Road rules- do you follow them?

[timmo]

I was just wondering about this on my ride home from work the other day.
Generally, I'll follow road rules, unless it's gonna slow me down a fair bit, in which case I'll break them where it seems "safe". (e.g. running a red light when turning left and no traffic coming)

How do you guys feel about following road rules?

In particular I'd like to know from those who commute or ride on the road regularly

Do you abide by the rules completely?
Do you just follow them if it suits?
Do you do whatever, whenever, and stuff the rules?
Do you break the rules "safely"?

Any thoughts would be good.

Cheers
Timmo

 

[dromana7411]

i will cross to diffrent sides of the rode alot, to which ever side has less traffic, (especially when riding to red hill (victoria) cause its a 100k rd, and i dont like being passed by trucks going that fast right beside me, and i knew a person who got hit by a car and died riding along there... and i will ride threw peoples front yards if it saves me time, cause im normally running late.... people tend to honk there horns at me alot when i ride on the road... but i always stop at stop signs.... i normally ride on the footpath tho... which makes people angry...

 

[Misplaced]

I try not to make a nuisance of myself when commuting/roadriding and generally follow the roads, but sure on occasion I blow a red or circumvent reds by using the footpath, hang on to a passing semi-trailer etc.

3 abreast on the road is just stupid though, youre asking for trouble

 

[No Skid Marks]

Three abrest is legal. Funny that. I only obey road rules that make me look good. I don't do shit to make us cyclists look bad or irresponsible. Otherwise fuck the road rules, you will die.

 

[lotec]

i mostly ride on the footpath because it is jsut soooooo much safer but ill slow down when i come to people so as not to scare them blowing past at like 60 on the footpath when i do ride on the road i mostly obey the rules and if i dont its probably because i didnt know it...

 

[Misplaced]

Three abrest is legal.

Yep, I know its legal, but its too messy, especially when playing with parked cars etc.

Car drivers dont seem to know its legal though....

 

[bazza]

i mostly ride on the footpath because it is jsut soooooo much safer but ill slow down when i come to people so as not to scare them blowing past at like 60 on the footpath when i do ride on the road i mostly obey the rules and if i dont its probably because i didnt know it...

lol you can ride at 60? is this going down a 60 degree hill and your brakes not working? i think the footpath is one of the most unsafe places to be riding along. if you are getting anywhere in a hurry anyway. cars reversing old people and people with strollers. stuff that. there are bike lanes for a reason. oh yeah i even dug up my old light last night when i had to get somewhere last night. after getting a road bike i now understand why so many road riders have accidents! stuff happens way faster than when you are riding the mtb around!! and most cars dont think you are going 40-50k either so they think they can cut in front of you..........oh yes i love those cars......grrrrrrr.

 

[RCOH]

I follow road rules 90% of the time when commuting/riding on road. In my local area where i know the trafic conditions & how the lights works I may run them if it is 'safe' (no cars for miles). If a raod has no streetlights & it is night then i ride on the footpath. I ride Cleveland st every morning at peak hour & try to take up a lane by myself, much to the chagrin of drivers, but that road is so narrow it is either do that or ride on the footpath which is also illegal. I have been hit 3 times in 4 years on Clevelnd st, nothing serious just getting my handlebars clipped & being forced into the gutter.

But on the other hand I ride 'under the influence' on a regular basis, but still follow road rules

 

[Dhfactory]

No,

and i kinda don't in the car do, i just drive and ride how i feel like.

-Sean

 

[03choko03]

when riding on the road ,as in the bush , its all about flow, if you can keep moving with the traffic it seems safer, bending the rules to do this comes naturally, jumping reds (if u had to stop in the 1st place) gives you a bit of space to getstarted, trying to take a lane as your own is legal but seem to piss the drivers off, i had a fight on the way to work once when i overtook a van on my bmx, he then put the foot down and cut me off( ego thing?) so cruised up to his window and asked him, "why?", he then swerved at me , i kicked his van, he stopped , punched me in the face through his open window as i came up to it, anyway , long story short, cops came, took me away for malicious damage,(i slammed my rear wheel into his door to stop him getting out, creating a dint), whilst at the copshop getting processed 3 witness rang the station(unsolicited) and verified my story , the cops let me go.
aah the peak hour commute,car drivers hate being pased by pushies,
bend the rules i say


soryy if this was a bit O.T.

