Car drivers in Canberra are keeping their distance from cyclists but risks increase as riders head out onto country roads and highways.
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After 272 hours in the saddle and 6531 kilometres travelled, a study by the University of Adelaide has found that Canberra motorists are generally compliant with the ACT's minimum passing rules first introduced on a trial basis in 2015 and mandated last year.
Using a sophisticated sensor box, GPS and data logger set-up on each of the participating bikes, 23 volunteer riders gathered the information over August and September last year.
Drivers in the ACT are required to provide a minimum passing distance of 1 metre when overtaking cyclists in speed zones at or below 60km/h, and 1.5 metres at speeds above 60km/h.
On roads with a 60km/h or lower speed limit, 97.3 per cent of ACT drivers kept the required distance. This compliance dropped to 88.8 per cent at speeds above 60km/h.
Dedicated bike lanes were also found to be a safety benefit for riders and Road Safety Minister Shane Rattenbury, an avid cyclist, has pledged to install roadside signage reminding motorists about the relevant passing distances.
Under minimum passing distance legislation, the previously unlawful act of a driver crossing or straddling a centre line is suspended, provided the driver has a clear, safe view of the road ahead and any approaching traffic.
The good news from the ACT passing study arrived at the start of National Road Safety Week, an initiative of the Sarah (Safer Australian Roads and Highways) group formed by Peter Frazer whose daughter, Sarah, was killed on the Hume Highway in 2012.
Sarah Frazer, 23, was driving south on the Hume Highway on her way to begin a degree in photography at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga when her car broke down two kilometres south of Mittagong. She waited for an hour in the breakdown lane for a tow truck to arrive.
Sarah and a tow truck driver Geoffrey Clark were loading up her vehicle when a passing truck sideswiped both pedestrians and killed them.
A Goulburn court later found the truck driver's inattention caused the incident.
The driver of the truck, Kaine Barnett, was sentenced on two counts of dangerous driving and received a minimum 18 months' jail.