Wow, Luddy, it's a minefield out there; you never know when a fast-moving Nhoj is going to come tearing straight at you from out of left field.
T-bone, splat, all over red rover!

(Not that Nhoj would ever be so incautious as to place you, or anyone else, in jeopardy.)

Seriously though, there have been too many cyclists coming to grief from uncaring (or irresponsible, impatient, incapable, flaky, distracted or devil-may-care) motorists, and something needed to be done to draw due attention to their safety needs.
The new road rule is a good start - as is the related advertising campaign.
(I recall a similar advertising campaign aimed at improving the life expectancy of motor-cyclists. Hope it has worked.)

Hypotheticals are one thing Luddy, but in the real world, and particularly in the hustle and bustle of the city and urban environment, a lot more has been, and is still needed to be done to make the roads safer for all users - motorists, cyclists, pedestrians and kids (and even the native fauna).
(Not everyone is as caring and capable a driver as your good self, Luddy; and rules are usually made for the least, rather than for the best.)

I doubt you would have been fined for your 'hypothetical transgression' (in the hypothetical circumstances you described), but 'rules' are not made for the occasional exceptional circumstance, but for the common good.

Nhoj, have you considered going into politics?
Campbell Newman could sure do with a hand there in Queensland to overcome the State's $80 billion debt; and might then be able to do something to widen that northern road Luddy finds such great fault with.
(Or should that be - with which Luddy finds such great fault?)

Nhoj sounds like a perfect 'strike hitter' for wherever there is a problem in need of fixing.
Pragmatism of such a high order is indeed a rare commodity.

@Ludwig, you've got MY sypmathies, mate. If I never see lycra again, it'll be too soon!! They're SO ignorant, that they don't even have mirors fitted to their bikes, as they just don't care who or how many cars they are blocking a lane to. Fair enough when they're actually in a competition, they want to reduce wind drag, but when they are just practicing, they should be fitted with mirrors. This should be COMPULSORY! Besides, extra drag during practice makes them fitter. :)

I travel across the city to and from work, and I have learnt to hate them. I call them "riders in the Tour DeLusion".

If they want to use the road, as you say, pay vehicle registration, otherwise, get the hell outta the way! I've got no gripe when they stick to their bicycle lane, but there are so many roads that don't have those lanes, and they seldom stick to the left hand side of the road. Or, like motorcyclists in heavy traffic, they ride down between lanes! Bad enough motorbikes doing that, but at least you can hear one looming up on you, but bicycles are silent.

Free our roads of these hazards...PLEASE!! It's not as though our roads aren't congested enough, so that you're in a carpark called a "motorway", FFS! And we have to pay a toll on top, to sit in a carpark on the way to and from work! Ain't that bad enough? Spare us!

That’d be right Suze. You have a track record for responding to me in silly fashion and then running away. You won’t get drawn into the discussion or into corroboration of your ill-conceived comments

My opening post was deliberately put in strong terms, so as to increase the chances of engendering a reaction and getting a good discussion rolling.

Pity you couldn’t see that… and concentrate on the subject, which is of very real concern.

There have been a number of recent cycling fatalities in north Queensland; in Cairns and Townsville. The Qld Govt was right to seek a review and to do something about it.

Trouble is; what they have done is absurd! It is not just a feel-good be-seen-to-do-something-while-not-actually-doing-anything-significant exercise, it is much worse than that - it is a downright DANGEROUS law, which can INCREASE hazards and create real conflict situations.

This law is in for a trial two year period. I wonder how many people are going to die because of it, before they see the merit in getting RID of it!

<< Seriously though, there have been too many cyclists coming to grief from uncaring (or irresponsible, impatient, incapable, flaky, distracted or devil-may-care) motorists, and something needed to be done to draw due attention to their safety needs. >>

Too right Salty!

The problem is NOT the gap between cyclists and cars, it is the fact that drivers often don’t see cyclists until the last moment, if at all. From the driver’s position on the right side of the car, looking out the left side, past traffic in front of them, creates a real problem for seeing cyclists… especially if the road is curving to the right or if they’ve got a bus, truck or van in front, or if they are travelling too close to the vehicle in front, which is a very common driving fault.

I bet that in each fatality in my part of the world, the driver of the car that hit the cyclist has said; I didn’t see them!

Well….. how is a 1 or 1.5m mandatory gap going to fix that if some drivers are not going to see cyclists in the first instance??

I drove up the Cook Hwy yesterday on the part south of Palm Cove. There is a cycle strip outside a solid white line all the way along there. Speed limit is 80. Legal gap when passing cyclists is at least 1.5metres.

But even though cyclists are off the road proper, you still have to get right out over the centre line to be able to pass them with this sort of gap!! And that’s just for cars. What about busses and trucks?

Of course, NO vehicles were doing this. Every car was passing cyclists at considerably closer than 1.5m….. and doing so perfectly safely.

"There have been a number of recent cycling fatalities in north Queensland; in Cairns and Townsville. The Qld Govt was right to seek a review and to do something about it."

So we know how many riders have died without this law... so there is at least a baseline for comparison.

"This law is in for a trial two year period."

Therefore you will get the answer to your question, "I wonder how many people are going to die because of it,..."

If you wish to simplify the law and provide for all contingencies suggest changes to the Australian Road Rules Division 3 paras 140 to 145, extending the offences and rules on overtaking to encompass both vehicles and cyclists.

However, as the evidence that such overtaking occurred when it was NOT 'safe to do so' would be after a crash, injury or death I'd suggest ramping up the degree of offences to either attempted murder or murder as a disincentive for drivers to test the minimum bicycle-passing separation distance.

There is such a simple way to solve this problem, and that's to get the cyclists off the roads. Period! Because if you use something (in this case our roads) surely it's not unreasonable to contribute for that use.

Even farm machinery, Excavators, bob cats, even ride on mowers all have to be registered if used on our roads. It's about time cyclists were made to pull their weight.

You achieve this by introducing a registration system for ALL cyclists and the money raised is used to build bikeways. It's the perfect example of a 'user pays system, because you won't ever see a motorist driving on a bike way.

You don't register the bike, you register the rider, just like a fishing license because the days of the free ride on the tax payer must come to an and.

Thus would serve two purposes, one, it would make cycling safer, and two, it would remove the hazards from our roads.