyclists were killed every year on NSW roads and more than 1,500 were admitted to hospital for cycling crashes, he said.

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Ray Rice, the chief executive of Bicycle NSW, said the one-metre passing law was welcome but questioned the rise in financial penalties.

“If we’re going to have equivalence in fines, let’s start talking about being treated equally in terms of road design, like proper separated cycleways on key routes. Let’s talk about proper traffic light sensing and phases for lights,” he said.

The NSW Greens said making roads safer for cyclists was welcome, but criticised the punitive focus on cyclists.

“We will all benefit from a bike-friendly NSW, but the state government is going out of its way to make life harder and more dangerous for cyclists,” Greens transport spokeswoman Mehreen Faruqi said.

Another advocacy group, Bicycle Network, said the package “smacks of totalitarianism and demonstrates contempt for people who ride bikes”.

“Everyday people who are riding bikes for health, employment, education or just plain enjoyment, are being characterised as a menace to society—people who require surveillance, supervision and control,” it said in a statement.

Bicycle Network CEO Craig Richards said the proposals would “result in bike riders being seen as a fringe groups that needs special rules to keep them in check”.

Phoebe Dunn, the chief executive of the Amy Gillett Foundation, which campaigns for bicycle safety laws, said the one-metre rule for drivers would build a safer road culture.

“A metre matters because it provides a practical measurement for drivers when overtaking bike riders,” Dunn said.

Gillett, an Australian Olympic rower and elite cyclist, was killed in Germany in 2005 when her bike was struck by a vehicle.

Similar one-metre laws were introduced in October in South Australia, the Australian Capital Territory in November and in Queensland in April 2014.