SA’s new cyclist overtaking laws aren’t working, writes Jess Leo

OPINION: We’ve given cyclists a metre and they’ve taken a mile. After giving the controversial new overtaking road rule a red hot go, I’m ready to break away from the peloton and declare it a bust.

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WE’VE given cyclists a metre and they’ve taken a mile.

It’s been more than four months since the State Government introduced its controversial new road rules concerning cyclists and now, after a decent amount of giving them a red hot go, I’m ready to break away from the peloton and declare them a bust.

Introduced at the end of October, the changes allowed cyclists of any age to ride on the footpath and compelled motorists to leave a one-metre gap when passing cyclists — even if they have to cross over a double line to do so. On open roads that buffer widens to one-and-half metres.

Safety on our roads is paramount. You lose that and we’re one swerve away from a traffic system that resembles the crowded ramshackle roads of South-East Asia. And while many of those nearby nations make their seemingly diabolical traffic mess work, add in the dreaded “Adelaide drivers” factor and we’re in big trouble.

But with the introduction of the government’s cyclist-centric new directives it’s not just “Adelaide drivers” we need to worry about — the increased powers afforded to our two-wheeled friends have spawned a sub-breed of “Adelaide cyclists”, if you catch my drift.

Traffic at a standstill? Don’t worry, these cocky cyclists will zoom past stationary vehicles — not leaving a one-metre gap mind you — and butt into intersections.

Or, when they encounter a red light they just tip their wheel up on the kerb and enact their government-given right to ride on the footpath and take their turn no matter what the colour of the traffic signal.

We’ve now got cyclists with helmet-cams filming drivers who have failed to get out their one- metre ruler and, increasingly, I’m seeing cyclists weave in between halted traffic in gaps that would barely be the width of a standard 30cm ruler and pop their paws all over the vehicles they’re passing.

Cyclist Nicola Thompson in Croydon, riding alongside a car that’s one metre away. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Pardon me, but if I were to roll down my window just to lean against your bike, I sense things might end differently. Ditto should I decide I’ve had enough of waiting for the lights to change and mount my Corolla onto the kerb.

But, it’s not cyclists’ fault. They were given the all-clear to ride on footpaths and pick and choose when they’re beholden to the bitumen rules.

The fault here lies with the State Government who passed these laws based on recommendations of a citizens’ jury. Namely, 37 everyday folk like you and me who met five times over a two-month period to chat about how to make our roads safer for cyclists.

I’m not in the science business but to me, 37 people isn’t a very broad sample size. But here we had people power at work — an infinitely better result than a dictatorship.

Ultimately, where the Government has erred is in the subject matter.

The citizens’ jury has in recent times been employed to debate and make recommendations on dog and cat management issues and “vibrant and safe Adelaide night-life” matters. These topics are ripe for the picking — not only are they less a life-and-death safety issue (save for unfortunate but often isolated dog attacks and one-punch incidents) but also, they’re not as wide-reaching.

Don’t like the jury’s recommendations — which the Government then adopts — around compulsory non-retrospective dog and cat microchipping and desexing? Then don’t become a pet owner.

Not happy with the state of our “vibrant” night-life? Then stay at home on the couch or entertain among friends’ residences.

But if you need to get from A to B — whether it be on your bike, feet, public transport or car — you’re going to have to brave our roads one way or another.

I’m a big fan of giving things a go before you dismiss them wholesale but the new bike laws are about as attractive as a MAMIL (Middle Aged Man In Lycra — for those uninitiated).

Science suggests it takes somewhere between two and eight months to form a habit. Well, we’re truly in that zone so I implore the Government to repeal these laws and let common sense prevail instead. Otherwise the “Adelaide cyclist” plague could be here to stay.