Ballarat drivers on notice as new laws targeting distracted drivers are introduced

On February 14, the Victorian government announced new driver distraction laws, which will come into effect from March 31.

The laws will target people using their mobile phones while driving, and will use special mobile phone and seatbelt detection cameras to catch offenders.

Drivers caught using their phones will receive four demerit points and a $555 fine.

Saxons cycling group's Jamie Govan said the new law was a positive move as many cyclists are victims of distracted drivers.

"If a driver is distracted, that's how a lot of cyclists are killed from behind, and quite often it's because the drivers are distracted," he said.

"You see it all the time - it's going to help, it certainly will help not just cyclists, but pedestrians and other drivers."

While he said this is a step in the right direction, Mr Govan highlighted other issues to be improved on, including the speed at which drivers pass cyclists and the lack of space bikes were given on the road.

He said few drivers were giving cyclists a 1.5 metre gap when overtaking, and were often passing at dangerous speeds.

While he said education around these issues was important, he believed the distraction law would make a difference.

"I've lost some really good friends and good bike riders from Ballarat who have been killed, and two of the ones I'm talking about got hit from behind by a car," he said.

"I had a friend Mark Spenceley, who got ran over between Clunes and Creswick and the bloke was distracted and just went over the top of him."

Greens member for Western Victoria Sarah Mansfield said after several deaths on Victorian roads, big improvements were required to make the streets safer.

She said laws targeting driver distraction are fine, but shouldn't come at the expense of making changes that improve the safety of all road users.

"At the minute, they (Victorian government) only spend about one per cent of the transport infrastructure budget on bike riding and walking," she said.

"So it's a tiny fraction of the overall budget, it wouldn't cost a lot more to really make a big difference to cycling infrastructure, particularly across our regional areas.

"The evidence shows having appropriate infrastructure is a really important part of keeping different road group users safe."

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Ms Mansfield said the biggest difference would be to build more dedicated cycling lanes and improve pedestrian crossings to create more walkable neighborhoods.

"We can't get rid of cars altogether, but so many more people would use a bike to get around if they had safe infrastructure to use, and knew the journey would be safe," she said.

"At the moment, there just isn't adequate safe cycling infrastructure available."