Stephen Barrett: Why the new one-metre rule for overtaking cyclists will make SA’s roads more dangerous

OPINION: The new one-metre passing rule for bicycles won’t change a thing, although it will make SA’s roads more dangerous, writes Stephen Barrett.

• The law most cyclists break without knowing it
• New laws allow cyclists to share the footpath
• Why you shouldn’t fear the changes
• It makes sense to maximise cyclists’ safety

WITH the spate of deaths on South Australian roads in recent weeks, questions naturally arise about the most effective approaches to reducing the toll.

Dramatically reducing the speed limit would help but such a step would defeat the purpose of having a car, motorcycle and even a bike.

Are there steps we can take to reduce the road toll other than more law changes, stiffer fines and more intensive policing? Is there a role for better engineering?

I get bicycles. They are great exercise for the middle-aged because they don’t have to work that hard. It gets them off of the couch. Riding is great fun but a man died by riding a bicycle into the back of a car.

There is a risk of that because brakes on bicycles are not that good. Car brakes are significantly better than motorbike brakes. Cars have more rubber and a lower centre of gravity. Bicycles with their tyres chosen for aero more than grip are at an even greater disadvantage.

That is the issue with bikes. They are out of phase with everyone else on the road. The new one-metre passing rule won’t change a thing, although it will make the roads more dangerous.

The minimum lane width is 2.5 metres, the maximum 3.5 metres. A vehicle is allowed to be a maximum 2.5 metres wide. A Honda Jazz is 2.029 metres wide.

Stephen Barrett

Obviously if there is a cyclist in a lane then any vehicle is going to have to leave it. Vehicles will end up travelling at different speeds, there will be accidents. This will be good news for panel beaters, I suppose, and that can’t be bad as that business has been decreasing in size for years due to engineering improvements to cars.

That is the truth about the decreasing road toll. Engineers did it. They built safer cars and cars that had better steering and brakes. It wasn’t speed limits or traffic enragement devices, it was engineers.

To get motorbike bikes to be safer it is going to be an engineering-led effort. Motorcycles suffer because, under use, their steering geometry is changing constantly depending on the position of the forks.

A bump or a bit of braking makes it all change. Muddle this up with counter-steering — because bike steering is backwards — and then camber thrust, which is what makes the motorbike turn a corner.

A lot of skill is required. This is why I am working to build a better hub centre-steered motorcycle. It is a leap forward, such as cars experienced when they went from ladder chassis to monocoque construction, but very difficult to complete successfully.

I can’t see an engineering answer to significantly improving the safety of pedal cycles. They are too fast to get along with pedestrians and too slow to fit in with cars.

In the countries where they do work such as Japan, the bikes are steel-framed with luggage racks and they use them to ride to the train station from home.

I hope tracks are built for bikes so riders can ride but stay off the roads. I see no other solution.

Stephen Barrett is an Adelaide-based engineer and motorcyclist.