[talk-au] Cycling on Victorian paths

[Sebastian Azagra Flores]

Hi Tony

Advice from Vic Police has only been verbal. They won’t go into writing. 
I verified this with a friend of mine who is a cop. 

They referred me to the penalties listed on the Vic Roads websites that carries a $545 fine for riding on a footpath. 
This information is freely available. 



> On 3 Oct 2021, at 2:58 pm, forster at ozonline.com.au wrote:
> Hi Sebastian
> Welcome to talk-au
> ____________________________________________________________
> A NOTE FOR NON-AUSTRALIANS reading this
> a UK pavement or a US sidewalk is an Australian footpath
> ____________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> 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