Cyclist in Australia slapped with $1,161 fine for using phone while riding, as police “remind cyclists that they are subject to the same rules as motorists”

A cyclist in Australia was slapped with a hefty, four-digit fine this week after he was spotted using his mobile phone while riding, half an hour after another cyclist was stopped by police for riding through a red light – two incidents which prompted local police to remind cyclists that they are “subject to the same rules as motorists”.

On Tuesday, a 22-year-old man was handed a $1,161 penalty (just over £600) for using a handheld phone while cycling on Grafton Street in Cairns, a city in the north of Queensland, just after 5pm, the Cairns Post reports.

The fine meted out to the cyclist in Cairns is similar to that handed to another Queensland-based cyclist in 2021, who was spotted talking on her mobile phone while riding.

According to the Queensland government’s ‘Bicycle roads rules and safety’, holding a mobile phone, either “in your hand or resting it on any part of your body”, when cycling is illegal. This applies even if the cyclist is stopped in traffic or if the phone is switched off.

When “safely stopped”, cyclists can use a phone to pay for goods or services, present a digital licence or document to police, or gain access to an area such as a car park.

“You are allowed hands-free use of a mobile phone, for example, in a cradle attached to the bike. Hands-free can include to accept a call, use navigation apps, or skip a song,” the rules say.

“You can use a phone hands-free if it’s in a pocket of your clothing or a pouch you’re wearing. You must not touch or look at the phone. It can only be operated using your voice.”

30 minutes before the phone-using cyclist was stopped on Tuesday, a 27-year-old man also received a $619 fine for cycling through a red light on Buchan Street.

In Queensland, cyclists can also be punished with the same fines as motorists for offences such as using phones or continuing through red lights, though they cannot – for obvious reasons – receive penalty points.

Following the fines, a spokesperson for Queensland Police said: “Police would like to remind cyclists that they are subject to the same rules as motorists when using roads and must adhere to all road signals.”

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In the UK, where motorists are banned from using a handheld mobile phone as a communication device, punishable by a £200 fine and six penalty points, there is no specific offence related to using a mobile phone while cycling.

In April last year, transport minister Baroness Vere told the House of Lords that the government currently has no plans to introduce specific legislation banning cyclists and e-scooter riders from using mobile phones while riding, telling her fellow politicians that “it is really important that we do not demonise all cyclists”.

However, while the government shoes no signs of introducing a specific law to crack down on phone cyclists, using a phone while riding could still result in police fining a cyclist for careless cycling, which carries a maximum penalty of £1,000.

For instance, last November a cyclist in Aberdeen who complained to the police after he was mistakenly pulled over by an officer for “using a mobile phone” while riding on the road – when, in fact, the cyclist was attempting to save footage of a close pass from a lorry driver on his bike camera – was later told that, though there is no specific offence for using the electronic device while riding a bike, his actions could still be deemed “careless and inconsiderate”.

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During the incident, after stopping the cyclist the officer erroneously argued that it was illegal to use a phone or electronic device while cycling, told the rider to “look it up”, said that he would have received a ticket – or been arrested or charged – had she not been on her own, and advised him that not wearing a helmet or hi-vis clothing could lead to him getting “killed or smushed”.

And in March, the Metropolitan Police apologised for any “stress and inconvenience” caused as it dropped a much-criticised attempt to prosecute a cyclist accused of “posing a danger to other road users” as he attempted to film a phone-using motorist – just one day before the cyclist was due to face trial for cycling without due care and attention.

56-year-old Dave Clifton was cycling on Pont Street in Belgravia, London on 22 August 2023 when he spotted a Range Rover using his mobile phone while driving in traffic in the opposite direction, before turning around to capture footage of the motorist’s phone use with his helmet camera.

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However, after submitting the footage to the Met, Clifton was told by a member of the force’s traffic division that the police intended to criminally prosecute him for allegedly committing the offence of ‘riding a cycle on a road without due care and attention’ while attempting to film the Range Rover driver.

But in a letter sent seven months later, a senior manager at the Met said that while responses to footage of road traffic violations submitted to the police were “subjective” and based on the opinion of the officer reviewing the footage, the offence of cycling without due care was not met in this instance, and that the footage of the incident is now being used by the force for internal training purposes.