Bicycles

This page has been put together using Qld road rules legislation as of 2009.
It is in no way purposed or designed to be used for legal defence or legal advice!
It is designed to help you know and obey the road rules.
Not to justify bad driving behaviours.

Which of these are in the wrong place?

None of them!

 The fact is bicycles are allowed to ride along side each other, so long as they are within 1.5m of each other and there are only 2 side by side (unless another is overtaking them).

 Looking at the bicycles on the right side of the image, they are NOT required to ride in a bicycle lane! In this case there is loose gravel in the bicycle lane and a drain, both of which are a hazard to cyclists.

 They MUST however remain on the left hand side of the road. Bicycles are not allowed to travel in the bicycle lane on the wrong side of the road and must always ride to the LEFT of oncoming traffic.

What benefits are there to riding side by side?

For the cyclist it does make them more noticeable, easier to see, than riding single file. This does however mean that another vehicle wanting to overtake them will have to go further out into the next lane. The other side of that though... It does half the number of bicycle you have to overtake. In the image here you'd only have to overtake 2 bicycles really, instead of 4.

Overtaking bicycles:

In the image to the right these bicycles are legally riding side by side, the vehicle behind them will naturally want to pass. But can he?

 Yes, so long as it is safe to do so!

One of the changes regarding bicycles is that vehicles MUST stay at least 1m away from a bicycle if the speed limit is 60km/h or below. Once the speed is over 60km/h then it is 1.5m away.

 A change that accompanied this is that you are allowed to cross over solid white lines, even double ones, to pass them, if it is clear and safe to do so.

 That said, my personal opinion is that double white lines suggest it's not safe to do so in most cases, so do take extra care.

Road Rules are always under review and are often changed or updated. This page was accurate at time of publishing, while we endeavour to keep these pages up to date we may occasionally miss something. You as a road user are expected to keep up to date with the Road Rules.