I saw two bikes the other day sliding up the inside of traffic to get to the front at the lights.

Now these two guys KNOWINGLY placed themselves within the 1 or 1.5 m restriction zone and, they made an illegal pass for which they can now be finned for.

Surely they can't put themselves inside the restriction zone!

They (bike riders) pushed, and pushed, and pushed, to the point that they are now treated to some extent just like any other road user. And rightly so I say.

Perhaps they don't believe in the saying, be careful what you wish for as you may not like the result.

They have made a rod for their own backs.

The two bike riders were going up the inside of traffic at the traffic lights… presumably while the traffic was stationary.

Up along the left side of the road, I presume you mean.

Nothing illegal about that is there?

If the vehicles were moving, even slightly, then the 1 metre rule would apply. But not if they are stationary.

What ‘illegal pass’ did they make? Sorry rehctub, I don’t understand that bit.

Ludwig I was of the understanding that bikes are now treated the same way as cars on the foods and, it is illegal to squeeze past a vehicle on the left side if there is no lane. In other words, in the same lane.

They also do it through the centre of lanes, the same way motor cycles do and they can be booked for that.

Besides, when you say a vehicle is stationary, what happens if the lights change before the bike rider reaches the front of the line and the vehicle moves, who's in the wrong then?

Sorry, but I don't think they can have an each way bet here, because after all, it's the bike riders who are on about road safety and the lack of respect shown to them by some motorists.

Interesting point, does anybody know the legal detail? I was moving slightly yesterday on the way home when a bike went past on the left. He looked closer than 1m as he passed the vehicle in front of me. No safety issue at all in that but cops don't always fine on the basis of common sense.

I hear complaints on the radio recently from bike riders complaining about police doing incrased enforcement of bike riders in regard to red lights, stop signs and speeding. The specific complaint was they are not required to carry a speedo so why should they be booked for speeding. Not sure I've ever been able to exceed a speed limit on a push bike but some are much faster than me.

Some do seem to be very good at wanting vehicle drivers to give them lots of respect on the road whilst ignoring how often road rules are ignored by cyclists. I'm also wondering how long before certain sections of road are not allowed for bikes, those places where there is no safe place to allow that passing distance and often heavy traffic.

R0bert

DEAR ROBERT/the point re speeding/one soonlearns to speed-up/going down-hill hoping to coast most the way up the next hill
[and from what i saw/the speed trap was downhill[but the numbers indicate they need it to\pass the higher courts/SO BOOKED I THINK ITS 40 EXPECTINg A FW TO GO TO APPEAL..its al a joke really

yes i was doing 40 down the hill/but 6 k or less uphill]you want i shouls wash off speed a the botum of a hil?put stop signs at the bottum of the hills

is about passing laws makes those under the law subject to the law
getting a revenue stream/but unlike/the road rules we never beggeD[APPLIED]/FOR BENIFITS UNDER THE transportation/TRAFFIC ACt/THUS GET NO burden

APPART FROM US LOOSING EVERY TIME WE GET HIT
there are no safe places to ride/unless you want to meaNER/aloNG BIKE TRACKS/that are really walking tracks for tourists/thing is try riding a bike in traffic/you might love sitting behind your egzaust gas/we dont.

thing is you poor thing
that nasty bike rider we will get him for you
run them over make them extinct/bike riders are te biggest real and present danger/i feel safe when i see a cop talking to a biker without a helmit/so just keep on texting/chatting napping

yes others are the problem
not u/your perfect/for a whiny grumpy old man
[its lie some one is watching my life unwind/because i didnt pay a sin tax court fine/im limited to ridng bikes now/or walking/thanks heaps govt/ITS A GOOD THING I USED TO ONLY GO OUT IN THE AUTO/TWICE A MONTH[YET STILL NEED PAY FULL 3 RD PArty insurance[DESPITE USING ONLY ONE TANK OF FUEL A YEAR/5 BUCKS FOR FUEL/600 FOR REGO

