In our earlier legal articles we considered what counts as a cycle and where you can legally bike. Now let’s look at what you can and can’t have on your bike (well you can take it from the earlier …
Tag: Legal issues
Cycling Road Rules getting a shake-up
Many of the current road transport regulations in place in New Zealand were drafted really only with motor vehicles in mind; trying to apply them to cycles as well doesn’t always make sense. New developments in cycling network design also …
Guest Post: Should kids be able to ride on the footpath?
Here’s an interesting guest topic from Jo Clendon:
Do you cycle with kids? Do you sometimes let them ride on the footpath? Perhaps you’ve seen or heard in the news about my campaign to make cycling on the footpaths …
Cycling and the Law: Where can you Ride your Bike?
Having previously covered the innocuous legal question of what exactly constitutes a bike, we’ll now turn our attention to where exactly you can ride your bike (and some of the implications of that). Before we get too far into …
Mythbusting: What a Safe Passing Rule Means
Since the Cycle Safety Panel report came out, there has been a lot of attention focused on one particular recommendation in it – introducing a mandatory minimum lateral clearance distance when passing someone riding a bike. As is often the …
Cycling and the Law: What is a “Cycle”?
This is the start of a planned series of articles to help readers understand some of the legal ins and outs of cycling in NZ. I get lots of questions about this, and clearly there is a bit of confusion …
Progress on Cycle Safety Panel Recommendations
There wasn’t a lot of fanfare, but just before last Christmas the final Cycle Safety Panel report was presented to the Government. You will recall that this came from the national group of experts convened by NZTA and the …
Cycling in Nantes and #VeloCity2015 Conference
After the highs of a month in the Netherlands, I still had another month to check out some of the “lesser lights” of European cycling (which, compared with New Zealand, invariably still means better than most of us…). …
What the Alex Mann case has taught us
It was fascinating to watch the furore erupt regarding Alex Mann’s conviction for impeding traffic while cycling on Dyers Pass Rd. Only two weeks ago, this was all over social media (and was easily our most viewed blogpost in a …
Police suggest cyclists get off the road
Following the conviction of Alex Mann for ‘impeding traffic’ for 400m while biking up Dyers Pass Road, there was an interview on Radio New Zealand featuring Alex and senior sergeant Scott Richardson (Radio NZ interview link). He made the …
Alex Mann fined for impeding traffic while cycling on Dyers Pass
Here are facts as extracted from the police statement to the court and discussion with Alex Mann.
Extract from the Police statement
On 14th May Alex Mann was convicted in the District Court of impeding traffic while biking …
Would the Draft Cycle Safety Panel Recommendations make a Difference?
It seems like a long week since the tragic events of last Monday when a cycle tourist lost his life in Hornby courtesy of a turning truck. As timing goes, it was intriguing that this was also the same week …
How should we tackle Cycle Safety in NZ?
So you may have heard that I got myself another little job to do in the next few months – help the Government formulate some proposals about what to do about cycle safety in this country. The NZ Transport Agency …
Can You Ride Two Abreast?
There’s been a lot of correspondence in the media lately about cyclists’ versus motorists’ rights. One item that has been frequently raised is the issue of cyclists riding two (or more) abreast (i.e. side by side), when motorists have been …
Don’t be a D***k – Stop at Red
There’s been a small flurry of conversation following the TV item on cycling safety last weekend. No matter what the particular cycling issue being reported, it doesn’t take long for the commentators to come out of the woodwork and …
Should we have cycle helmet legislation? NOT the same question as “should we wear helmets”!
I’m writing this here because I seem to be writing something like it often recently thanks to Aaron Keown’s comments in the media recently!
All other things being equal, I agree, it is better to wear a helmet when cycling …