{"id":601024,"date":"2026-04-12T00:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601024\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T00:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T00:11:11","slug":"e-bike-users-say-queenslands-new-laws-could-double-commute-times-and-force-riders-onto-busy-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/601024\/","title":{"rendered":"E-bike users say Queensland’s new laws could double commute times and force riders onto busy roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

E-bike commuters say their travel times will blow out under new laws<\/a> that would force all e-mobility devices to travel at a maximum of 10 kilometres \u00a0per hour on any shared paths in Queensland.<\/p>\n

The new speed limit is part of a raft of changes introduced to state parliament last month and set to come into effect from July 1, subject to the parliamentary process.<\/p>\n

The proposed reforms were introduced in response to recommendations made by a parliamentary inquiry<\/a> aimed at improving safety after a series of e-mobility-related injuries and deaths.<\/p>\n

Laura Leighton is a cancer researcher at the University of Queensland and uses an e-bike to get to work from her home in Brisbane’s southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Laura said maintaining a speed of 10km\/h on a bicycle is “really difficult.” (ABC News: Stephen Clarke)<\/p>\n

She does not have a car and said her odd work hours meant she felt safer riding than catching public transport.<\/p>\n

Doctors warn of risk of ‘hidden injuries’ caused by e-bikes<\/a><\/p>\n

Bans on children riding e-mobility devices are being considered by several states, but a frontline surgeon says more must be done to stop “preventable injuries”.<\/p>\n

Ms Leighton said her commute would “roughly double” under the new speed limit.<\/p>\n

“Even more concerning than the time I would waste is the fact it’s actually really physically difficult to comply with a 10km\/h speed limit on a bicycle,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I’m looking at my speedo the whole time, I’m wobbling. I think I’m more likely to spook a pedestrian trying to get past them at 10km\/h.”<\/p>\n

Fines for breaking those speed limits will almost double.<\/p>\n

Riders clocked going less than 11km\/h over the limit will be fined $333, 11 to 20km\/h over the limit fined $500, and 21 to 30km\/h over the limit fined $751.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

E-bike commuter Laura Leighton said she’s “not willing” to be forced onto Brisbane’s roads. (ABC News: Liz Pickering)<\/p>\n

The amendment bill says the lower speed limit is designed to “address public safety concerns and improve the safety of pedestrians”, and suggests the changes will encourage riders to “select routes that better support higher speeds”.<\/p>\n

Ms Leighton said that would force users on to Brisbane’s busy road system \u2014 something she is not willing to do.<\/p>\n

“It’s very scary, to be honest, riding on the roads around Brisbane. I’ve had several very close passes from cars and trucks,” she said.<\/p>\n

“I just don’t feel safe riding on the road at peak hour.”<\/p>\n

She said she felt she would have “few options” once the laws come into effect.<\/p>\n

Majority of cycle network affected<\/p>\n

Bicycle Queensland CEO Matthew Burke said the new speed limit would affect the majority of Brisbane’s bikeway network.<\/p>\n

“This legislation is really going to impact most of the places we purpose-built for cyclists to go to get off dangerous roads,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bicycle Queensland’s Matthew Burke said 200,000 legal e-bikes have been sold in the state in the past decade. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Mr Burke said the new speed limits could add up to 30 minutes to e-bike commuters travelling into the CBD from the outer suburbs.<\/p>\n

“People aren’t going to do that,” he said.<\/p>\n

“They’re either going to break the law, which we don’t want, or they’re going to go onto some really dangerous roads.”<\/p>\n

Department of Transport and Main Roads guidelines<\/a> on speed management on shared paths, released in August 2020, said setting a speed limit “has proven high cost for little benefit”.<\/p>\n

There is no defensible justification for imposing regulatory speed limits on shared paths. A more constructive approach would be to provide clear instructions to people riding bikes of appropriate speed and behaviour in relation to other path users through effective path design and traffic control devices.<\/p>\n

The guidelines also cited studies showing a bicycle could become unstable at speeds below 11km\/h.<\/p>\n

Requiring people riding bikes to travel at speeds which may detrimentally affect their stability (and safety) on inadequately-designed paths … is not an equitable or safe path management strategy.<\/p>\n

Mr Burke said there were more than 200,000 legal e-bikes in Queensland that would be affected by the new legislation.<\/p>\n

“We’re making this the hardest place on earth to ride a safe, legal e-bike at exactly the time that Queenslanders and Australians are desperate to get into low cost, door-to-door mobility of the kind that safe legal e-bikes represent.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

New e-bike and e-scooter laws are set to come into effect from July 1.\u00a0 (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Mr Burke said his organisation was supportive of changes that crack down on “overpowered, illegal devices”.<\/p>\n

“Every day I have children on dangerous devices overtaking me on a long, uphill section at 40 or 50km\/h,” he said.<\/p>\n

“That’s what we have been asking for \u2026 control on those dangerous devices.”<\/p>\n

In a statement, Queensland’s Minister for Transport, Brent Mickelberg, said the government was prepared to make “tough decisions”.<\/p>\n

“Labor funded and put illegal e-scooters and e-bikes on the streets, while we’re removing them,” he said.<\/p>\n

Ms Leighton said she felt the laws were “completely missing the mark”.<\/p>\n

“We all understand that there’s a problem with non-compliant e-bikes. We want them off the streets as much as everybody else.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"E-bike commuters say their travel times will blow out under new laws that would force all e-mobility devices…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601025,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3170,292958,651,51710,38911,275244,38916,13735,239939,43,25213,292957,44,94,701,283271,141969,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-601024","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-bicycle","9":"tag-bike-paths","10":"tag-brisbane","11":"tag-department-of-transport-and-main-roads","12":"tag-e-bike","13":"tag-e-mobility-devices","14":"tag-ebike","15":"tag-fines","16":"tag-footpaths","17":"tag-headlines","18":"tag-legislation","19":"tag-matthew-burke","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-qld","22":"tag-queensland","23":"tag-shared-paths","24":"tag-speed-limit","25":"tag-top-news","26":"tag-top-stories","27":"tag-topnews","28":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}