NOW YA WANT BIKE REGO/HOW MUCH FOR UNDeR 100 MILES A Year?
screw govt ignorance that hears whiners wanting REVENUE*

TRY RIDING A BIKE FOR ONE DAY
I BET YA GET THREATENED AT LEAST TWICE
and fools protected by two to 5 tons of metal feel real brave

ignore them johan
karma fixes anything.[in time]
just have another fag/we know we pay our way

e

<< Ludwig I was of the understanding that… …it is illegal to squeeze past a vehicle on the left side if there is no lane. In other words; in the same lane. >>

I can’t imagine why it would be, rehctub. Cars pass cyclists in the same lane all the time. Cyclists whip past cars in a queue that are just moving along slowly, in the same lane. Always have. There’s never been anything wrong with that has there?

Technically they need to be at least 1 metre from vehicles as they pass, if those vehicles are moving even slightly. But this requirement does not apply if vehicles are stationary.

It could be foolish for a cyclist to get out between queued lanes of traffic in order to move forward at the light, as the lights may change and put them in a difficult position. But, I can’t see how it would be illegal for them to do that.

Yes it does present technical legal difficulties when the lights change to green and the traffic starts to move, as to who is in the wrong if a cyclist has moved forward next to a car at the front of the line and is less than I metre from it.

But hey, our police are smart people. They’ve got enormous discretionary powers. They will make the right decisions every time regarding things like this………………………… won’t they¿?¿?

The new cyclist safety margin laws in Queensland are just ridiculous. They were very poorly thought out. They have considerable negative connotations concerning safety. For one thng, it is just absurd that vehicles passing cyclists are now allowed to cross a double white centre line in order to uphold the minimum 1.5m gap when doing over 80kmh. What a bizarre piece of counter-intuitive law-making that is!

http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=6349

And the policing regime is nigh on hopeless for road rules overall, let alone for those pertaining to cyclists. There is an enormous difference between the letter of the law and what the police actually police!

A complete overhaul is badly needed, nationwide. The same rules need to apply right across the country, and the policing regime needs to be uniform.

UOG, I love the irreverant writings I read here on OLO, and like you have great suspicions our masters are actually "looking after us, and doing everything for the greater good".

In fact I ride a recumbent tricycle these days, and do it because of "men's health issues" whereas formerly I got around Sydney, NSW - Brisbane, Qld & Geraldton in WA & then Darwin up until 2007 on a 2 wheeled velocipede.

In the cycling community I became a pariah, because the road signature of a trike is somewhat wider than my 2 wheeled counterparts and they have issues with me because 1: I am 'odd wheeled' and 2: I can sit stationary half way up a hill and not fall over. : )

It also gave rise to many people stopping me & questioning whether I was "disabled". In fact it was mostly people in gophers & motorised wheelchairs who pulled me up to enquire - "...is it comfortable, how did you get injured, can you still walk, does it go very fast, is it hard to get in & out of...? "

Regarding the issue of this thread and cyclists weaving their way through stationary or slowly moving traffic, I can do this, but it is fraught with greater perils, so I tend to stick mainly to the cycle/walking paths which in the NT have a maximum speed of 20 kph.

To go onto the public roadways is asking for trouble, because of the low profile of recumbents, a flag fitted to a thin fibreglass stick at the height of a persons head (say 1.8 m from ground level) is often the only thing visible to a motorist. A 4WD with its greater height would run right over me and not know it. At night a small flashing red light shows at the top of the stick - along with high intensity LED lights front & rear.

With all prudent measures to be visible by other road users taken, it still gets lots of abuse if I go onto the public roadways.

Ludwig,the whole Australian Constitution needs jacking up, and new number plates fitted. It was good 113 years ago, but has become anachronistic...fer Chrissake it doesn't even have a proper protection for the right to life ! Fact is that it was conceived on a piss trip voyage from Brisbane, on a steamboat in the Hawkesbury River. The bastard child of an American skeleton & a British whore. We could have done better !

