The Law Handbook 2024

Chapter 6.9: Road law for cyclists, skaters and scooter riders 669 General road laws The road laws apply to all vehicles, including bicycles. Traffic signals Cyclists and riders of electric scooters, like other road users, must stop: • where indicated to do so by a red traffic light arrow (RR 56; 10 pu); • at a stop sign or other traffic control signal (RR 67; 10 pu; RR 68; 5 pu); or • where the lights are yellow, if it is possible to safely stop before reaching the lights or intersection (RR 57; 5 pu; RR 261; 10 pu). The above also applies to shared footpaths, separated footpaths and bicycle paths, and where there are bicycle crossing lights (RR 260; 10 pu; RR 262; 5 pu). Stopping near and passing trams Road Rule 163 (driving past the rear of a stopped tram at a tram stop) and Road Rule 164 (stopping beside a stopped tram at a tram stop) make it clear it is permissible to proceed past a stopped tram, at no more than 10 kilometres per hour, once the doors are closed and there are no pedestrians crossing. Failing to comply with these rules carries a maximum penalty of 10 pu. Schedule 7 of the RS General Regulations imposes a 2.5 pu infringement penalty on these offences. Giving way All road users, including cyclists and riders of electric scooters, must give way: • when changing lanes (RR 148; 5 pu); • at intersections in accordance with Road Rules 72 and 73 (5 pu); • at give way signs or give way lines (RR 69–71; for cyclists and riders of electric scooters: 5 pu; for any other vehicle: 10 pu); • to any vehicle leaving a roundabout, where the driver or cyclist is in the far left marked lane of a roundabout with two or more lanes (RR 119; 3 pu); • when making U-turns – except to a driver of a motor vehicle entering the road from a ‘road- related area’ (which includes the footpath, nature strip and shoulder) or from adjacent land (RR 38; 5 pu); • to buses merging into traffic after having recently stopped (RR 77; 5 pu); • to trams (RR 76; 3 pu); • to any vehicle already in a roundabout and to any tram that is entering or approaching the roundabout (RR 114; 5 pu); • to emergency vehicles with their flashing lights or sirens on (RR 78, 79; 5 pu); • at marked foot crossings with flashing yellow traffic lights (RR 65; 10 pu); • at any pedestrian crossing with a pedestrian on or entering the crossing (RR 81(2); 5 pu). At ‘children’s crossings’ (which are defined in RR 80(6) and always have ‘stop lines’, i.e. a continuous line marked on the road) with pedestrians on them) the driver or cyclist must come to a full stop and not proceed until the crossing is clear (RR 80; 10 pu); and • to any pedestrian crossing the road to board, or alight from, a tram (RR 164; 10 pu); once a tram’s doors have closed – and there are no pedestrians getting on the tram or crossing the road between the tram and the footpath – cyclists, riders and drivers can proceed past the tram at 10 kilometres per hour or slower. Also, drivers must give way to cyclists who are at or near an intersection that has bicycle crossing lights and who are crossing the road the driver is entering (RR 62(1)(b)). What is dooring? ‘Dooring’ is when someone causes a hazard to a cyclist by opening the door of a vehicle. Many bicycle crashes occur when the occupants of vehicles carelessly fail to check before opening their doors; cyclists can be hit by the door and even go into the path of oncoming traffic. Several cyclists have died from dooring incidents. Dooring is an offence as Road Rule 269(3) states: A person must not cause a hazard to any person or vehicle by opening a door of a vehicle, leaving a door of a vehicle open, or getting off, or out of, a vehicle. [10 pu]