The Law Handbook 2024

660 6.9 Road law for cyclists, skaters and scooter riders NOTE The law in this chapter is current as at 1 September 2023. Road Rules and Regulations The relevant regulations, under the Road Safety Act 1986 (Vic) (‘ RS Act ’) are the: • Road Safety Road Rules 2017 (Vic) (‘ Road Rules ’ or ‘ RR ’) – these are the Victorian version of the Australian Road Rules; • Road Safety (Vehicles) Regulations 2021 (Vic) (‘ Vehicles Regulations ’); and • Road Safety (General) Regulations 2019 (Vic) (‘ RS General Regulations ’). From 1 January 2020, the functions and powers held by VicRoads under the RS Act were transferred to the Secretary of the Victorian Government Department of Transport (‘ Department of Transport ’) and the Head of Transport Victoria under the Transport Legislation Amendment Act 2019 (Vic). A note on penalties Each of the penalties indicated in this chapter is the maximum prescribed by legislation for a first offence, if the matter proceeds to court. Each offence applicable to cyclists, skaters or pedestrians can also be dealt with by a traffic infringement notice (an on-the-spot fine) as per Part 7 of the RS General Regulations (see Chapter 3.1: Fines and infringements, and Chapter 6.8: Driving offences). NOTE For the period 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024, one penalty unit ( pu ) equals $192.31 under Victorian law. For more information, see ‘A note about penalty units’ at the start of this book. Schedule 7 of the RS General Regulations states that for many bicycle offences, the fine is 1–3 pu. However, on-the-spot fines (also known as infringement penalties) for failing to obey traffic lights or stop or give way signs are the same for cyclists as they are for motorists (that is, 2.5 pu for failing to obey traffic lights, and 2 pu for failing to obey stop or give way signs). On-the-spot fines for most pedestrian (and hence, skater) offences are 0.5 pu. Who and what do the Road Rules cover? The Road Rules define various words in the dictionary at the end of the Road Rules (‘ RR dictionary ’). The definitions below are from this dictionary. Bicycles A ‘bicycle’ is included in the definition of ‘vehicle’ in Road Rule 15 and is defined in the RR dictionary as: a vehicle with two or more wheels that is built to be propelled partly or wholly by human power through a belt, chain or gears (whether or not it has an auxil- iary motor), and a includes a pedicab, penny-farthing and tricycle; and b includes a power-assisted pedal cycle within the meaning of vehicle standards, as amended from time to time, determined under section 7 of the Motor Vehicle Standards Act 1989 (Cth); but Contributors: Dru Marsh, Public Service Research Group, School of Business, UNSW Canberra; and Glenn Osboldstone, Senior Lawyer, DTP Legal