Victorian Road rules - am i allowed to claim a lane?

[GrubNut]

I am currently copping a heap of abuse/death threats/attempted murder etc. from motorists for claiming a lane. Lately about two encounters per day - one on the way to work one on the way home. I find on certain stretches of road, the only safe way to ride is smack bang in the middle of the lane.

What i would really like to do is print out copies of the road rule that states I am actually allow to ride on the road, not in just in the gutter, to politely hand out to swearing motorists.

Now it is my understanding that I'm allowed to ride in a lane if there's no bike lane available. I can't find much detail this however, and many motorists clearly don't share my view - although through all the potty-mouthed road rage it's a bit hard to tell exactly what their concern is, and rolling up to the drivers window at the next set of lights and politely enquiring what the problem was seems to only result in more extreme death threats.

Here's the special victorian bike rules.
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/8A00D79B-03C5-4084-B5C2-7BE6A60406D3/0/part_15.pdf
Number 247 states

Riding in a bicycle lane on a road
(1) The rider of a bicycle riding on a length of road with a bicycle lane designed
for bicycles travelling in the same direction as the rider must ride in the bicycle
lane unless it is impracticable to do so.
Penalty: 1 penalty unit.
Note Rule 153 defines a bicycle lane and deals with the use of bicycle lanes by other
vehicles.
(2) In this rule—

road does not include a road related area.
Note Road related area includes any shoulder of a road—see rule 13.

The other relevant bit is the general rules which are here:
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonlyres/CA55689D-51AC-49ED-B3B4-34A882148421/0/DrivinginVicRR.pdf
On page 61 its states that cyclists are entitled to ride two abreast 1.5 metres apart. But that's not saying you're not allowed to ride in a lane singly, right?

On page 62 it states that motorists can only share a lane with you if theres > 1.0 metre clearance.

I think that the page 62 bit is the closest I can find to to saying, yes I can use a lane (since I would be doing so where motorists can't pass me in the lane giving a metre clearance). But really the law seems ambiguous.

Anyone know for sure, or have found other rules that might be relevant?

[dhdave199]

i dont know about victoria but me and my mates got abused for claiming a lane.

we were two apart and not being stupid

bui that was in nsw.

[mongoosedh]

As far as I see it, when you are riding I think it is better if you actually take up the whole lane. Because when you only take up some of the lane then the driver has to go out of his/her way to go around you. Risking their and your saftey. Because the driver has to swing out of their lane and you run the risk of being smashed into the unforgiving concrete.

Hope this helps

[dhdave199]

as long as there's more thatn one lane on the road that is

[nuclear_powered]

None of that wording seems to say "When riding on a bicycle, you can use up a whole lane" but then again, most of the Vic Road rules seem to treat a bicycle as a vehicle, so I'm not too sure there. It's weird - I've been reading up on hte rules myself lately since I'm riding a new way to work. There are many clauses in the rules to deal with bicycles and cars sharing the road, yet they also class bicycles as vehicles. Go figure.

I personally right on the left hand side of the lane. Wider cars may potentially have to change lanes to avoid me, but they'd have to do it anyway if I was riding in the middle. The other advantage to being on the left hand side of the lane is, should the driver coming up your rear not see you, there's more of a chance they'll miss you than if you were smack bang in the middle.

[dhdave199]

i vote we just put air horns on our bikes so if toot at us we toot at them!

either we should be allowed to ride on the road and take up lane with tworiders side by side or the counsels should build a he;ll of a lot mor bike paths

[LordNikon]

There's a particular distance that you are allowed to ride from the edge of the road.

From memory it's 2.5 metres, or at least that's what I've been told.

Which would give you a whole lane I guess.

I usually ride far enough from the curb so that drivers need to think about going around me and can't just squeeze past, but not far enough to be in the middle of the lane. Works pretty well for me.

[schmackster]

Don't know about Vic but in NSW I think you can ride no more the 1m from the edge of the road if it is single lane and 2 abreast only if the road has 2 or more lanes in the one direction.

In general 1m off the gutter means that no one will squeeze past you in peak hour but will be able to half merge with the other lane to pass. IMHO taking up a full lane will always make you a target for abuse.

The trick is to ride far enough from the edge to stop people thinking that they can squeeze past but not so far that they think you are hogging the whole lane.

[AngoXC]

Common sence has alot to do with it. Cars are by nature, faster then people on bikes. While your well within your rights to take up a lane, impeeding the traffic is something that most would frown upon.
Probably, the safest thing would be to hug the exteme left hand side rather then taking up an entire lane...

[leftieant]

I think Bicycle Victoria and Cycling Australia have flyers such as that. Got one only the other week with my new CA licence.

I'll see if I can 1) find it 2) scan it and 3) post it

Ant

[leftieant]

No luck finding it, but Bicycle Victoria have some info on their site.

Check:

http://www.bv.com.au/file/file/STR_general_flyer.pdf?phpMyAdmin=DhLMKS7n7oG8nIonG yRgo-K1uw6

http://www.bv.com.au/file/file/STR_for_cyclists.pdf?phpMyAdmin=DhLMKS7n7oG8nIonGy Rgo-K1uw6

Ant

[Some Guy]

impeeding the traffic is something that most would frown upon

You'd think so wouldn't you? But then they all get in their cars and impede traffic that way, so I guess it's not so frowned upon.

Probably, the safest thing would be to hug the exteme left hand side rather then taking up an entire lane...

No. Easier for the car drivers behind you, but in my experience the most dangerous place to ride in many situations. If you are hugging the gutter you put yourself at risk of pedestrians, drains, debris, and most importantly cars zooming past you without giving any room at all. By riding a couple of feet out, you make yourself more visible to drivers and reduce the risk of drains, debris, and pedestrians.

You could argue that by putting yourself more in the path of the car you are at greater risk, but I feel that by making drivers think about how they are going to pass you you make things safer. Not to mention that if something does go wrong you can veer to the left to avoid the situation. If you are already hugging the gutter/edge you've got nowhere to go.

Edit: Looking at the casualty stats in the bv link above, I notice 30% of casualties are caused by a motorist driving into the path of an oncoming cyclist (compared with 20% from behind or the side). So again, being further out and more visible is going to make you safer.