 

[spuddy]

Im a bit guilty of the running-red-lights and riding-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road-and-footpath tricks, but i wouldnt say i endanger people by doing it, so its ok, right, right? For those of us who have ridden in the Melbourne CBD, i think the cars are the problem

 

[cheese]

I'll just ride however I want unless it is realy stupid or dangerous (like riding into incoming traffic or cutting arcross busy roads). I like the fact that you can be a pedestrian or a vehicle when you are on a bike, you just ride through when the lights are green, or move over to the side and cross with the pedestrians. 8)

 

[rhyno]

Im a bit guilty of the running-red-lights and riding-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-road-and-footpath tricks, but i wouldnt say i endanger people by doing it, so its ok, right, right? For those of us who have ridden in the Melbourne CBD, i think the cars are the problem

Ditto to all that. Clayton Rd from Mentone to Clayton can be very hazardous...all those trucks. I generally ride about 1mtr from the curb thus making it my lane but still keeping it safe for other road users to overtake without using up the other lane too much. I also run reds where it is a T intersection and nothing is coming, and at traintracks where the traffic is at a standstill. How do you guys rate riding down between cars when its a lockup (traintracks)?

 

[dilemma]

I generally follow most of the rules except for what most people have said above
ie running red lights when turning left/nothing's coming, footpath to avoid reds, etc.

But if there's cars around I try to stick to the rules cos i figure that most motorists hate cyclists enough already, why give them any more reasons.

Cars and bikes can be replaced but you can't (btw this isn't ur mum speaking)

did you know that it's actually required by law to have a bell or horn attached to your bike...??? well I've never been pulled up for that one...

I got radared by motorbike cops last night riding home from work, the car behind me got done. I asked Mr Plod if he got me & he said yeah but I was only going 30km/h in a 40 zone. so tonight i'll try harder... :twisted:

 

[Bonnet]

your outlook changes if you get hit by a car...well mine did. i used to abide by the rules pretty much most of the time apart from the running the odd red light/stop sign (seriously, whos going to stop at a stop sign on a bike, i just slow right down, i dont burn through them). one day i was riding up the path on a long hill, rather than get clipped by trucks at 60. i had crossed onto the otherside of the road up onto the footpath and a car turning left only looked right for traffic, not left for cyclist or pedestrians. she pulled out and hit right side on as i passed in front of her. so these days, i ride with my judgement and dont trust cars AT ALL, if i think that cars gonna do something stupid, then i'll break the rules to avoid it, and it happens more often than not. in a peloton on saturday morning road rides its a little better because you can take the inside near the curb. however when your 3 abreast on an arterial road and cars come past 1 ft away doing 30kmh faster than you honking in anger you just wanna scratch the fuckers when you meet them at the next lights. cars dont respect the speed or presence of bikes these days, everyones in a hurry to get somewhere at the expense of the safety of other road users.

ASH

 

[03choko03]

i got a caution for riding with no hands..."you must be in proper control of the vehicle"

 

[dilemma]

This is my rule of thumb:

Assume that to all other motor users, you are invisible

Assume that everyone else on the road is a complete dickhead with no idea

Make eye contact with anyone who is approaching at intersections, roundabouts, etc.

 

[03choko03]

word on the eye contact

 

[spuddy]

Riding between cars is a great little trick to get ahead. Funny when moto's try and do it Not too sure about messin with trains, but ive done it where the train is stopped at a station and still triggers the boomgates. You really have to make the road your own, fight for your place in traffic and all that, else you're gonna get burnt.

 

[lupine128]

as an ex, and soon to returned, bike messenger i had to answer honestly with the riding over small children answer.
however, thats work, not commuting. for just general riding, i guess i obey about 1/3 of the road rules. funny thing is i ride moto's a lot as well, and i obey 1/3 of the rules there as well. about 1/3 of the rules are actualy written in such a way as to get you killed. i particularly like the rule for motorbikes that staes a bik should occupy the middle of the lane it is travelling in.... that would be the part with the huge oil slick on it, right? or the rule for both moto and pushi that says that for a left turn you should be as far to left as i practicle.... close enough for other traffic to blast past and knock you down?
i've been hit by cars while on pushbike and motorbike, and EVERY single one of them has said "sorry mate didn't see you". how do you not see a large flourescent Lime green kawasaki ZX7R? with it's lights on! and the rider wearing leathers with a large red and white stripes!

This is my rule of thumb:

Assume that to all other motor users, you are invisible

Assume that everyone else on the road is a complete dickhead with no idea

Make eye contact with anyone who is approaching at intersections, roundabouts, etc.

this is pretty much the way i go about it as well. dilemma makes a good point about eye contact. if you have right of way, and glare at the oncoming cage in such a way as to let them KNOW that you are going to use it, it tends to make about 90% of them think twice.
they did a survey about 10 yrs ago in the UK, and found that more than 95% of drivers spotted police motorbikes immedeatly, but only 40% spotted an ordinary road bike in the same amount of time. when questioned it was found to be because police bikes posed a "threat" to the driver while ordinary bikes didn't.
i have to admit as a moto courier, i tried to re-educate cage drivers as to their mistakes when driving by doing things like removing their cell phones from their hands if they were driving (not such a problem anymore), or their keys if they were stopped at traffic lights. this was accompanied by a brief desription of what they did wrong.
in my defence i can only say "i was younger then" :wink: