The Age: Death prompts bike groups to push for tougher laws (26 July 2011)

People who drive less than a metre from cyclists should face harsh penalties, bike groups have said.

Tracey Gaudry, chief executive of bicycle lobby group the Amy Gillett Foundation, said Victoria needed to be the first Australian state to pass laws requiring cars to give a clearance of at least one metre to bikes.

Cadel Evans is among 1200 signatories to a national petition launched last month by another bike group, Safe Cycling Australia, to all Australian parliaments, pushing for a national one-metre rule.

Road groups, however, questioned how such a law would be policed and enforced, and said drivers instead needed to take more care around cyclists.

The call comes after the death of cyclist John Cornish on Beach Road in Brighton on Friday. [Read more →]