Michael Gratton was cycling to work in Sydney when he was stopped in a recent police “education and awareness” blitz and fined $531 (£310). His offence? Not wearing a helmet, not having a bell and not having a working brake.

“The bell fine of $106 is ridiculous,” says the robotics researcher, who is challenging the third fine, as braking on his fixed-wheel bike is done through the pedals – and his bike has a front brake anyway. “I don’t ride on the footpath and a bell is useless against cars. It has been my experience in the past that if you ring a bell behind a person they are as likely to jump into your way as out of it. Pedestrians also see ringing a bell as an aggressive act. The fines are massively disproportionate.”

Gratton was one of many caught out by a huge increase in fines for cycling offences in New South Wales. The fine for not wearing a helmet (which is compulsory across Australia) rose from $71 to $319; fines for cycling through a red light, riding negligently or not stopping at a pedestrian crossing were all raised from $71 to $425.

The value of cycling in Sydney has been undermined by hysterical claims Clover Moore

From March next year it will be compulsory for all cyclists in Sydney and elsewhere in the state to carry identification. This is going too far, says Ray Rice, chief executive of Bicycle NSW. “There has been no evidence provided that there was any real issue in identifying riders. Police have existing powers to do this. It will mean that riders will need to carry a driver’s licence or photo card even when going to the local shops or down to the beach. This will be a disincentive to riding.”



Cyclist injuries remain high in Sydney – but are fines the solution? Photograph: The Sydney Morning Herald/Fairfax Media via Getty Images

Clover Moore – the mayor of Sydney since 2004 who is running for a fourth term – is a longtime supporter of cycling as a way of making cities more liveable, but her political rivals use that as a blunt instrument to attack her.



“The value of cycling in Sydney has been undermined by hysterical claims that bike riding will cripple the city’s economy, misleading stories that distort data to proclaim that less people are riding, and wilful ignorance of good practice overseas,” she told the Guardian.

An independent who leans to the left, Moore’s main rival for mayor is Christine Forster, a member of the conservative Liberal party, and sister of former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott. Forster wants a moratorium on cycle lanes while a light rail system is built, and then a reassessment of the existing network. Moore says the Liberal-National New South Wales government passed legislation giving two votes to businesses against one to residents to help Forster – and the recent increase in fines for cycling offences could be seen as backing Forster’s views over Moore’s.

But Duncan Gay, the NSW minister for roads, insists it is about safety and that cycling groups were consulted. “With cycling injuries remaining high in NSW, I had no choice but to look at tougher deterrents and increased enforcement to improve safety for cyclists and other road users like pedestrians,” he said via email. “I don’t want to see another dollar in fine revenue but I do hope to see a reduction in cyclist injuries.”

All cyclists must wear helmets in Australia. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

That’s not how many cyclists see it – and Mark Ames, of consultancy Strategic Cities, says Sydney is going against the flow of other world cities. “Making your city efficient should be above party politics, cycling is not really a right versus left thing, yet here in Sydney it is kind of seen as being a lefty, hippie, latte-sipping city thing, not something important,” he says.

“If you look at the leaders of other cities that are investing in cycling, they are conservative. In New York there was Michael Bloomberg, in Auckland it is the New Zealand prime minister John Key who led the charge on a $50m cycleway project. And in London, it was Boris Johnson, also a conservative. The tone of the debate here is very peculiar.”

Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, was once seen as friendlier to cyclists than Sydney – but that is no longer the case according to Chris Standen, an analyst at the University of Sydney’s Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies.

“In both cities you have some local councils that see value in giving more people the freedom to get around, or to access public transport, by bicycle, something that requires a connected bicycle network with either safe traffic speeds, or physical separation between traffic and bicycles.

“But in both cities you also have a state roads authority whose number one objective is to maximise the flow of motor vehicles through our neighbourhoods, and is therefore reluctant to approve any roadway changes that would affect vehicle flow … Progress on bicycle network development has been a lot slower in Sydney and Melbourne than in cities which have a single metropolitan transport authority responsible for all transport modes, such as New York, London and Berlin.”



In Australia, the “war on cyclists” continues.

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