[talk-au] Cycling on Victorian paths

[forster at ozonline.com.au]

Hi Sebastian
Welcome to talk-au
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A NOTE FOR NON-AUSTRALIANS reading this
a UK pavement or a US sidewalk is an Australian footpath
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I agree with Graeme Fitzpatrick's opinion that blanket bicycle=no on  
*all* footpaths is wrong.

In addition there is Karl Cheng's opinion (Mon Sep 20 talk-au) that  
"this whole "Road Rules" regulation only applies to "roads" and "road  
related areas".
Only footpaths adjacent to a "road", or any path explicitly designated for
cyclists are considered to be "road related areas". See rules 11-13 of  
the Road Rules for details."

Thirdly there is the issue of ground truth  
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Good_practice#Map_what.27s_on_the_ground
"Don't map your local legislation, if not bound to objects in reality
Things such as local traffic rules should only be mapped when there  
are objects which represent these rules on the ground, e.g. a traffic  
sign, road surface marking. Other rules that can not be seen in some  
way should not be mapped, as they are not universally verifiable." I  
note that if they changed the legislation, we would have to find and  
edit maybe a million ways.

Fourthly (as Graeme Fitzpatrick also notes) you say "Members of the  
community have even sought confirmation of permissions from Vic police  
who have confirmed to the affirmative that unless a path is  
specifically signed to be used by a cyclist, then cyclists are not  
permitted to use it from a legal perspective."
You have been asked before but not answered the question, is this  
verbal or written advice, if written, can you give a URL?

Thanks
Tony

> Hi there,
>
> I?m starting a new thread in relation to recent discussion regarding  
>  access on footpaths which have bicycle=No
>
> In the Melbourne Bikepath cycling community there has been vigorous   
> discussion relating to the strict rules the cyclists must follow and  
>  not ride on footpaths due to Victorian Road Rules. Victorian   
> cyclists know that we are not permitted to ride of footpaths.
> Members of the community have even sought confirmation of   
> permissions from Vic police who have confirmed to the affirmative   
> that unless a path is specifically signed to be used by a cyclist,   
> then cyclists are not permitted to use it from a legal perspective.
>
> In my view, some of the data in OSM is incorrect as a footpath will   
> some times have permission bicycle=yes which is incorrect. The   
> majority of the time allowed access will have bicycle=unspecified   
> (not defined)which I think is fine.
> The issue is that cycling software, apps and gps units used by   
> cyclist takes information from OSM and then creates a route based on  
>  the permission assigned to the road/path in OSM.
>
> I?d be keen to hear from other Victorian cyclists in the OSM   
> community on the best way to tag paths so that they do not allow   
> cyclists.
>
>
>
> regards,
> Sebastian