You may recall how earlier in the year the Government consulted on a series of proposed changes to existing Road Rules, many of them looking to provide advantages for people cycling. In July, the Transport Minister announced that four of the proposals would go ahead. And it has now been confirmed that these changes will take effect from October 1st; i.e. just over a couple of weeks away.
While one of the new Rules relates to requiring road users to give way to buses leaving bus stops in urban areas, three others are of particular interest from a cycling perspective. From 1 October:
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Now a real thing… Children 12-years-old and under can ride bikes on footpaths and their parents or caregivers can also ride with them. It was interesting that the consultation process strongly endorsed allowing parents/caregivers to also be there, after the original proposal did not suggest this option. While it is encouraging to see the introduction of footpath cycling, understandably some pedestrian advocates still remain concerned that this Rule could put people walking at more at risk.
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I guess this person can now use the adjacent cycle lane… People will be able to ride e-scooters in cycle lanes. Arguably this has already been a thing in practice for quite a while, but this will now legitimise this activity and hopefully discourage more e-scooter riders from using a footpath instead – certainly several pedestrian and disability groups supported the proposal.
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The ideal passing gap (c/ Jay Boreham) Drivers must leave a minimum gap of 1.5 metres when passing other types of road users, such as cyclists and horse riders. This proposal has certainly been a long time coming, so it’s great to see it happen. Will it improve things for the better? I guess we’ll have to see… It’s interesting that the original proposal suggested a 1m gap in urban areas and 1.5m in rural areas, but most submitters wanted more consistency; hence the simple 1.5m Rule that was settled on (although the equestrian advocates at the NZ Vulnerable Road Users Trust did try to get a 2m gap for horse riders).
It will certainly be interesting to see how these new Rules operate in practice. No doubt, there will also be some fairly widespread public education and training to help remind people of their obligations. Stay tuned…
What do you think of the new Road Rules?