A Queensland resident, Dave Sharp, is lobbying the state Parliament to change the law pertaining to a "minimum safe passing distance between cyclists and motorists". Julie Attwood MP is sponsoring the petition. We encourage all Queensland residents (sorry interstaters - you'll have to get your own going) to sign the petition.

"At the outset I would like to sincerely thank the Amy Gillett Foundation for their generous offer to help raise awareness of this petition. Without your dedication and diligence, it would have certainly struggled to gain its first one thousand signatures. As it happens, we have received those first thousand signatures in less than four days.

I first heard about safe passing distances after my parents returned from spending two weeks in New Zealand over Christmas with family. After hearing of the change in the
last few years of drivers attitudes towards cyclists, I began to wonder how much of a difference such a measure could have here in Queensland.

After throwing the idea around with a few die hard Brisbane riders on the Roadgrime forum, I decided to try and do something to make cycling safer and enable more people participate in and enjoy in the way I always have. At this point I was unaware of the Foundations long-standing Campaign.

Cycling has always been a passion for me. When I decided to get back on a bike after eighteen years however, I found the roads to be a far more daunting proposition than ever. I am alarmed by the frequency of serious accidents and fatalities on our roads involving cyclists, and my wife has become increasingly concerned about my decision to ride again rather than take up golf.

I don't want to lose my right as a cyclist to share the roads and participate in something that I truly love, and I would hope that this petition, or Bruce, as it has now been affectionately called, helps us to gain the respect and courtesy that my parents were so fortunate to witness.

Safe cycling.

Dave Sharp"

Sign the petition