Bikes & The Law - New Topic?

Anyone interested in bikes and the law? I have written extensively on this topic and often find there is a disconnect between what the law is and what folks THINK the law is... This is my first time on this forum, but it strikes me that the legal end of cycling could be represented!

SMM

I'd be the first to admit that I know practically nothing about it, but I'm curious as to how much bike-related laws vary from country to country, or even from state to state (I'm in Australia, by the way).

It would also be interesting to know whether they generally derive from laws pertaining to automobiles, or share a common historical vehicle basis, or are closer to laws for pedestrians, or were derived independently, or whatever.

Seems like a great idea to me, although I don't know what part of the world your from and obviously bike laws must vary greatly from place to place. That in itself is an interesting subject. I'm curious about bike laws in Holland and other countries where bike use is extensive, vs. other countries. Ad by extension, how we can help our local bike laws evolver.

Sara

__________________
The six-pack will be mine...

I am not an international bike law scholar unfortunately, but perhaps some other forum readers can help on the issue of a comparative study of the laws of Holland, Australia and elsewhere. In the US, there are several different schemes for dealing with bicycles in the traffic law ranging from minimal to extremely detailed. A good source of information is the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition web site at www.massbike.org. They have links to the bike laws in all states as well as links to Canada, Belgium France and the UK. There is also an excellent set of links to related websites [including some stuff I have written which is posted ont eh Cincinnati Cycle Club site, www.cincinnaticycleclub.org, at the "Bike Law" page.

GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RIDING!

SMM

I am a trial lawyer in Ohio but have handled "bike cases" in Kentucky, Virginia, New Jersey and FLorida.
There's a great source of bike laws for comparative research at http://www.massbike.org/bikelaw/indexm.htm. All 50 US states are linked there plus some international references.

Steve Magas
BikeLawyer@aol.com
"Fighting for the rights of cyclists..."

Good idea.

That is something I would like to learn more about. Many of us have encountered lawyers because of an accident. It would make us somewhat less unsure of ourselves if we have a forum for the experinces & pitfalls of dealing wiht them.