Road freight group Transporting New Zealand has endorsed a number of proposed road user rule changes put forward by NZ Transport Agency, describing several of the measures as common sense.
The proposals, part of a recent lane use consultation, include allowing children up to 12 years old to ride bicycles on footpaths, permitting e-scooters to use cycle lanes, introducing a minimum passing gap when overtaking, and requiring drivers to give way to buses exiting bus stops.
Transporting New Zealand policy and advocacy advisor Mark Stockdale says some of the changes reflect behaviour already happening on the network.
“Young children riding bikes on footpaths and e-scooters using cycle lanes is something which already happens now, but for which the rules are unclear. These changes will normalise current behaviour and help improve safety for vulnerable road users by meaning they don’t have to share the road with larger vehicles like cars and trucks,” Stockdale says.
He says there are potential risks, particularly for young cyclists on footpaths, but these could be mitigated through education.
“Whilst there could be a risk of young cyclists on footpaths being injured from cars reversing out of driveways, this could be partially mitigated through education encouraging drivers to ‘RIFO’: reverse in and forward out of their driveways,” Stockdale says.
The association has also given cautious support to proposals requiring vehicles to give way to buses leaving bus stops and introducing minimum overtaking distances, although it says the latter may be difficult to enforce.
“Not all of New Zealand’s road network is wide enough to permit wide passing gaps for all traffic types such as overtaking tractors or farm machinery on narrow rural roads, so some enforcement discretion would need to be applied,” Stockdale says.
However, Transporting New Zealand opposes a proposal that would remove the requirement for road controlling authorities to signpost prohibitions on berm parking, saying clear signage is needed for drivers.
Transporting New Zealand’s submission can be viewed here.
