A new Queensland report has recommended helmet requirements be scrapped for public cycle schemes. Source: AAP
THE Queensland government is under pressure to ignore expert advice and retain laws requiring cyclists to wear helmets.
A committee tasked with looking at cyclist safety has made a raft of recommendations, including trialling a requirement for motorists to stay at least a metre away from riders.
But it's also said there's insufficient evidence about safety benefits to justify the current law requiring riders to always wear helmets.
It has recommended a two-year trial giving riders aged 16 and over the freedom to chose whether to wear helmets in parks, on foot and bike paths, and on roads where the speed limit is 60km/h or less.
The Amy Gillett Foundation, which campaigns on cycling safety issues, has welcomed the government's pledge to trial the one-metre rule.
But it says the government should reject any watering down of laws about helmets.
"While implementing the proposed safety measures we recommend the Queensland government uphold current helmet laws to avoid taking one step backwards for safety at the same time we are taking a step forward," the foundation's chief executive Tracey Gaudry said in a statement on Friday.
Government MP Bruce Flegg, who is also a doctor, says the one-metre trial represents great progress but he's worried about the suggestion on helmets.
"We should think long and hard before relaxing helmet laws. Helmet laws potentially prevent significant brain injuries," Dr Flegg said in a statement.
"Any relaxation, such as on bike paths, should be seen as the exception rather than the rule."
Transport Minister Scott Emerson is yet to say if he's likely to accept that recommendation.
But he has already committed to some others, including the one-metre trial, and allowing motorists to cross unbroken lines to overtake riders when it's safe to do so.
The Amy Gillett Foundation was formed after the cyclist was killed by an out-of-control driver while training with her Australian cycling teammates in July 2005.
But Queensland's peak motoring group, the RACQ, says the one-metre overtaking rule, and a proposal to let riders treat stop signs as give-way signs, could actually increase aggression between cyclists and other road users.
RACQ safety policy spokesman Steve Spalding says motorists must give cyclists at least that amount of space as a buffer, but it should only be used as a guideline.
"Education around safe passing distances will be far more effective and actually lead to a safer and more courteous road sharing environment," he said in a statement.
"The fact is, in order for our transport system to work, we all have to share the road. Changing laws and increasing fines make for good headlines, but without enforcement it's a waste of time."
The committee has also recommended increasing fines for cyclists who do the wrong thing on the roads, so they match those that apply to motorists.
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