The details of the bill and the committee can be found here:https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Work-of-Committees/Committees/Committee-Details?cid=272&id=8575...
Laws like this are pointless when police can’t police them. We have kids on ebikes doing stunts and such on main roads (2 lanes each way) and if they sniff police they hit bike tracks where they can’t be pursued.
The law here is ostensibly supposed to be to deal with exactly that situation. It does some good things, like giving police the power to confiscate those illegal ebikes, and to hold parents legally responsible (unless the parent can demonstrate they genuinely could not have prevented it). But it does some incredibly fucking dumb things too, like the 10 km/h speed limit mentioned in the video. And all to prevent people doing something that’s…already illegal. Because electric motorbikes that operate without pedalling or which can go above 25 km/h with pedal assist are already illegal to ride in public. Police fail to enforce it currently, so there’s no reason to believe they’ll be enforcing it if this passes. Except perhaps the occasional blitz of enforcement in easily-accessible places where the vast majority of people they catch would have been doing the right thing prior to the law’s passing.
Side note: we have police with bikes of their own who occasionally do this, so hitting the bike tracks doesn’t stop a pursuit. The thing that stops a pursuit is that the police know that a high-speed pursuit just increases the danger to both the accused and to the general public. So they only pursue under very limited circumstances.
I’m in the Logan council area so maybe policing is a bit different down here.
Honestly, the speed limit doesn’t phase me but I felt 15KPH was too slow but when I irregularly used my escooter to commute 15KPH across 30KMs is a long time but I basically was in motorcycle gear (I sold it and bus now thanks for 50c fares). I have seen a lot of cyclists powering along at 40KPH being 1 pebble or wobble from going under a car. Either bikes, scooters, skateboards, ewhatevers can wipe out a runner without visibility which is the biggest issue with Brisbane streets.
In a lot of these situations a police officer in a car (which is most likely position they will see these sorts of things happen) is the worst option for enforcement because they cannot pursue. If you cannot pursue, you cannot enforce making it a weak law. How often do you see push bike police in suburban streets though? Never.
Ebike is not a motorbike though. You can get a Zero EV Motorcycle and they go zero to 100 in 1 second, are registered etc and always on the road. Ebikes and escooters are an in-between that need their own classifications.
My opinion comes from an ex-motorcyclist and I always felt push bike riding was the more dangerous activity.
Laws like this are pointless when police can’t police them. We have kids on ebikes doing stunts and such on main roads (2 lanes each way) and if they sniff police they hit bike tracks where they can’t be pursued.
The law here is ostensibly supposed to be to deal with exactly that situation. It does some good things, like giving police the power to confiscate those illegal ebikes, and to hold parents legally responsible (unless the parent can demonstrate they genuinely could not have prevented it). But it does some incredibly fucking dumb things too, like the 10 km/h speed limit mentioned in the video. And all to prevent people doing something that’s…already illegal. Because electric motorbikes that operate without pedalling or which can go above 25 km/h with pedal assist are already illegal to ride in public. Police fail to enforce it currently, so there’s no reason to believe they’ll be enforcing it if this passes. Except perhaps the occasional blitz of enforcement in easily-accessible places where the vast majority of people they catch would have been doing the right thing prior to the law’s passing.
Side note: we have police with bikes of their own who occasionally do this, so hitting the bike tracks doesn’t stop a pursuit. The thing that stops a pursuit is that the police know that a high-speed pursuit just increases the danger to both the accused and to the general public. So they only pursue under very limited circumstances.
I’m in the Logan council area so maybe policing is a bit different down here.
Honestly, the speed limit doesn’t phase me but I felt 15KPH was too slow but when I irregularly used my escooter to commute 15KPH across 30KMs is a long time but I basically was in motorcycle gear (I sold it and bus now thanks for 50c fares). I have seen a lot of cyclists powering along at 40KPH being 1 pebble or wobble from going under a car. Either bikes, scooters, skateboards, ewhatevers can wipe out a runner without visibility which is the biggest issue with Brisbane streets.
In a lot of these situations a police officer in a car (which is most likely position they will see these sorts of things happen) is the worst option for enforcement because they cannot pursue. If you cannot pursue, you cannot enforce making it a weak law. How often do you see push bike police in suburban streets though? Never.
Ebike is not a motorbike though. You can get a Zero EV Motorcycle and they go zero to 100 in 1 second, are registered etc and always on the road. Ebikes and escooters are an in-between that need their own classifications.
My opinion comes from an ex-motorcyclist and I always felt push bike riding was the more dangerous activity.