The state/territory legislation needs to be unified...which is what I thought "Federation" in 1901 might have done - but failed to accomplish. Don't remove the 'state' identities, but retain uniform laws keeping the case precedents and common law applicable from the point it all becomes amalgamated. That might keep the Cane Toads placated after their recent loss of State of Origin.

ALBIE MAKES A BIG P0INT/that we need consistant rules accross australia
[cause in the federal/constitution it says where state laws/to the point where they are diverent/fall subject to the fderal law[and transportation/has never been made/nor enacted/state laws are thus void

see when we federated the STATES SURRENDERS THE RIGHT tO LEGISLATE
and by legislating differently invalidated

ON THE TOPIC OF TRANSPORTATION.act/that writes tese laws
they regulate trade/transport;delivery for money[carrying goods ;ONLY*

THOSE doing trade/of transport[for money]..need to have a vehicle/ie a conveyance;'regeserd'/under the act/and delivery vehicles need licenced opperators/and if your not doing commerce you dont need reester/cause its not a transport 'evhicle'[as per he act/doing transport.

and licence to travel/violates traditional convention of freemovement.
so they build these pats to nowhere/bu we bikers ae finding and claiming our pubic common use rights

‘morning rehctub,

I find the 1.5 m rule pretty useless. You need to be much closer if you want to “clip” the handlebars of the “Lycra Warriors”, crush the rear wheel or in the case of multiple riders, get them to collide with each other.

If they insist on scraping their peddles down the side of my car, knock my mirrors and give me death stares for not leaving them enough room to get to the front of the queue at the traffic lights, I reserve the right to call them out for road rage and to take “evasive action”.

I might take a different point of view if they paid their way on the roads, until then they can take their chances with those who pay for their privileges as a protected species.

There, I feel much better now!

It really infuriates the bass baritone voiced Toyota 4WDers when your pedal powered trike burns them off across an intersection...funnier still is their faces when they ask at the next set of lights - "How much does that thing cost?"...you reply... "Oh around $3,000...but I can get to Alice Springs on a kilogram of SunLong rice... how much does it cost you per litre to run that thing? That's when their smirks turn to sneers...$2.10 per litre for 91 octane unleaded in Darwin and rising.

‘morning Albie,

Such strange questions they ask in Darwin? I have yet to hear a Toyota 4WD owner ask any question let alone “how much did your trike cost?’

You could answer a couple of questions for me though. How far is it from Darwin to Alice springs? How long does the round trip take you? How do you cook the Sun Long rice for? Do you get constipated on a rice diet and for how long have you had verbal diarrhea?

Hi Spinner, the V-D is terminal, I caught it reading your posts years ago. ; ) Rice is supplemented with road kill along the way, usually at night as its fresher & cooler when doing the ride the 1500 klms from Alice to Darwin. Just wondering...with a handle like SpinDoc - are you a government stooge?

At least in Darwin you have more room on the roads than most Australian cities.
I know that for a fact, I've just left after 10 years in Darwin.
I ride a trike too, only mines German and very powerful.
Runs on 98 too, very expensive even if the tank isn't that big.
The problem with pushbike riders is mainly that they consist of a broad cross-selection of humanity, and therefore all it's failings.
For every suicidal maniac ducking and diving through the traffic there's half a dozen sane quiet riders slipping along un-noticed, three more sticking to the footpaths and one sweating blood corralling the kids.
Personally I believe they deserve their own dedicated road system, preferably elevated, that would solve a lot of problems and the views would ensure they were tempted onto them.
It would be an expensive investment, but would provide returns to local businesses in the construction and maintenance thereof, and many intra-city and suburban services could benefit by using them, considering how slow and difficult the current road system has become.
It would also reduce the road toll, and the level of tension on the normal roads considerably.
Something to think about?

The cyclists,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBFFrsvgu1Y