Afternoon everyone. Just a quickish introduction so I can get down to enjoying the new forum.
I'm the director of a small Australian cycling safety group called Safe Cycling Australia. SCA has been running for around 5 years now and in that time I have personally faced some monumental struggles with my health while trying to make a comeback after 23 years of the bike. It is now happening slowly and last week I rode 10km for the first time in a very long time last week. It's hard not to feel overwhelmed by it all given that I was comfortable riding 100km+ and loved my climbing before giving it away as many do when they start to drive. Nevertheless I'm determined to embrace the hurt once again and really start riding alot more than I drive. Driving is not living. I think I poured so much time and effort into SCA so that I could live vicariously through others, but now it's time to talk the walk.
If you haven't heard of Safe Cycling Australia, we are small, but have kicked some rather huge goals since 2009. The main claim to fame here is that I and we started a Queensland campaign last year calling for the state government to introduce a minimum safe passing distance law to replace current legislation which offered no protection for cyclists on our roads. With a very successfull petition and supporting campaign and some help from some very influential people in parliament, we - together with the Amy Gillett Foundation - were able to force the Transport Minister to launch the Parliamentary Inquiry Into Cycling Issues in June of last year. Now Qld has a new 2 year Split Rule trial, 1m for cyclists up to 60kph, and 1.5m at speeds over 60. Those found in breach of the rule face a $330 fine, rising to $4400 if taken to court and found guilty.
Since the new rule was passed into legislation cyclists have been saying that drivers are giving us more room on the road, and now most of the other states and territories are following suit. I'd call that a win 🙂 Still, it's now time to get out there daily and start racking up the miles and dropping the excess kilos from years of "comfortable living".
I hope to get to meet a few of you over the next few months and spread the word about SCA while I'm at it. I speak my mind so I apologise in advance, it's an issue I'm working on. RSD.