SHANE Rattenbury says new laws will make it illegal to throw objects at or place objects in the way of motor vehicles or bicycles so as to risk the safety of drivers, riders or passengers, as part of the ACT Government’s commitment to improving road safety.

“These new laws will help protect the Territory’s road users from irresponsible and dangerous actions, such as throwing rocks at cars or cyclists,” Shane said.

“Throwing objects at cyclists is unfortunately a relatively common practice, and many regular cyclists will have a story of being hit or nearly hit by an object thrown from a car. These days, with the popularity of helmet cams, a quick internet search will bring up videos of cyclists being subjected to dangerous behaviour.

“The consequences of this type of behaviour could be potentially catastrophic and any person found guilty of this offence now faces up to two years imprisonment.

“We strive to be a jurisdiction that is open and friendly to people using all forms of transport – in fact we want to particularly encourage people to use more sustainable and active means of travelling.

“It is really important that, in encouraging more Canberrans to choose active travel, we have laws that ensure our roads are safe for everybody.

“This new legislation builds on the ACT Government’s commitment to road safety, particularly for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

“The ACT Government has recently implemented a number of safety and accessibility measures for vulnerable road users, such as the introduction of minimum passing distances when overtaking cyclists, allowing cyclists to cycle over crossings at low speeds, and a trial of motorcycle lane filtering.

“We have also made a number of infrastructure improvements, such as the completion of the civic cycle loop and the new Bunda Street Shareway.

“Initiatives like these aim to improve accessibility and connectivity, improve safety and raise awareness of cyclists on our roads.”

“The new offence also applies to throwing objects at other vehicles, and covers actions such as car drivers throwing objects at other car drivers, or pedestrians throwing objects at cars or trucks. This is all extremely unsafe, criminal behaviour, and it is appropriate that our laws recognise it. People need to be able to travel around our city safely,” said Mr Rattenbury.

The new laws were passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly yesterday as part the Justice and Community Safety Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 put forward by Attorney-General, Simon Corbell.