Cycling in Christchurch

Have your say on changes to Cycling Road Rules

Last year, we foreshadowed the announcement by Transport Minister Chris Bishop of several planned changes to NZ road rules, including several quite relevant to cycling. Last week, the Government launched consultation on these Rule changes, with public submissions due …

Flashback Friday Guest Post: Should kids be able to ride on the footpath?

You might have heard the news the other day that the Government is proposing a number of interesting road rule changes, many of them with significance for cycling. I’ll cover them in more detail in a future post but, for …

Cycling in Chch 2025 in Review: Slow and Steady wins the Race…

And just like that, we’ve reached the end of 2025! As we herald the New Year, let’s look at how things have gone in the cycling world over the past 12 months…

While the signs were looking somewhat worrying at …

A heads-up about the bike helmet rule

There’s been an interesting flurry of discussions in the past few days, following the news that Regulation Minister David Seymour sought advice on the possibility of removing mandatory cycling helmet requirements. The upshot (for now at least) is that …

Mythbusting: Cyclists or Bikes should be Licensed

You may have seen a week ago some fairly big transport news came down from the Government, announcing future plans to do away with petrol excise levies for motorists and replace them with Road User Charges (RUCs) instead. Not surprisingly, …

Flashback Friday: Have your say on allowing Footpath Cycling

Hot on the heels of the recent Road Rule change announcements, including introducing footpath cycling for children, let me take you back nine years ago when an earlier proposal for this was being campaigned on, as reported in this …

Proposed new Road Rules might help cycling

It’s fair to say that the current Government hasn’t been a big fan of cycling. So it was something of a minor surprise when about a month ago, Transport Minister Chris Bishop announced a raft of proposed Land Transport …

Flashback Friday – Cycling and the Law: Things that can go on or with a Bike

As we head towards the shortest day of the year (reminder: Winter Solstice Ride on Sat 21st June!), the mornings and evenings are getting darker. All the more reason to make sure you have good bike lights for your …

Cycling and the Law: Some Miscellaneous Q & A

Some discussions I’ve had this week about a couple of biking legal issues reminded me that it’s been a while since I last covered a few of these topics in earlier articles on cycling law in NZ. So, I …

Flashback Friday: Can e-scooters and bikes co-exist?

Perhaps I should have re-titled this “can e-scooters and pedestrians co-exist?”, as we’ve just heard that Waka Kotahi (NZTA) have decided to renew their Gazette notice declaring that “e-scooters (up to 300W) are not motor vehicles” and are thus able …

Flashback Friday: New cycling research causes a flurry

It’s a busy time for me at the moment, as I frantically finalise two draft research reports and prepare to start another research project. Research work is a big part of what I do, and many of these projects relate …

Flashback Friday – Cycling and the Law: Where can you Ride your Bike?

As we roll out more cycleways and other facilities around the city, it’s probably timely to remind everyone where you can and can’t bike and the Road Rules around them. Mind you, that could all change before we know it; …

Flashback Friday – Mythbusting: What a Safe Passing Rule Means

It was eight years ago now since I was involved in the national Cycle Safety Panel that made various recommendations to government, including a number of Rule and policy changes. One of them that got a bit of attention was …

Flashback Friday – Cycling and the Law: What is a “Cycle”?

A couple of projects I was working on a few years ago related to potentially changing some of our road rules around cycling, and looking at possible changes to regulations for e-bikes and other low-powered devices. Sadly in …

Flashback Friday: Progress on Cycle Safety Panel Recommendations

It hasn’t be a great year for cycling safety in NZ, with a larger than average number of road deaths to date. While there is sadly an element of randomness about whether some crashes become fatal or not, it has …

Submit on getting a Fringe Benefit exemption for Bikes-to-Work

Connor Read (co-founder of the Shutl e-bike rental service) has alerted me to an interesting but troubling development in the world of fringe-benefit tax (FBT). Many of you may know that current legislation in NZ requires FBT to be paid …

Flashback Friday: Cycling in Nantes and #VeloCity2015 Conference

Like many parts of the world, Europe is starting to attempt some semblance of post-lockdown normality (even despite the ongoing Covid infection numbers…). In the cycling world, that meant another recent Velo-City cycling conference two weeks ago, in Ljubljana, …

Tag: Legal issues