{"id":1497,"date":"2009-06-18T16:46:21","date_gmt":"2009-06-18T05:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/?p=1497"},"modified":"2009-06-18T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2009-06-18T06:18:51","slug":"jail-threat-for-dangerous-cyclists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/?p=1497","title":{"rendered":"‘Jail threat for dangerous cyclists’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of The Age<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Cyclists found to have killed or seriously injured a pedestrian will face penalties of up to five years in jail or a $68,000 fine, after tough new laws came into effect today.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Cyclists need to recognise that, if they do occasion damage, they have responsibilities. They do need to stop,” said Roads Minister Tim Pallas said, launching the new laws this morning at a Bourke Street bicycle shop.<\/em><\/p>\n

The new penalties, he said, would help police tackle reckless riding by cyclists, and reduce the likelihood of pedestrians, other cyclists or drivers suffering serious injury.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nSome things that stood out for me:<\/p>\n

The new maximum penalties under the laws, which come into force today, include:<\/em><\/p>\n

* $284 or seven days’ prison if property is damaged by a cyclist and the rider does not immediately stop and offer assistance<\/em><\/p>\n

* $13,610 or prison for 12 months, or both, for dangerous riding<\/em><\/p>\n

* $681 for careless riding<\/em><\/p>\n

* $68,052 or five years in prison if a person is killed or seriously injured by a cyclist and the rider does not immediately stop and offer assistance<\/em><\/p>\n

Under previous bicycle laws, cyclists could only be fined up to $567 for riding in a dangerous, careless or reckless manner.<\/em><\/p>\n

All penalties are effective today, except those for the new careless riding law, which will come into force later this year.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I liked this little jab too…<\/p>\n

“Cycling is becoming a legitimate form of transport,” Mr Pallas said.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Uh, yeah, I think it’s been a legitimate form of transport for a while now, buddy.<\/p>\n

“But (with the recognition) that this is an important means of transport comes increased responsibility. This Government will come down hard on bad behaviour because there is a real consequence.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the last decade, two pedestrians have been killed by cyclists.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full Age<\/em> article here…<\/a><\/p>\n

In an unprecedented move, the Herald Scum is able to provide a little bit less sensationalist reporting. I know, I know. I’m checking the sky as we speak to check for planets aligning or some shit.<\/p>\n

The maximum penalties under the new act include:<\/em><\/p>\n

DANGEROUS riding – $13,610 or prison for twelve months or both. <\/em><\/p>\n

CARELESS riding of a bike – $681 for a first offence and $1361 for a subsequent offence <\/em><\/p>\n

IF a person is killed or seriously injured by a cyclist and the rider has not immediately stopped and offered assistance – $68,052 or five years in prison <\/em><\/p>\n

IF property is damaged by a cyclist and the rider has not immediately stopped and offered assistance – $284 or seven days in prison for a first offence and $567 or prison for between seven and 14 days for a subsequent offence.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mr Pallas said two people had died in the past 10 years after being hit by cyclists and another 68 had been seriously injured.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly the message has to be everybody needs to share the road and nobody has an exclusive right to use the road and nobody has the right to ignore the road rules,\u201d he said. <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the full Herald Sun<\/em> article here…<\/a><\/p>\n

While I agree that people who pilot a vehicle in a reckless manner should face consequences, I wonder what constitutes ‘dangerous riding’ and could earn the cyclist “$13,610 or prison for 12 months, or both”.<\/p>\n

If we’re being fair here, I’d like to have Mr Pallas detail how many pedestrians and cyclists have been killed by motorists in the past decade. How much damage can a bike do at, let’s say an average speed of 20 km\/h, compared to an SUV at an average speed of 50km\/h? I’m scratching my head on this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Courtesy of The Age… Cyclists found to have killed or seriously injured a pedestrian will face penalties of up to five years in jail or a $68,000 fine, after tough new laws came into effect today. “Cyclists need to recognise that, if they do occasion damage, they have responsibilities. They do need to stop,” said … Continue reading “‘Jail threat for dangerous cyclists’”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1508,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions\/1508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bottlesandchains.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}