Cyclists and the Law – WA Perspective on the Road Code
Aushiker | November 17, 2008 9:56 pmThe issue of what cyclists can and can’t do on the road and/or shared paths comes up frequently in online forums such as Bicycles Network Australia and often with misunderstandings of the law shown. Hence the purpose of this posting is to highlight the relevant sections of the law as a quick reference. I appreciate the the Department of Planning and Infrastructure also has a Fact Sheets series covering some of these issues, but my concern is that these are not always as correct as they should be and as I recently noted in a forum posting, law is spelt L-A-W (paraphrasing Mr Keating) and not D-P-I, so here goes.
The relevant law is the Road Traffic Code 2000 (updated November 14, 2009) (Road Traffic Act 1974) and the Road Traffic (Bicycles) Regulations 2002. Please note that the Regulations are WA specific whereas the Road Traffic Code 2000 is based on the National Road Code.
Culpable Driving applies to cyclists – covered in a separate blog posting
Riding Along Side other Riders – Can or can’t we?
Well we can and we can’t. The law distinguishes between shared paths and the road. On shared paths, riding along side another rider is only allowed when passing. On roads one can ride along side another rider but we can only go wider if passing. When riding alongside another rider, we should not be more than 1.5 metres apart.
The relevant sections are:
Section 130: Riding a 2-wheeled vehicle alongside more than one other rider
(1) The rider of a motor cycle, moped, power-assisted pedal cycle or bicycle shall not ride on a carriageway that is not a multi-laned carriageway alongside more than one other rider, unless the rider is overtaking the other riders.
(2) The rider of a motor cycle, moped, power-assisted pedal cycle or bicycle shall not ride in a marked lane on a carriageway alongside more than one other rider, unless the rider is overtaking the other riders.
(3) The rider of a power-assisted pedal cycle or bicycle shall not ride on a path alongside another rider, unless the rider is overtaking the other rider.
(4) If the rider of a motor cycle, moped, power-assisted pedal cycle or bicycle is riding on a carriageway that is not a multi-lane carriageway alongside another rider, or in a marked lane alongside another rider in the marked lane, the rider shall ride not over 1.5 m from the other rider.
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