Safe cycling advocate Simon Gillett has again called on the Victorian government to catch up with the other states and legislate a safe passing distance for motorists to overtake cyclists.
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The Amy Gillett Foundation, of which Mr Gillett is founder and patron, is running the “a metre matters” campaigning urging state and territory governments to legislate that motorists must give riders a 1m space when passing.
Victoria remains the only state without safe passing laws, which Mr Gillett believes are vital to protect cyclists.
The foundation was yesterday named as the safety partner of the 2018 Federation Uni Road National Championships to be held at Buninyong and Ballarat from January 3 to 7.
“It’s a logical place for us to be as an organisation solely focussed on cycle safety,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter whether you’re a world champion, riding in the community, or riding to school on a bike, everyone deserves to get home safely.”
Earlier this year the Victorian government rejected a recommendation to introduce a minimum passing distance for motorists overtaking cyclists, instead opting for a public safety campaign.
“We believe it needs to be legislated, so it doesn’t matter what people think, it’s part of the law,” Mr Gillett said.
“What we’ve found in other states is that just the introduction of the legislation results in a huge amount of social media discussion, both positive and negative, which is a good thing because it’s one of the few road law changes that everyone knows because everyone is talking about it.”
Mr Gillett said the law should also be changed to allow motorists to cross an unbroken centre white line to pass a cyclist.