New rules for cyclists have been in effect in New South Wales for nearly two weeks. Guardian readers share their experiences

Cyclists report feeling no less unsafe riding in New South Wales as a motion is put forward to disallow new road rules less than two weeks after they were introduced.

New laws that took effect on 1 March increased fines for infringements such as failing to stop at red lights or pedestrian crossings to up to $425. A minimum one-metre clearance zone for motorists overtaking riders was also introduced.

A new requirement for cyclists to carry ID will not be enforced until 2017.

As part of the Bicycle Network advocacy group’s campaign, Greens NSW MP Mehreen Faruqi has put forward a motion to repeal the fine increases in the NSW Legislative Council on Tuesday. It is expected to be debated and voted on next week.

Hold on to your helmets, here comes the latest anti-cycling legislation Read more

“Jacking up fines massively for cyclists does not make anyone safer,” Faruqi said. “In fact, all it does is discourage people from cycling.”

The Australian Labor party and the Animal Justice party have indicated they intend to back the motion, but the Shooters and Fishers party and the Christian Democratic party have not yet made their position clear. The disallowance needs the support of all five parties to be passed.

Nearly two weeks into the new regime, Guardian readers who get around by bike in NSW said they did not feel any more protected from motorists.

No safer than yesterday 20+years of commuter cycling in Sydney and I fail to see how increasing fines for cyclists keeps me safe. Nothing changed this morning. Carrying an ID didn't suddenly give me a shield of protection, cars weren't suddenly accommodating to my presence. 3 times I've been hit by cars and taken to hospital, not for anything I did, in every case the driver was at fault - one even went through a red light. So please Duncan, tell me, how is a massive fine for going through a red light going to prevent me or someone else from being hit? Please tell me because I'm flummoxed.

Minimum distance laws I got abused by a driver on Saturday morning for not moving out of his way - apparently it is my responsibility on a bike to move a metre aside to let the car pass without having to deviate his line. Plenty of room on an empty road but I was expected to ride in the gutter. This is the exact message Duncan gay has set out to sell.

Drivers still not adhering to 1 meter clearance law I hopped on my bike this morning ready to embrace and adhere to the new laws, and expecting my fellow motorised road users to do the same. Alas, within 5 minutes of hitting the road, I was passed twice within a alarmingly narrow distance (I'd estimate between 20-30cm) by motorists who were obviously eager to stop at the red light only 100 meters ahead. It does make me wonder if the NSW police will be as vigilant in their policing of this law which is designed to protect cyclists, as they are thew new laws which are designed to 'protect' pedestrians, such as not carrying a bell.

A popular suggestion was that allowing cyclists of all ages to ride on footpaths – which is legal only for children under 12 in NSW – would better protect them. Road rules in South Australia were amended in October to make that change.



Cycling now dangerous, stressful and potentially financially crippling. Allow footpath riding! I am terrified of riding on Sydney Roads. I ride on footpaths wherever possible, only using the roads in busy shopping areas. Since the new rules began, fearful of incurring a $106 fine — or even $425 fine for 'dangerous driving’, whatever that means —I have been forced to use the roads. I nearly got pushed off today and later got shouted at for using my lane. I ride in a hilly area, with narrow roads. To ride safely clear of the ‘door zone’, I am now forced to slow down the traffic. Is this the NSW Government's intention? To slow down traffic in Sydney? And put myself in danger? A lot of the joy has gone out of cycling with this punitive anti-cycling legislation. Now, even to go to the shops 200 metres up the road, I have to put on an annoying helmet. Only Australia and NZ have compulsory helmet laws, and NSW's new fines are so ridiculous as to make the Government's anti-cycling agenda obvious. Helmets laws discourage cycling. It should be a cyclist's choice. (I wont go into the highly contentious health arguments here. I am sure others will.) Am I allowed to cycle at a snails pace along the Bondi Beach boardwalk on hot day, without my helmet, or will I be fined $319 plus $106 (or perhaps $425). One or two fines and many cyclists will simply give up. When you can't pay rent or afford to eat for 2 weeks because of deliberately crippling revenue grabbing fine, you will simply stop cycling altogether. I have to ask. Is this what Duncan Gay wants? Also, it is the Government's intention to force 13 year old’s onto Sydney's dangerous roads? Only under 12's can legally ride on footpaths. So when the terrified 13 year old jumps back on the footpath, will the parents be lumbered with a $106 fine — or even $425 fine — for non-compliance? Or will Duncan Gay wait for a teenager or adult to be killed, who used to ride safely on the footpath, before he reverse's this illogical and punitive bastardry? The solution is obvious. Allow footpath riding as in SA, NT and QLD. And let councils determine non-shared zones in obvious places like shopping centres. These laws are beyond nannying. They are both dangerous and downright nasty.

Disincentive to ride I ride on roads when I consider it safe, but when I am on roads which are used by buses or trucks I ride on the footpath. In SA and QLD this is legal, and I am very careful regarding pedestrians - I've never ever brushed one. Feeling like I am now under scrutiny and about to be blitzed and fined for this is a major disincentive to ride. As much as I want to ride, do I want it enough to ride in areas that I (even if the law doesn't) consider unsafe?

But another contributor pointed out that this posed a problem for pedestrians, especially those who were not mobile.

Footpath danger! Just make sure that those who cycle on footpaths & pedestrian crossings get fined. Last 5 weeks in my local shopping centre I have seen a senior knocked over in the crossing, a 4 year old child hit on footpath as they leaned out from their parents hand (as 4 year olds do) the cyclist just screamed at the parent to control their child and rode off (still on the footpath), and a disabled person clipped by the handlebars as again the cyclist was on the footpath. Randwick is a very unsafe place if you are not fleet of foot.

