Road Rules

verb said:

i often see riders go past the white line at red lights, ahead of the cars -
i sometimes do myself,
so that i don't hold up the traffic. My question is - is it legal?

i was abused by some guy last night for going past the white line.

Not necessarily legal, but use some common sense. Some intersections
here in Melb now have extended bays in the line for cyclists. But the
vast majority of roads don't.
If you are forward of the line you are more vulnerable to anything
catastrophic occurring within the intersection, granted. And possibly a
pain for pedestrians if you're occupying part of their crossing.
But you are also AHEAD of all the other traffic when the lights go, and
clearly visible to all, so they don't have that pathetic old line, `Oh,
I just didn't see you'.
This is also critical when making right turns (assuming there's a right
turn lane) and with left turn slip lanes.
Was the turkey who abused you a fellow cyclist or a cager? If the
former, I understand but don't necessarily agree, if the latter, I have
very limited sympathy.
Cheers,
Ray

verb said:

i often see riders go past the white line at red lights, ahead of the cars -
i sometimes do myself,
so that i don't hold up the traffic. My question is - is it legal?

i was abused by some guy last night for going past the white line.

It is illegal... but when was the last time you saw all of the cars at
an intersection obey that law?

He was probably just [censored] that he was stuck in traffic (again) and
you slid past him.

On 2007-12-06, ray (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

verb said:

i often see riders go past the white line at red lights, ahead of the cars -
i sometimes do myself,
so that i don't hold up the traffic. My question is - is it legal?

i was abused by some guy last night for going past the white line.

Not necessarily legal, but use some common sense. Some intersections
here in Melb now have extended bays in the line for cyclists. But the
vast majority of roads don't.

Those bays are usually occupied by a motorist who has crossed his line
illegally.

--
TimC
As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.

On 2007-12-07, Vintage (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

"Duncan" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

'killer'! ..I like that... would have been almost as appropriate if
he yelled "baby killer"

Us guys when blitzed by the pushbike police in the Melb CBD have been booked
for waiting at red lights but with only our front wheel over the line at
lights. Stationary and no harm to anyone but road rule policing gone mad.

And when you point out the car next to you, also over the line, the
police only get indignant.

--
TimC

Quoted message said:

As you know, Linus took the word the penguins kept saying over and
over again, rot13'ed it, and used that as the name of his OS.

So, who's going to record this .au file:
"Hello, my name is Yvahf Gbeinyqf, and I pronounce yvahk, yvahk."
-- Anthony de Boer && Michel Buijsman in ASR

Vintage said:

Us guys when blitzed by the pushbike police in the Melb CBD
have been booked for waiting at red lights but with only our
front wheel over the line at lights. Stationary and no harm
to anyone but road rule policing gone mad.

Waiting for a red light while over the stop line is perfectly
legal if you stopped for a yellow light, and you could stop
safely before the intersection, but could not safely before the
stop line.

Australian Road Rules, rule 57, part 1, paragraph c.

John

I said:

Waiting for a red light while over the stop line is perfectly
legal if you stopped for a yellow light, and you could stop
safely before the intersection, but could not safely before
the stop line.

Australian Road Rules, rule 57, part 1, paragraph c.

Oops. Make that part 2 of rule 57.

John