The problem with riding in Sydney, wrote Guardian reader, was not with cyclists or motorists but the design of the city. More than one contributor compared it unfavourably to European cities where cyclists are given precedence.

Sydney cycle infrastructure is so backward: increased fines make you more aware of this I've been cycling to work in Sydney for nearly 20 years - mostly on very safe separated cycleways. Where I did come into contact with motor vehicles I have acted in a way to be as seen as possible and safe as possible - in in most cases tried to distance myself from them. My moto has always been - who do I effect when doing something? If I ride on a footpath slowly - if I turn left from a cycleway into a cycleway - if I ride without a helmet in Amsterdam - if I ride across a pedestrian crossing or pedestrian lights - if I ride slowly through a stop sign - who am I affecting. It really comes down to the fact most road rules are there mainly for motor vehicles and to fine cyclists for any of these rules is in most cases nit-picking. The increase in fines is horrible - and when I have been pedantically being a law abiding cyclist I see how terrible the infrastructure is for cyclists - being treated like a 2nd class citizen when cycling should be encouraged and made easy. The cities around the world have added cycling to the transport mix - Sydney really should as well. The government should have put money into infrastructure to keep us safe rather than fining us into submission.

Local street Kreuzberg, Berlin I spend quite bit of time in Berlin. This is in the popular Kreuzberg in the south. Its important to note how riders can ride of footpaths, are not obliged to wear helmets and are treated like fellow human beings. Plus there is effective and well used bike infrastructure there. I come home to Sydney and find I would now have to pay enormous fines for all the above 'offences'. Our city is becoming a total joke. People stay here with me in Sydney - they are from all over Europe. What do I tell them? Forget riding. If its not the abuse from drivers its the fines.

My Dutch visitors gave up cycling in Sydney I had a lovely Dutch couple staying at my place. They were students and were finishing a Masters by research at a local University. They were staying for 6 weeks and then moving to another place in Sydney, just to have a change of scene. They went to the trouble of buying a bike (I had a spare they were borrowing but they needed a second). When they left my place last week they left their recently bought bike behind (even though they are staying in Sydney for another 6 weeks). They said that the mandatory helmet regulation was already strange for them, but the new laws were too much. When bicycle-loving, Dutch visitors give up cycling due to the new laws I think we need to pay attention! I can imagine what they will say to their friends and associates when talking about their stay in Sydney - 'don't ride'. When we need to reduce emissions and reduce congestion, it's a really sad state of affairs that people are being dissuaded from riding. It should be the opposite.

The potential impact of the hefty fines on low-income earners and students were also referred to.

A week's wage per turn There are at least two points on my daily journey to uni where, if I don't ride on the footpath or turn on a red, I'm going to end up squashed all over the road by a heavy vehicle. I'm a PhD student who subsists on a $26K scholarship. Even one of these fines is almost an entire week's income. Needless to say I'm looking at ways to complete my PhD in northern Europe, where the vulnerabilities of cyclists are respected by drivers and lawmakers alike.

Moronic laws for a more vitriolic sydney. Congratulations. I want to echo what seems to be the dominant theme here (for good reason) and say increasing fines is not incetive to stop dangerous riding, because the most dangerous riding is often in the narrow busy main roads we are forced to legally share with motorists who are rightly frustrated by our snails pace I a busy metropolis. Open the footpaths to cyclists, get rid of these increased fines which make it harder for low income earners to commute without fearing for a weeks pay if they don't get on the road with the loud and aggressive car drivers.

Two cyclists expressed a mistrust of police, one referring to an incident in January in which a police officer on a motorbike allegedly pushed a cyclist off his bike at a busy inner-city intersection.

NWA Anecdotal only, but after the incident where a copper pushed the cyclist off his bike and the ridiculous blitzes I am very suspicious of police and instead of being reassured by their presence I am actually very wary of them. I fear any interaction will result in a fine at best or a personal injury at worst. This is not how the police should be viewed.

Political Rhetoric The biggest issue that NSW cyclists face right now is not increased fines but it is the anti-cycling rhetoric coming from elected officials and the police on a constant basis. Those rhetoric is quite simply providing an environment where drivers see cyclists as the lowest form of road user, enabling them in their abuse and in their poor and dangerous drivers. I rode on Sunday North of Sydney for approx 5 hours, I was passed at least a dozen times by cars or trucks that I could reach out and touch. The government and the police, for all their talk of making the roads safer, would be far more likely to achieve this by actually policing the roads and the dangerous driving we see there every day rather than worrying if someone has a bell on their bike. I realise this won't happen - instead they are happy to ramp up the rhetoric, accept that drivers in this state are the most aggressive, least capable, anywhere in the world and blame cyclists when they are knocked over and killed.

For another Sydneysider, the new rules were the last straw.

I quit I have gone from being a daily cycling commuter for over a decade to less frequent as the CBD has got more and more dangerous for cyclists. From 1/3/2016 I have given up cycle commuting to the CBD because the new laws are the final straw in persecuting cyclists. Despite paying road tax for x2 rarely driven vehicles I will instead walk or catch the train to work because you would have to be daft, desperate or both to ever drive a car into Sydney CBD. The medium term plan is to just get out of NSW entirely. I can't take the nanny state any more.

The GuardianWitness assignment remains open to contributions until Monday.